From the Triumph Rat site.
If your float chamber is fitted with a brass needle valve you may find the valve sealing under its own weight before the float has risen far enough to press it shut. Symptoms of this problem can be that the carburetter takes a long time to tickle, hesitates on pickup and does not idle reliably. A Viton tipped aluminium needle valve is now available that overcomes this problem. It is now fitted as standard equipment to all new Mark 1 Concentric carburetters.