[Dave 96TA]

I've always been more of a car person, and in car world when your exhaust parts start running red hot there is almost always a lean condition. I'd say there's certainly a problem with the mixture (too much air or not enough fuel) causing the extreme temps. This would also affect your ability to start the bike cold. Higher air:fuel ratio = hotter burn in combustion chamber. It can get dangerously off balance and cause detonation damaging valves, pistons, etc. You'd much rather run rich and foul plugs than lean and blow motors. The ideal combination is just a tad lean at part throttle giving you the best efficiency and a tad rich at WOT giving you enough fuel to not starve the motor at high RPM.