Blue Smoke

Hello
I am new to motorbikes. I have a 79 Honda Goldwing that I bought from a
friend of mine that passed away a year ago. I don't know much about it and
have taken it out a few times. I love it.
Theres a couple of questions I have:
The Tires look good and was wondering what the depth I should go by for
replacing the tires?
I have a little wabble in the front and took the wheel to a Honda dealer
and he told me there is a slight bow in the rim, but not to worry. Is that
correct?
Also when I first start the bike it puts out blue smoke. It disappears when
I get it warm. It only started this the last few times I took it out. Could
this be caused by fuel?
Thank You

 

The tires should have "wear bars", the owners manual should help out, if not
take it for an assessment from your local dealer.

The bent rim is something to be concerned about, and how it got that way!
Did the mechanic say anything about the tires when they looked at the rim?

Blue smoke when it's cold...sounds like valves, how much blue smoke? If
it's excessive then you may have to correct it soon, if it's just a few
puffs then you may not have much to worry about, yet. How much oil does it
use between oil changes, if this is excessive then you might want to correct
the problem soon.

 

When bike with a boxer type engine is parked on it's sidestand,
oil may collect on the low side of the engine and show up as blue
smoke when the engine's first started.

If it's running OK, just keep an eye on the oil to make sure it
doesn't get too low and ask for an opinion on the compression
and valves when you get a first oil change.

 

For ****'s sake.....

 

A tire may have plenty of tread, but still be old and hard from being
dried out during storage.

A fairly new tire is worn out when there is about 1/6th of an inch of
tread left in the most worn out part of the tire.

Motorcycle tires don't wear evenly. The front tire wears on the sides
and it scallops and you see all sorts of weird looking cups and raised
tread blocks if the owner didn't keep the tire properly inflated or if
he rode the motorcycle really hard.

The front air pressure in the manual is for comfort when the motorcycle
is being ridden straight up, if the rider likes to get "frisky" in the
corners and see how fast he can go, the front tire doesn't have enough
air pressure if it's inflated to the manual's recommendations for a
comfortable ride.

I'm not saying to use more air pressure than is recommended by the
manual, that will make the front tire skittery. But weird front tire
wear is something you will have to learn to accept on your Old Wing.

It will cause the "wabble" you described.

You can check the "bow" for yourself. Put yuor Old Wing on the
centerstand and push it away from you so the near foot of the
centerstand comes off the pavement.

Then push a piece of 2 X 4 under that foot and let the centerstand sit
on it.

Your rear tire will sit on the pavement and your front tire should be
off the pavement.

Tape an ordinary lead pencil to the fork leg. Turn the wheel so you
find a place where the pencil lead touches the wheel rim. Turn the
wheel until you find the place where the pencil lead is furthest from
the wheel rim. This distance should be no more than
0.08 inches ( 80/1000ths of an inch). If the "bow" is more than that,
get a straight rim.

If your rim is straight enough (less than 0.08 bow), the tire may be
scalloped and cupped. Replacing the tire with a new one will get rid of
the "wabble" for a time, but, as the tire ages over about six months,
it will scallop and cup again, and you may find you need a new tire
before the old one has even 10,000 miles on it.

Old Wings did that, especially the first year model that came out in
1975 or 1976. Oil leaked past the valve guide oil seals and the Old
Wing would smoke for a few minutes when it was started.

Not directly by the octane of the fuel, no. But, if your carburetor
floats leaked gasoline, you might find that the oil level in your
crankcase was rising and the oil level under the valve covers would
rise and you might get start up smoke for that reason.

But the Old Wings had a mechanical fuel pump, you wouldn't experience
the kind of crankcase flooding with gasoline that you get from gravity
feed systems when the float valves stick.

I recommend smelling your oil though. If it smells like gasoline,
you're getting diluted oil and that's not good for the engine.