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Without a tach you'll have to set idle by feel. Watch some Youtube videos of healthy bikes and try and match that thumping rhythm.
Ensure that your choke isn't left partially on. That'll kill a warmed up bike. Also, be sure to run carb cleaner through every other tank of fuel. This may seem like overkill, but you need to keep that carb clean or you'll run into all kinds of problems.
Your exhaust is popping because the mixture is actually slightly too lean and it's causing more heat to make its way down the exhaust system. That sputtering and mini-popping sound is very different from a situation where the mixture is too rich. In that case, you get what most people refer to as backfire, where the exhaust goes off like a shotgun... (It's actually an AFTERfire. Backfire is where the explosion happens back into the airbox and will literally scare your penis off.)
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