2010 EC 300 Poor starter from warm

[justsam]

From cold it starts 1st or 2nd kick every time. But once its fully warmed up its an absolute pig to fire up. I have to use a lot of throttle and sometimes even the choke! Carburation is very clean right through and the settings are more or less standard, 175m, 40p, 7 slide, stock needle on position 1, float height set to 16mm, air screw 2.5 out and Iridium plug with gap set to spec.
Also I don't know if this is just a coincidence but its started idle-ing very strange? Hard to explain but after the revs have settled it ticks over fine for 10-20secs then starts to struggle, not like its too weak but almost sounds like its loading up, then stalls.
So before I start playing about with things is there any common issue that can cause the poor starting or the tick over issue, if they are linked?
Need to get this sorted before the next meeting, the day was over before it even began
Sam

[Jakobi]

Get rid of that irridium plug and go back to a BR8ES.

Double check which carb you have. AS1 = tall body, deep bowl, round threaded cap. AS2 = shallow bowl, flat metal cap retained by 2 allen bolts/screws.

If you have the later, then you won't have much luck with the stock needle in any clip position or with any combination of jets. Even if you have the older its not the best choice of needle.

[justsam]

Thanks Jacobi. I'll try the plug 1st as this was fitted roughly as the problem started...
Have read up on the issues with the stock needle before. My needle was on clip pos 2 but was too rich (lumpy from 1/8 to 1/4 throttle) So I dropped it fully to pos 1 which helped but still not perfect. The Suzuki - NEDx/NECx sounds like the direction I need to go in, whats the difference between the 'D' and 'C'?
My friend has the same bike and is really struggling with his running rich so we need to get this sorted. We are ex-trials riders so are riding the more technical hard/extreme enduros.
Can't wait to get home from work to try the plug

[Jakobi]

I have found that when runnning rich the fine tip on the irridium plug can foul quite easily. As per previous post, check which carb your bike has. While both models will jet and perform well, they do require different configurations.

NECx is half a clip position leaner than NEDx. The x denotes the needle diameter which effects idle - 1/4 throttle in conjunction with the pilot, air screw, and slide cut away. An example of a rich diameter is when you go to a small pilot jet, get symptoms like a bog off idle, or a hanging idle, but there is still a richness before it cleans up. The stock needle also has a really short straight section which makes it hard to be sure you even have it on the straight section when setting up the idle circuit.