Hi All,
Firstly big thanks for posting the NC30 carb jetting guide - it has been super helpful so far. Except I am stuck on actually getting the carbs off the bike. I have double checked all of the top clamp adjusters are loose, the cables are detached and I have my piece of wood. I just can't get the carbs to budge more than a couple of mm back and forth. I knew it would be tricky as the carbs have not been off the bike since 2004.... Any hints please?

Loosen all the top and bottom clamps fully and try again? Sometimes the carbs come off the engine easier than out the rubbers.

Longer piece of wood (more leaverage?)

Thanks very much for the help Neosophist. I did wonder about the lower clamps but thought I had better walk away from it for a while. I have a longer piece of wood at the ready and with any luck new carb rubbers and plugs will arrive in the post tomorrow - note the optimism! :)

That's done it! I loosened the lower clamps as well, then tried the longer bit of wood but it was too soft. In the end it took a bit of gentle persuasion with a small crowbar padded with a bit of rag. I was considering pushing it to the bike shop at that point! I am just having the prescribed cup of tea (thanks Cammo!) and then will proceed carefully! Thanks again :)

And now I can't think why it did not occur to order a set of pilot jets before I started. They are supposed to have holes in them right? Soaked in carb cleaner overnight and prodded with fuse wire but 2 are still well bunged up. Oh well, back to it later in the week then.... More lessons learned!