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So got to meet GSA and I received a needle from him for my carb.

I had mine off before xmas before winter and noticed my needle was bent..and pretty bad and dragging. Bike had no bottom and weird rev.

Heres the thing I changed the throttle cable at the beginning of year and no problem. Got about 5 rides on it and had a get off that wasn't bad at all. It was after a ditch and I washed out on a trench made by running water. Damn clay but I laid it down on the right and literally jogged off into trail off of bike. Handle bars were a bit tweaked but all in all rode for about another hour. Took the bike on two more trail rides and no problems. Went to take it on the trails before winter weather started showing and it had no bottom end and was just weird running. Thought perhaps I just needed to rejet for the weather and parked bike. Couple weeks ago I took the bike apart to see what perhaps is causing it and lo and behold my needle was bent.

I switched the needle the other day and shes back an running normal.

What caused my needle to bend?

Couldn't of been when I replaced throttle cable I was sure of it. I even made sure to look and make sure it was operating fine and ran fine for the longest afterwards.

Was it that small laydown? Once again bike ran fine afterwards.

Bike was sitting in garage and no gas in it or tank.

Im stumped? I tore that carb apart and ordered anything it needed prior. I even checked it before.

What could of caused this? Is this a normal thing?

My best theory is there was somewhat a little gas in bowl and it froze and pushed the needle some.

Although the freezing point of gasoline varies depending on lots of different factors and make-up, the earliest it will freeze is around -40 C. I doubt your bike got that cold.

maybe when it was laid down the throttle went wide open for a sec and in that moment maybe the needle got pushed up into the slide and when the throttle was closing it came back out slightly crooked and snagged the outside of the emulsion tube, causing it to bend. just my $0.02

It takes some force to bend a needle ( unless its made from brass )...have you altered the clip position ? if so perhaps you were a little too forceful when reinstalling the clip & bent it that way...??

yea that's just it was bent and you could easily notice it bent. I don't think the clip was that hard to do. Even after laying it down the bike ran fine and no probs so I don't know if I can actually attribute that to it. Just weird something happened sometime. I think Ill just tear down the carb again and make sure everything is within spec. Pretty much have to do it anyway I ordered some jetblock gaskets.

Thanks in advance. I can rule out its not common and perhaps user error. Its not brass. Never checked the number of it either when I replaced it. Ill check it as well maybe it was the incorrect part to begin with. Wouldn't be the first Ive found. The PO had the clutch all messed up. Sad thing is he had a manual too. Slowly but surely Im getting it all right. Just feels like when Im in the clear something else pops up I have to replace. Stupid small stuff now tho. Like the clutch return spring. Three dollar part and I think 6 to ship.

Did you at any point have the throttle valve and needle removed to remove the carb? Mybe it got bent when it was outside the carb by accident

yes I did however that was way at the beginning of the season of last year. I had no problems riding and was able to jet it. (throttle cable)

When or after it happened was very apparent. The needle from observing off of the bike would actually rub and either run like rich or lean hence shut it down. Couldn't get anything consistent. No bottom end. Slide was obstructed.

I replaced the needle with one GSA gave me and well it operated fine. Ran great. Pulled some wheelies again. Couldn't even try to hop 1 inch branch.

Come to think of it could it possibly be a wrong cable that might of caused this? When I took it apart and serviced and replaced cable. I made sure to not goof the pin and made sure it has the same operation it does now. Smooth and no binding. All was well and for some time too. Could a wrong cable perhaps put too much and prop the needle perhaps? But with the old needle in the jet you could easily tell it was bent and not moving right. I would of easily caught that when putting it on or afterwards.

no throttle issues as well that I can recall. Ill just keep a good eye on it and see if it does it again.

Took a better look at everything yesterday and I think I solved my problem.

It was in fact the clip position on old needle. It looked weird and when tightening it down made it go crooked. When I put the old one back in you could clearly see it just didn't go in the groove right? I don't know how to explain it and when I put the new one in It was perfect straight. Now if I switched the clip position it would help but since needle bent from rubbing I suppose the needle was trashed.

Took some comparison shots of the two needles side by side and same needle and BOY was mine just really worn. No tip left prolly also from rubbing but Im surprised the bike ran as well as it did that and bent.

Had a good trot on it yesterday and got to clean it up and also my gear. Considering the deck bolts from PO Im sure something there and how he did the clutch. That and age. Glad to get it back with some grunt again.