Tenere 1VJ - puff of smoke
 

Hello
Fuel in my tenere 1VJ has a tendency to go stale quicker than my other bikes. Tried to start it the other day and it wouldn't fire. In the back of my mind i knew it was the fuel having gone off but like an idiot i just kept pressing the starter. Got a puff of smoke which seemed to come from towards the front of the bike and then starter wouldn't turn.
can anyone tell the order of things i should check? I was going to look at fuses and then starter relay?
Any and all help gratefully received.

Sounds a lot like you now have a dead battery, or blown a fuse. I'd start there.
Fuel - what grade / ethanol content? How old is it? SHOULD be good for a couple of months regardless of what it is.
How long since it was last run?

Thanks, Grant - I'll definitely start with the battery and fuse and see how i go.

The fuel thing is weird - i've had some bikes that seem more prone to it going stale than others. i can leave my 1997 bmw r1100rt for weeks no problem, but a similar era fireblade i had (1998) would have stale fuel after 2/3 weeks - my mechanic didn't believe it when i told him but it's easy to tell fuel's gone off by its smell...and by the fact that when you change it for fresh stuff it fire up immediately. Both those bikes were running 95 (5% ethanol)