ok hear goes
the bike starts 1st time on choke without need of throttle however when warm the idle is "lumpy". when riding i can go though the gears without any problem, there is no real flat spot or splutter and the bike seems to run ok. but when i come to some traffic lights i have to keep blipping the throttle otherwise she will stall. The problem seems worse with the clutch in and in 1st gear ( so changed clutch cable but still same). she doest seem to smoke that much but the exhaust pipe is a little sooty (black). dont know what the jets or carbs are set to but before i set to do Cammos guide ( as i have no mechanical knowledge) i wondered if it was somre thing simple i could adjust to solve problem.
oh i have tried to adjust the tick over screw but when i adjust it to 1400 the next time i stop it is on 2000 so i turn it down go for a short ride then the bike hardly ticks over. on twisting the throttle the bike revs up well but comes down slowly. any ideas guys. ps wont have a clue how to set float chambers or syncronise the carbs as dont have vacuum gauges

had similar issues on a friends vfr when inspected the carbs there was 2 little springs missing on the syncro mechanism replaced, balanced and runs gr8 now. also only adjust tick over once up to running temp, revs dropping slowly could also point to an air leak on the carbs. clutch could be dragging only real adjustment is in the cable, can be adjusted at both ends of cable

You may have an air leak on the carb inlet rubbers.
Get the bike warmed up and spray some lynx or something into the V in the engine (where the carbs join the cylinder heads) and see if the revs drop

^^^ as skinnydog says, try to nip the carb rubbers up if not they are shagged buy some new ones.:-)

Did the bike run ok then just start with this problem?
Could be early signs the spark plugs are on their way out too, do you know when they was lasted changed?

Classic airleak sign.

Would be checking the carb rubbers as above first.

thanks for the advice. plugs are brand new. will look at carb rubbers.