dan, seeing that you might be new to this bike did you make sure you have the air intake boots on correctly? They can be a bugger to get down and on the carb correctly. A lot of dirt will be drawn in as I made the mistake once. That air intake design sucks. Probably the worst task we have to deal with. IMHO.
Yes know all about the boots, they are pain to get on correctly. I use a touch of silicone grease around the boots which seen to help. The back of boot you cannot see, just feel for it with fingers, and hope you don't have fat fingers.