Ok, it's a 1970 first sold in 1971 and has the older silde type bings with the tickler. The one on one side works perfectly and the left one keeps dribbling a tad after I tickle it and let the plunger go. It stops as soon as the bike starts and never leaks or dribbles until I use it again.....whats the deal? I can and do still ride it since it doesn't leak while riding or even after it fires up.
I would guess that the tickler is hanging up a tad, and that, once started and/or riding, the vibration lets it seat properly. You might try working it a bunch, up and down, as there may be a bit of crud somewhere.
I've got the same thing happening on mine and I've already torn it apart once to clean the carbs when I got the bike but it still does it. It'll just slowly dribble out the left side for about a minute or so after I tickle it . Then it clears up, so I've decided to live with it. I'm pretty sure that you need to disassemble the carbs to take the tickler apart. If I remember correctly they are held together with a cotter pin on the inside. Good Luck.
Check the floatvalve. Iirc, the tickler pushes the float down to open the valve, when releasing the valve should close again. On the older carb's, the seat of that valve is brass and the valve itself is a steel, tapered needle, they wear. Paul.
It's part of the charm of these old bikes. On mine, the left tickler starts to overflow after the count of three and the right tickler takes five. Thr float levels, fuel levels and overflow tube heights are identical, but it still does it. I gave up wondering about it 30 years ago.
