Suzuki Bandit in the snow
When I went away on holiday the other year I left my Bandit standing for about 3 weeks and it must of had a bad batch of fuel in the tank. The bad fuel turned into jelly in the carburettors and of course the bike started running like a dog. In the back of my mind I had thought I should drain the float bowls before leaving, but it got forgotten in all the excitement of the trip.
If you suspect you have left your bike too long and that the fuel will have turned to jelly do not start it. Before getting into details I also strongly suggest you purchase the Suzuki GSF600, 650 and 1200 Bandit Service and Repair Manual: 1995 to 2006 as it contains a lot of very useful information including the all important tightening torques.
Anyway so the bike now would not run a week after returning and I desperately wanted to ride so I stripped the fairings off, drained the fuel tank by pulling the fuel lead and opening the petcock, removed the fuel tank, removed the battery, pulled the airbox out and finally released the carburettors. This involved disconnecting the throttle cable, the fuel hose and the fuel overflow hoses not forgetting the choke cable of course.
Once you have the four carbies out you need to set about pulling the float bowl covers off and inspecting them and cleaning with carb cleaner as needed. Also pull out the pilot screw/needle remembering how many turns it takes. Pop the diaphragm cover and remove the rubber diaphragm checking for any problems. Don’t forget to hang on to the spring that is under the cover and remove the fuel flow needle.
Give it a good blast of carb cleaner and then blow out with compressed air and you should see gunk come flying out. Use further cleaner and air blasts for stubborn rubbish.
Carefully reassemble and attach to the motorbike in reverse order.
The following video illustrates this process fairly well (bare in mind it was not made using Bandit carbs so they differ slightly). Video