I noticed my 96 Vmax XT is taking about 5-6 pulls to start consistintly but will run great and idle fine after it starts, it has went through about 5 gallons of gas and has clean carbs, it did this most of last year as well.

My though is that its the reeds but not sure if there something else, the sled has like 350 miles on the rebuild and as i said runs great once its started. Actually let it idle for 15 minutes without a problem today.