Good news. After installing the new float assembly and diaphragm cap and putting everything back together with new choke, opener and closer cables, the throttle action is now very smooth and it snaps back when the throttle is released.
It's running better than it ever has and I think now it's probably time for me to take it to a tuner in order to have the idle screws set properly using a gas analyser.
The new carb closer cable, although identical when held up against the old one, just would not go into place with a locknut on each side of the carb bracket and so I had to put both locknuts on the other side of the adjuster. This got the carb snapping shut perfectly and I can't really see much of an issue with doing this? If and when the cable stretches slightly I may be able to relocate one locknut to where it should be, although I can't really see it stretching as it's the cable that I believe is under the least stress. Must've taken two hours to fit all three cables. One of the worst jobs on the Monster, for sure!
The Oxford sport heated grips are working nicely, although I'm a bit worried about the Monster's electrics and so I haven't yet tried them at 100% with the headlight on
This article made me slightly paranoid
http://www.ducati-upnorth.com/tech/chargingfailure.php
and I've already had one regulator fail on me. I bought a tiny little weatherproof LED voltage meter that I must hook up to an ignition live supply. I had it running for a few weeks permanently wired into the battery and everything seemed to be fine regarding the charging voltage. Better safe than sorry though!
Is anyone else using heated grips and have you had any issues regarding overloading the rectifier or generator?
So, some good progress over the Christmas period! The only thing I need now is weather above 5 degrees and I might be able to go on a bit more of a ride.
Thanks for all of the help and suggestions to get to this point and all the best to everyone on here for 2018.