First on this forum there are no stupid questions. How long are you letting the bike warm up before you start riding. The rule of thumb is to let it warm up until the rear rocker box is warm to the touch.
What he said! Are you starting it with the enrichment pulled out? Does it run better or worse when pulled out? Is it backfiring and if so where from? Sounds kinda like intake gaskets......possibly
Remove the float bowl and check your low speed jet. a #45 or 46 should take care of it
Maybe a good carb cleaning and rebuild is in order. Pretty simple to do and you can get a kit from J&P etc. You could always spray a little flammable product (WD40) around the intake gaskets while its running to see if they are leaking.