Table o' parts

Confidence is a table full of carburetor parts.
My bike has been running rough since I replaced the petcock - the doohicky that allows gas to flow to my carburetors when the engine's running. My old one was, well, old, like 30 years old. It let me know just how old it was by letting all the gas that wanted to flow into my carbs just go do it, even when the bike wasn't running! Yup, that old petcock was generous.
But coming out to my bike after work to find a puddle of gas beneath it was unnerving -- as was the ride home thinking there was a potential bomb just beneath my crotch and I was riding it at 70 mph an hour down the freeway. At one point, it made me so nervous, I slowed to 60 because we all know gasoline burns much more gently at that speed.
So I parked my bike for a week while I waited for my new petcock to come in the mail and drove my hated Saturn Vue. Why did I ever buy that thing?! God, I hate even looking at it. I feel like such a jerk driving that box.
Well, the new part arrived and it was an ill-fitting after-market part. So off it went back to the company while I ordered the correct, stock part from a different company. Sigh. Another week went buy - meanwhile, I went to work, took a few days off, went camping with the family.
When I got home, yay! My new part was waiting for me!
On it goes and everything's hunky dory. No. Wait. What's this? I ride my bike around and its like slogging through mud. It has no power, and twisting the throttle feels like I'm pouring cold oatmeal down my bike's throat.
Sadly, I park the bike again.
Today, with some trepidation, I removed the side panels, removed my airbox, removed my gas tank and then - pulled the carbs.
When I got inside the most amazing thing - bits of rubber everywhere!
I think, although I'm no egghead or mechanic for that matter, that the seals on my old petcock began to dissolve and trickled into my carburetors, clogging up critical passageways for my fuel and upsetting that delicate balance required for the carbs to operate well.
It was a relief to find this junk.
I plan to wrap up the cleaning tomorrow and (fingers crossed) get back on the road.