Took the wifes sporty to work this morning and she said it was blowing a bit of blue smoke when I took off

the bike has been sitting for a week or so but should that cause the blue smoke or should we be looking at something else??

 

any help/ideas would be most appreciated

 

Could it have been water vapour? My RKC puffs steam for a little while after startup

Gonzo

yeah not sure if it is just from sitting or not ... need to see if this arvo it is still blowing given that I will be giving it a good hard go on the way home

it is an 08 nightster with 3-4000 k's so still young

 

hence why I am asking about blue smoke, really dont believe it should be blowing any

What he said, only worry if it becomes a regular thing and starts using oil.

You prolly already know this but.....Water is a by product of combustion. Normally your exhuast system is hot and the vapour stays a vapour on the way out.
In cold weather, with a cold exhuast, the vapour comes out of the donk, hits the cold zorst system and turns to water, then when the pipe heats up it evaporates the water and, on a cold morning, it is the steam you see coming out of car exhuasts until the whole pipe gets hot.

So if it's cold weather and it's only doing it when the engine has run for a couple of minutes, then that's likely what it is and it;s pretty easy to tell steam from smoke.

If it truly is blue smoke, there is something wrong with the engine and it doesn't matter if it's sat for a while, it should be letting any oil past the valve stem seals or oil rings and into the combustion chamber.
If it's black smoke, then it's getting too much fuel for some reason.

well I havent seen any blue smoke since

maybe it was just due to sitting and it being a cold morning ..thanks for all the tips and advice