whent to start the bike for the first time in too long, and it wouldnt start. I ran down the battery trying to get her to crank, once the battery was dead i decided to check the plug. Got it out and found it covered with black soot. I threw in the spare from my tool box and with a jump she fired right up. As it idled faint black smoke puffed from the pipe. No smokeonce it got warmed up. I had only put 200 miles on the last plug. What could be causing this? Is/ should it be a concern?

If the carb slide is getting a little dirty it will sure act this way - the slide starts to hang a bit and won't close off the mainjet as well as it should

Maybe flooded it trying to start it.

If you take the bike out & run it for a while, get it all the way warmed up, go play, then, after its been parked & is cooled off, run a finger in the pipe & see how sooty the exhaust is inside. If your finger comes out all black & filthy, it's rich. If it comes out with a bit of grayish looking stuff on it, thats normal, a lighter  color. Closer to a gray, than black.
Here's an idea..
If you look at the exhaust pipe on, say, a Honda car, it is fuel injected & you can bet the mixture is about right, look at other exhausts & get an idea what is good, then check yours. But, they do have a catalyzing exhaust system & it will be a cleaner pipe, but the general idea is still gonna lead ya closer than no clue at all.
200 nmiles on a plug isnt a good thing, & just because the carb was recently cleaned is no comfort. It is normal to go straight to the last place worked on when things go badly, just because that was the last place a person coulda made a mistake. I hear just fingerprints on a slide can make them stick a bit.

The easiest float level check is a tube from the bowl drain held up next to the bowl. The height of the tube end when gas drips out is the level of the gas in the bowl. No disassembly, no callipers. SCHweet!

Demin wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:09:

Yep, an old pumper.

If the gas isn't too old, I'd just charge the battery, clean the plug and go blow it out...

also it has shut down a few times when i let off the throttle. Starts right back up again, is the idle too low maybe? Perhaps i should go down a size on the pilot? suggestions comments?

Yep, 155/55 is too big for normal riding, even with a free breathing set-up. That is the combo I have, will downsize as soon as I can score a 150 main jet. Got a 50 pilot, still need to swap it out (raining and no garage).

Worst part? I'm only getting around 40 mpg right now... when stone stock it was getting mid-70s mpg commuting. The wimpshield, apehangers and bags don't help, but a 30+ mpg drop in mileage? That ain't right...
-WD