Newbie question - :)

[Morganinaboat]

Proud new owner of a 1999 model and have been on 3-4 rides so far.  As I was warming up the bike today I noticed a slight amount of smoke from directly under the engine and crawled around to find the cause.  Seemed like there was enough greasy gunk built up around the kick stand area that once the engine heated up that gunk started to melt a bit and smoke.  So my question is can I use a degreaser in that area and clean things up to eliminate that lil problem?  Sorry for the simple question and I apologize if it's already been covered in here elsewhere.  Thanks so much.   

[slappy]

Yes, just clean it up then put  something like WD40 on the sidestand pivot and the sidestand cut off switch.

[darrsi]

Smoke from the stand area?
Sounds odd to me!

[Ebme Geek]

If he has that much gunk down there maybe there is some on the exhaust as well, anyway as slappy said clean it up, but I prefer to use spray can chain lube for pivots like the stands, it sprays on easy, flows into the pivots and dries to a grease so lasts longer than wd40
 
By the way welcome to the site ........ good choice of bike, yep, reason to be a proud owner 
 
........ normal request, show us a picture of your bike
 

[fazersharp]

If he has that much gunk down there maybe there is some on the exhaust as well, anyway as slappy said clean it up, but I prefer to use spray can chain lube for pivots like the stands, it sprays on easy, flows into the pivots and dries to a grease so lasts longer than wd40

Defiantly this.
And for cleaning gunk I use parafin or somtimes called kerosene from your local garage in that bin outside near the door

[Punkstig]

As above, the gunk will return in time as this is the chain lube flinging off the chain!

[slappy]

If he has that much gunk down there maybe there is some on the exhaust as well, anyway as slappy said clean it up, but I prefer to use spray can chain lube for pivots like the stands, it sprays on easy, flows into the pivots and dries to a grease so lasts longer than

Never thought of using chain lube like that, its a good tip.    42 years of riding and maintaining  bikes and I am still learning.