Trouble with my trail boss 250

[stonekn]

This summer, I had the trail boss 250 out & it slowly got harder & harder to start.Eventually, it just wouldn't start at all. Notable checklist-compression is good, fuel is spewing out the back of the carb when it's running(we cleaned the carb & adjusted the float to what I beleive to be correct factory baseline), no backfiring, engine seems to run smooth once running, but it takes forever to start & of course the old P.O.S. is without a battery, so we have to pull start it. We would have to have one guy pull 20 times while the other guy holds the throttle at 3/4 open to get it to start. We have so many other rides that we just parked it & forgot about it, but it's such a smooth riding bike, I hate to see it sit & not be put to use...Any thoughts????

[4getful2]

get a battery
try some starting fluid
check choke cable for free-play about 1/16"--1/8"

[stonekn]

the choke cable is properly adjusted and the starting fluid barely works. I'm wondering if my reeds might be bad. it sat for quite a while before I got it out this summer & I'm thinking the reeds may be damaged of warped