I was just wondering if this is normal.

When starting up my bike, alot of smoke is produced from the exhuast for the first few minutes. I don't noticed once it's warmed up and I'm riding it around though. I was just wondering if this was a normal GS thing or if there is something I need to do.

I already plan on doing alot of work this summer on it. It leaks oil, pretty sure it's burning a little oil by the way it's starting up with some much smoke. Gonna clean the carbs, replace all gaskets, and paint the bike while I have the engine in pieces. Are there any other things I should check while I've got my bike in piece....oh yeah. Also plan on just cleaning up and making everything look nice a shiny. Atleast for the short while it's in the garage.

Smoke for several minutes?  Are you sure it isn't water vapor?  Most engines will belch a white cloud of water vapor as they warm up in the winter.  One of the combustion products of fuel containing ethanol is water.

If it is truly smoke (which will be blue or black in color) then we need to dig deeper.  Blue smoke is usually oil burning, black usually indicates a very rich mixture.

NOT BLACK!

It's more of a white maybe a hint of blue. Like I said I'm pretty sure it's burning a little oil. It has that smell. But like I said I don't notice any smoke during riding after the warm up.

I'd agree it's a little oil too, if it's mostly white exhaust but you can smell it. Using one's nose is an excellent diagnostic tool if you don't smoke yourself (!) LOL, you can tell a lot by the smell of exhaust as to what's going on with fuel and oil inside the engine. I mostly know from experience with cars, but I can sure tell if a bike is running rich, and also can track down some things to look for by exhaust and even sniffing around under the hood on a car.
Polishing the pieces is a good thing for making the bike look nice and also bonding with it. I think doing stuff like that makes then want to behave better. Maybe I'm a little  ,  but there have been studies that show if you cuss at your computer it will crash more than if you don't. But maybe that's because people who cuss at them are probably thumping on them too?   

Sounds like you're OK.  A little oil is nothing to worry about.

Quoteut there have been studies that show if you cuss at your computer it will crash more than if you don't. But maybe that's because people who cuss at them are probably thumping on them too?   laugh

Yeah, I don't doubt that a bit!  I'm a cusser and a thumper.  Maybe I need to upgrade to 300 MHz?