Have you tried going up on the needle(moving the clip down) it could be lean on the midrange and starving for fuel. That's not the case for most people. It's usualy too rich. But with it being that cold there it may be too lean. What slot was the clip in before you moved it? You may need a different pilot jet. Oh yeah what's your elevation again?

 

Elevation is 384 feet. The needle clip was already on the middle slot when I pulled the carb apart. I want to say my pilot jet was 190 ???, maybe I can check this weekend.

After going through all this without much success, I was wondering if it could be anywhere in the ignition? Maybe not strong enough spark or some such thing.

 

I always gap my plug at .018. They are kinda weak for ignition but for a stock machine I wouldn't think that would be an issue. You might try going down on the pilot and see what that does. I believe on a stock machine that the stock pilot is a 35. When you pipe them you usually go down to a 30. You can also try and put hte needle in the second from the top position. This will lean out the midrange. If this helps then it was too rich. If it doesn't helpt then go back up on the needle (to the fourth position on the needle). This will richen it up. Just a little experimenting to see if it's rich or lean. My guess is it's rich.

 

I'll try messing with the pilot and needle this weekend. So you don't think the ignition could be failing?

 

It's possible I suppose but I'd bet on jetting.

 

I'll go pick up a 30 then.

 

Just to let you guys know I finally figured out the problem with this machine. After completely going through the fuel system I took this bike into my local Popo shop. They called me up in like 10 minutes and told me there was a prefilter on the box choking the airflow to the engine. grrrrrrrr. Since I had bought the bike used I thought it was factory!