Carburetor upgrade questions

Well guys and gals, it's nearing time for me to finally cobble my xs project together. Last year my stock carbs did real well for me, but they've been sitting in my garage all winter and I'm honestly not in the mood to rebuild them. All the nightmares I've heard of ripping those things apart time and time again? No thank you.

I've been scanning threads on this site for a while now, but it seems as if all of the round side carb threads die out before actual results can be posted.

My plan is to run velocity stacks and about as open of an exhaust as I can run. I've been contemplating buying a set of the vm32s as I've seen a lot of them run on cb350s and 60s with good success.

I'm an idiot, and I plan on beating on this thing like a misbehaving dog and I've heard that the vm carburetors tend to like a gradual throttle roll more than constant snaps of wot. So maybe a set of flat sides would be a better bet? Would there be any benefits of running a set of side draft carbs? I found a pretty slick set of keihin carbs set up for a racer cb360, but am totally unfamiliar with how those bastards work.

Any input would be appreciated before I drop some heavy cash on a carburetor setup. High fives will be rewarded for good advice

vm28 or 30's will be sized better for the XS. Will be easier to jet properly.

Be prepared to spend lots of $$$ on jets of varying sizes and different needles with many tapers if you want to get them right. Slides sometimes need to be replaced with a different cutout to get off idle throttle proper. Most people you see buying carbs just stick with what came with them, and they never get them right that way. Usually they just get it 'runnable' and leave it. Counter productive if you ask me, as the stock carbs would be better at that point.

And no, flat slides would be worse off than round slides with quick throttle actions. Flat slides need a pumper on 4 stroke bikes to work well with quick throttle movements.

I've heard flat slides are a pita to tune, but I was worried that I'd be stuck with a doughy throttle if I went with the round slides. Are there any obvious issues with running velocity stacks on the vm series?

Also, possibly a stupid question, but side draft? Are they even a feesible option on something like this?

velocity stacks are for race motors that get rebuilt after a few races. Not a good option for a daily or weekend driver. With no real filtration they are a bad choice. Now if your only going to be showing the bike that's different.

It'll be an occasionally ridden bike. I have an airhead that's my daily rider. I'd like stacks because I like how they look, and if I'm unlucky and they suck in one of the pigeon sized mosquitos we have in Wisconsin it'll just be another reason to rebuild my motor.

I'm a glass half full kinda guy

Now when people are talking a plug chop, what are they referring to? Kind of new to all of this.. Is it to check plug condition after a beat run or something?

Yep, run the bike at highway speed for about 25-50 miles turn it off (let it cool first) then pull the plugs to see what they look like. You can do this for lower speeds and idle times also. I like to do it for normal riding conditions as this is where the will run the most.

Freeway speeds won't be necessary for me. However, you guys will probably be happy to hear that due to funding issues I'll probably end up with the original carbs. My "oh it'll never break down because it's German" airhead took a turn for the worse this past weekend. I'll probably end up inside the cv carbs in a couple of weeks and will notify you guys if my findings. Tuning new carburetors doesn't scare me, but breaking old parts on crusty carburetors does. Thankfully they were pretty clean last year.. wish me luck!

I'm gonna be right there with you pretty soon slammer. One of the first thing I gotta do is clean and tune the carbs. On an 82' I just picked up. Or well, will be picking up this week.