Honda CBR250 1987 blowing smoke?

[El Lanzo]

Hey there, dunno if this is in the right section, but I'm really interested in buying this CBR250 1987. Thing is... it'll be my first bike. Anyway, i went out to see it and it looked pretty alright to me and I got him to start it up (It was in Auckland around 4pm so pretty warm). I stood there admiring the beautiful sound it made but my mum said she saw a bit of smoke coming out etc etc. I was just wondering if this would be quite normal for a bike of this age (Its done 49k) and im hoping to buy it under 2,500$. Any comments welcome! Cheers.

[mark247]

Depends if the bike was cold or not, and it also depends if it was blue or black smoke. Cold bikes sometimes smoke( bikes with higher k's) or blow condensation out which is rather normal when cold. Blue smoke is a bad sign because that means burning oil which means either rings or valves are worn. Black smoke means richness and it may just need a tune. I would ask him if it burns any oil between oil changes.

[homer]

i think you already have doubts ,
why not go see if you can test ride it get some one to follow you and tell you if it smokes or not . it will when you get on the power if its going to
i wouldnt think it should smoke at all even at cold

[Skinny_Birdman]

i think you already have doubts ,
why not go see if you can test ride it get some one to follow you and tell you if it smokes or not . it will when you get on the power if its going to
i wouldnt think it should smoke at all even at cold

What he said. Give it the gun, and see whether it gives a small puff of smoke when you change gear, which would indicate worn valve seats (or smokes under power like homer sez). My '87 CBR250R got to 60,000km without burning a drop of oil between changes, but it steamed for a few minutes when cold starting. '87 is a good year for CBR 250s, (I think) the only year they came out with a full stainless exhaust system, and the last to have twin front discs until the RR came out.