Ya i synced the carbs with the correct hose the other day, and rode it into work today. Probably the smoothest ride i've had on this bike since i got it, coming out in first at a light is probably what i notice the most, the rpms were super steady.
Once i was done syncing, it was idling at like 700-800 which wasn't possible before, because anything lower than 1.5 would just cause it to die. So i'm happy about that, i'll be playing with the mixture screws and throttle stop this week as i'm riding to work, etc.
before the carb sync the left plug was ALWAYS super black and the right was black everywhere except the little ceramic piece, which was white. I'm assuming that was because the carbs weren't synced. I have new spark plugs which i'll put in to see how it is after the carb sync.
But still experience pretty slow acceleration in 1st and low rpms in 2nd. But honestly, right now i'm okay with how it is, i'd rather it be like this than before.
and ya, i believe my filter's fine, the arrow points in the right direction.
Also one other thing, i've been putting 1oz/gallon of Seafoam in my tank for the last 2 fill-ups, not sure if this is relevant in any way, but felt it would use it.