Why is my 2005 Kawasaki Ninja 500 idling at 1000 RPMs and sounding like it's about to die????

(I would just like to say thank-you in advance!)

I decided to jump on a great deal to buy a 2005 Kawasaki Ninja 500 (2600 miles). Since I didn't know how to ride, I had a friend check over the bike and do a test drive for me. Well, at the time, I wasn't aware that the choke should be fully open when you drive away, I thought it was okay if it was partially closed (how it is when you start the bike up).

Anyhow, I was looking through some websites and saw that you can DIE from riding with the choke closed because the bike can rev up unexpectedly, so I go out to my bike, let it warm up and open up the choke. The RPMs fall all the way to 1000 and the bike sounds SICK and sounds and feels like it is about to die. I've tried going down slowly, but the end result is still a low idle.

My question is: can I ride it to a repair shop with the choke partially closed and not have a wreck? I'm guessing that it's a problem with the carb, or at least I hope it's that easy. Thanks!!

Just to get things cleared up for those not too familiar with chokes. Closed = the carb is closed so the fuel is rich. Open= carb is open and the fuel is not as rich. Closed is used to start the bike. The choke should be all the way open to operate the bike. That's why there's a problem! lol...it's a little confusing, but I hope that helps!

If you are inexperienced then NO of course you do not drive a broke bike any where.

You could have an easy or hard problem. Do you know anyone that can help you look over the bike{maybe even show you a few things}? I wouldn't use your bud that helped you buy.......... Try calling a kawi dealer and see if they could help over the phone. It is hard to fix a bike over the inter net your best bet would be to find someone.

Once the bike warms up, you're supposed to close the choke. If the bike was never supposed to be ridden with the choke fully closed, they would have disabled the choke from being able to be fully closed.

Bad tank of gas, and fouled plugs.
Your motorcycle has been sitting too long with the same tank of gas in it.

If you can, remove the gas, and get fresh fill up of gas. Put some "carburetor cleaner" gas additive into the tank -- no more than a third of the little bottle.
Clean and gap the spark plugs.

Your motorcycle should work fine with just those simple steps. Have a good ride.