Backfires + flames...good or bad?

[ducatiz]

Bad if you're riding a Ducati.
Good if you're driving the Batmobile.

[scienceiscool]

mine used to do the same thing!  I've got the same bike - 996 S4R with Arrow exhaust and no PC.  Means it's running rich and needs ECU tuning.  Blue flames at night are pretty awesome, but performance suffers.

[dlearl476]

The only consequence of running rich (other than fuel economy.... bah) is that you'll eat spark plugs and overall, things will get pretty mucky over time.  You will notice your bike running worse and worse the more the gunk builds up.  It sounds like you might want to go for a dyno tune.

+1

Take it to Flight and have them check it out.  3 cyl. BMW's did that if the throttle bodies were out of sync.  May be cool, but performance is suffering.

And +1 on videos before you get it fixed. 

[Lukey]

Thanks for the advice everybody...I'll see what I can do about the video, but don't hold your breath.  My camera is old and I've never UL'd a video before.

I will get the bike checked out, probably at Flight Cycles since he's so well spoken-of.