Thanks for the quick reply. And again, I'm sorry for not posting this question sooner. Because originally, I didn't think it was my wires either. Here's some background of what lead up to my purchase of the wires, though. Hopefully someone can help me to diagnose the real issue here so I don't end up spending any more than necessary.
The bike had been sitting for most of the season last year. I only had it out 3 times--tops! I think I put less than 300 miles on it all year. Stored it in the garage all winter in NY with a battery tender but no fuel stabilizer. When it came time to start it this spring, she would not start. I ended up finally getting her started after many failed attemts (and a lot of starter fluild) and she seemed to be running pretty good, Except that there was some strange feel when going from a dead stop. Like I needed to give her more gas than usual after engaging first gear. She had plently of power though once she got going. But then, after about a 1 hr ride or so, just as I was pulling down my block, I felt as if something was seriously wrong. It felt like the engine was hesitating as I was accelerating. Almost like it feels when you shut the petcock off while riding. And she had a very different sound--still had power, just a different sound/feel. Almost like a fluttering sound. I want to say "knocking" but I don't think that's the right word.
I brought her home, let her sit for a while and then did some reasearch. So I did the easy stuff first. I replaced all the vaccuum lines and intake caps with RedEye's. I bought Carbtune and synched the carbs, did an oil change, tightened the header bolts--I even went so far as to replace the header gaskets. I did a compression test and all is ok. After all this, she for sure runs better, but I just still sense something is still wrong. I can feel and hear that it's coming from the right side. I changed the spark plugs 500 miles ago and rechecked the gap. And after doing all the above, what I noticed was that while she's idling at 900rpms or, when I'm trying to hold a steady idle at say 2k or 3k rpms, she bounces +- 200rpms. Is this normal?
A friend of mine suggested that we pull the plug wires one at a time to see if there is any difference in idle speed. And what we found was that with #'s 3 and 5, there is no change in the rpms. With the others pulled one at a time, the idle drops significantly. So, hence my decision above--replace the wires. Since 3 and 5 are on different coils, and it is not likely that 2 coils are bad, I decided to go with the wires.
Oh, and forgot to mention, the strange feeling with the initial take off was resolved by removing a bit of clutch fluid from the reservoir. I think it was overfilled. And also, she's a 97 Standard with about 20,000 miles on her.
Thank you all for your help with this. Not too sure what else it could be. I have been reading all the posts and trying to find someone with the same issue. Many sound similar but not quite what I'm experiencing. I thinking the next step is a valve check. I just didn't want to have to go there. I'm not that "mechanically inclined". Most of what I know now I learned from reading the great posts on this forum.
