Hello, and carb cleaning question

[eavega]

Hello all

I am new to this forum. I own a 2004 V Star 1100 Classic. I stopped riding about 2 yrs ago when my oldest daughter was born. Since then there have been two moves to two different states, and another child, so not a lot of riding time. I was trying to get my V Star running again. I tried to start it, but it would only start with fully choked, and you couldn't roll any throttle else it would die. My assumption is that the carbs are gummed up from 2 year old fuel. I tried running most of a can of seafoam through it, but I think all that accomplished was fouling the plugs. I have a Clymer manual, and was hoping that it would have clear instructions on how to clean the bowls, jets, etc. I got the carbs out (I was also going to check valve clearance and drop new plugs in, so I had it apart anyway) and sure enough there is gummy gunk in it. The Clymer manual states that you don't need to separate the carbs to do a cleaning on it, but the first thing it dives into is separating the carbs! I've cleaned and re-built carbs on outboard motors before, but those are rather simple. Is there anywhere I can get a good step-by-step procedure to clean these carbs well?