Hi everyone, I am new to posting here but love reading all the advice everyone has, it has been a big help. I am a new rider but fairly mechanically inclined and any help would be great.

I bought the bike about 3 months ago and haven't had any problems but really haven't been able to ride too often due to title problems. So I usually just started it up a couple times a week to keep it fresh.

I don't know why my bike won't start. It cranks but won't turn over. I took it for a ride a couple days ago to run an errand and it seemed to drag (hesitate) during acceleration. It didn't hesitate at all with open throttle. I am assuming it probably has something to do with the fuel.

After riding around yesterday I ran out of gas pulling into the gas station (not used to the MPG yet ). Tried using the reserve but it didn't work. So after filling up I used the prime to get gas into the carb. Rode around the block to my house and put the bike away.
It seems I forgot to turn the fuel back to the ON position .

I went to go for a ride and saw a puddle of gas under the bike and it would start at all, even after letting it sit for about 5 hours.

If any has any tips or advice I would greatly appreciate it!

The hesitation happens during acceleration, it will start accelerating fine and then quickly(for about a second) decelerate and accelerate once more. this will happen until I open the throttle more(higher RPMs).
It also seems like it doesn't accelerate as quick as it used to.

Oil level is between the lines but seems a little dark, probably could use a change.

Is there an easy way to check the spark plug?

And how would I check the cylinder for gas?

thanks, I'll give that a shot tomorrow. Why would the bike be hesitating as stated before?

Just curious, when I take out the plug and try turning it over, does the gas spray out due to back pressure?

I didn't think it would turn over without the spark plug in.

Would draining the carb of gas do anything for the situation?

Thanks for the advice, I'll let you know tomorrow how it turns out.

I just replaced the spark plug and the old one was fouled really bad(completely black ).

I also went ahead and changed the oil in it (decided to do an oil change in my truck while i was at it too )

Now since everything is already off I think I'm going to take the carb off and clean it too while I'm at it.

Any tips or suggestions for the carb?
I definitely will keep track of all the parts very carefully!
I bought some carb cleaner, is there anything else that could be useful in this task?

Well I put it all back together and it rides great!!!

The best way I personally found to take the carb out is to take out the battery and holder.
Just a few bolts but makes for a lot more space in order to pull the carb down and  out.
Just wondering if the sediment on the valve stems will create a problem later down the road and if there is something to do about it?

Today I started the bike and was letting it warm up and I saw some light colored smoke coming from the exhaust near the header.

Couldn't really tell what it smell like due to a stuffy nose.
What would cause this?

It's a nice day here and I REALLY want to go out for a ride!!

caused by a bad seal or you need to retorque the header bolts, about 20 ft-lbs.  Best to pull them out and put antiseize on the threads unless you want them permanently torqued down.

Just read what you posted today  

in the future, a lot of what you need to do is in the tech section.

for instance... Island Wahine did a great write up on carb cleaning.

Check out the index stuck to the section at the top.