Yeah - I guess it’s because it’s done a fair few miles - you start looking and listening more for potential trouble this far down the road.
sounds like a great idea! you gonna do a thread? take pics?
Yeah - it should be interesting - basic stuff like bearing replacement (head and wheels) brake overhaul (new seals/new lines), renewing fork seals and fork oil, as well as other stuff like repairing and respraying scratched engine casing, respraying frame and bodywork, removing the exhaust headers and cleaning all the rust off them etc.
My advice? I’ll repeat something from …er…a while back.
White “smoke” is o.k., it’s just water being driven off.
Blue smoke when the bike is warm. You’ve an oil burning problem.
Blue smoke from start up. You’ve serious oil burning problem.
Black smoke. Time for a re build or new bike.
You probably have an English winter “problem”. Ignore.
I get that a lot with my Bandit, quite embarrassing the amount of steam it produces on a cold morning.
If you put your hand in the steam as it comes out of the exhaust, you will end up with wet fingers :hehe:
It shouldn’t be hot, just warm at that stage, about the same temp as the air you breathe out.
Thanks fellas - love Oldguy’s Exhaust Smoke ‘Haiku’ beautiful! 
Yeah Eazyrider - on start up in the cold it looks like a kettle coming to boil.
Same on my 99 Gixxer - Its a HUGE amount. They should hire it for the X Factor stage effects.
