Exhaust Turned Blue -- Running Lean?

[rexfatuus21]

Hey guys! I am sure this is well worn territory but I am looking for a place to start and have one BIG question.

I just bought an 03 Vstar 1100. The guy I guy it from had put Vance and Hines slips ons on it and had recently had the carbs rebuilt and cleaned. He CLAIMS they rejetted it properly. The AIS system is in tact.

After riding it about 250 miles, the front exhaust header went from blueish and orange to fully blue and purple and is now just like..... blue. From what I gather I am either running way lean because I need to rejet, the AIS system is contributing to the lean condition and should be removed, or something else weird is happening.

I haven't really done any initial work on this bike (tune up/oil change/new plugs/etc) YET but plan on it. I figured I would ride it around town a bit and get a feel for it as I slowly acquired whatever parts etc that I need.

The big question is AM I GOING TO DO DAMAGE TO THE BIKE RIDING IT AS IS?

Obviously it needs to be addressed but I'd still like to ride it around town for the last of Fall....

Thanks for any tips or advice anyone might have!!!

[pauli466]

to much fuel blues the pipes, read the manual it states don't leave the choke on too long or you risk bluing the exhaust pipes, lean will do it too but if your lean the bike will usually have a slight skip on a really hard pull, and lean will usually only blue the first couple inches where as rich will blue the whole pipe, running lean can and will hurt an engine, if you hear the engine pinging richen it soon or you will damage something, if you think it's running lean don't strain the engine, just ride nice and easy until you have it checked out, i would also disable or remove the ais system, pumping fresh air into an exhaust will definitely create deceleration poping