Africa Twin engine/throttle different after major service

[George E]

Hello Everyone. Couldn't see this mentioned in earlier posts.
Just had my 1993 Africa Twin serviced by a very good place I rate highly and which is used by a lot of despatch riders.
The problem is, the engine now sounds and feels totally different, particularly on the throttle. I will try to describe it.
It sounds and feels much more clumpy, and "chugga chugga". I know it's a V-twin, but.... this is like a hair dryer!
If I blip the throttle and release, whereas it would have made a nice clean "woomf!" (ie revs dying off quickly), the revs now take much longer to tail off. It's more like the sound if you roll an "rrrrrrrrr" with your tongue on the roof of your mouth, the sound fading only slowly as your breath fades.
It also seems to take longer to feed power through when I apply throttle, but eventually a decent amount does come through.
One of the guys at the service centre said he thought they might need to re-do or re-set the carbs, since it was a major service. But I don't really know what he meant.
If the above symptoms sound familiar to you and you know what I should be asking the service guys to tackle, I'd be grateful.
I want my old Africa Twin back!
Thanks
George

[YEN_POWELL]

Sounds a bit like a sticky choke. Maybe it hasn't been used for a while and one of the servicers used it to start the bike and one of the choke bodies has stuck on a little. This makes the tickover very slow and liable to cut out, so the tickover gets turned up, resulting in the symptoms you describe as well as a hunting at low steady revs when riding along with the engine properly warm.

My new bike was like that when I got it, I knew the choke had freed itself on it's own when I stopped at a roundabout and it was ticking over at 3,000 rpm all of a sudden. Turned the tickover back down and disconnected the cable, no bother since.

[Grader]

Sounds like a reasonable idea to me.

I assume the choke problem can only get you if you actually use the choke. Based on the comments from this forum I have stopped using mine.

The only problem I see is that the less it is used the more likely it is to stick, if ever I do need it I could be in trouble.

At what kind of temperatures is the choke necessary to get the bike to start?

[Whealie]

I assume the choke problem can only get you if you actually use the choke

As they say in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, assumption is mother of all ****-ups.
The chokes are dead easy to remove, so do so then check there's no dirt in either side. Remove the cable completely too (also easy) and completely lubricate and clean. Then refit. Mine was disconnected from the handlebars yet still the chokes were stuck - the cable had seized either at or just after the split and simply trying ti lubricate from one end was not enough. You can easily break the housing in the middle and fill with ACF50 or WD40 (or whatever set of numbers you prefer).

[BobA]

Could be the rubber collars between the carbs and airbox not fitted correctly?

Perhaps the Air filter hasn't been fitted correctly?

Both are quick and easy to check.

Bob

[mal]

I would take the bike back to whoever serviced it ,the bike should run better after a service,not worse, in particular get them to check the carbs are balanced,the mixture is correct & the choke works properly.

[George E]

Thanks a lot everyone. I have to get the rear tyre replaced shortly so will deal with it on the same visit.