1986 vfr500 interceptor

I've got a 1986 vfr 500 interceptor. I just bought it from a friend for $300 and the problem I'm having is that it doesn't want to idle. Right off the bat, it's pretty difficult to get her to start up and run. You usually have to try for quite awhile to get her to start. The next problem is that in order for her to run the choke has to be like all the way on and even then you can't really just sit at a light and idle. She'll try to die on me. I'm wondering where I should start looking? I'm already going to be replacing all the vacuum lines because I know the one that comes out of the front right carb is broken and plugged. The thing is I was riding around on this thing like 6 months ago before he sold it to me, but it's sat in his garage since. Most of these problems were going on before. Is it just vacuum lines or something more sinister? Any help would be appreciated cuz I'm new to the vfr series. Thanks in advance!

 

Classic symptoms: Needs a thorough carb cleaning.....

 

Like the squirrelman says, gotta clean the carbs. Pilot circuts are varnished up along with everything else. Have it done professionally if you've never done one.