Puffin smoke at redline

[NortonCharlie]

I was riding with some friends, one of which has a Harley Screamin Eagle Road King.  We got next to each other a couple times and had to run them through the gears to see who was faster.  We know who was faster.  But the folks following behind told me I puffed a cloud of smoke when I shifted.  They were far enough back so couldn't be sure if it was just before or during the shift and couldn't tell if it was black or blue smoke.  I was in it all the way and shifting just before the rev limiter kicked in.



Is this something they all do?



BTW, I have an 01 Green 955i Tiger with about 40,000 miles.  At the 36,000 mile checkup I had them run a compression check when they were doing the valves and all 3 cylinders were running about 184 + - a couple PSI.  I have used about a Quart of oil in 3800 miles.  That is a bit more than a year ago, but I have done some pretty hard running in hot temperatures on this oil change.  Also my friends say they have never seen or smelled any signs of oil burning when I ride with them, only a good puff shifting when running as hard as I can.  The people seeing the smoke puff were probably close to a 1/4 mile back.

[Sasquatch]

Probably nothing to worry about.  If the bike has not been run HARD in a while, you could be just cleaning it out, so to speak.

[NortonCharlie]

Tigerjay,  Got your post while writing this one.  I usually run the bike pretty hard a little everytime I ride, but not this hard.  This was all it had through 3 or 4 gears (kind of fun really).  But I wouldn't be suprised if the smoke was really just cleaning out the exhaust system.  Dumping an Oxygen rich mixture (backing off the throttle to shift), alot of it at 9500 RPM, into a hot exhaust system.  In fact I should make a point of doing this once a week or so simply to keep things clean  :lol:  :lol:



I got some responses back from the other lists, and don't think I have anything to worry about.  Probably a bit rich under those conditions.  Several others experience the same thing with various Hinkly Triumphs. I could be sucking a little oil into the cylinders either by the oil rings or the valve guide seals (seem a bit unlikely), but under those conditions it would almost be considered normal.  My oil consumption is good and the bike is running better than ever at 40,000 miles.  I'll let you know how it's going at 80,000 miles.

[NortonCharlie]

Smoking problem is fixed,  It was the seal on the end of the balancer shaft inside the alternator cover.  Turn out it was in upside down fron the factory.  A new seal, installed a couple of times (It is a little tricky to get together without screwing up the seal) and no more smoke.  Oil consumption dropped also, to say nothing of improved gas milage and better performance.

[robbo]

And there I was going to say its because got the green one, if your got a black one you wouldnÌt have had any problems. :roll:  :)