Smoking cylinder

[Seth]

Bike in question - 77rs
Only on cold days (25F or lower) the bike puts out a HUGE smoke cloud out of the left cylinder that clears in about 15 seconds. Warmer days, nothing. No significant oil consumption to speak of. The bike is always parked on the center stand.

Ok - need to do the usual compression and leak-down tests, but any thoughts about the cause? Is it possible the cold increases the ring gap, and the ring gap is on the bottom of the cylinder?

Thanks in advance for any comments.

[bluesman]

what color is the smoke?

[Seth]

Blue oil smoke.
The smoke only occurs at startup, 1 cylinder, cold weather only.

[George inMinneapolis]

I read an article by Oak in the Airmail that says the proper way to turn off an airhead is to turn the bike off while it is upright, then lean it to the right for 10 seconds to let the oil drain out of the left cylinder, then put it on the side stand. When you start up, no smoke.

I haven't tried it yet since there is this winter thing going on outside.

[hal]

Look forward to test that one in when that winter thing stops. I've got a bad back (spine broken in motorcycle accident) so don't really like the center stand.