Sounds like you are nearly there, good progress.
RE starting on choke, three things you can check.
Choke plungers, there should be approx 1/32'' cable slack at the choke lever on the bars. This ensures the choke plungers lift enough to open the starting circuit and reseat with the choke off.
Somethings often missed, the starter circuit pulls fuel direct from the float bowl via the brass tube that projects down from the carb body. Clear the small holes in the tube.IE two cross drillings.
Also, there are two vertical tubes cast into the float bowl, one is blank, second one has a slant drilling at its base, make sure the slant drilling is clear, can you now blow through the tube ? If not, there is a small brass jet at the bottom of the cast tube, that can't be removed. It can be cleared with a piece of wire smaller than 0.7mm dia. If there is crud above this jet, clear it by hand with a 5.5mm drill followed by a 2.0mm drill, don't remove any metal. Then use the wire to clear the jet. Should now start on the choke.