OKay, I will do a compression test this week at some point. What kind of compression should I be looking for across the two cylinders.
One point is that this bike has sat for a few being 5 or so years and the owner filled the oil right to the top. Could be experiencing what they call 'blow by'?
Could the seals be dried right out?
Blow by is generally referred to as oil getting past the rings.
You generally want no more than a 10% variance between the 2 readings.
If you want to do a compression test you can, although it's a little different from a leakdown test.
Run the bike get it up to operating temp. Pull the plugs, put in your gauge, hold the throttle wide open and turn her over several times or less if the needle stops moving, do the same on the rear. Take down the readings.
Now repeat the test, but 1st squirt a little oil down into the cylinders through the spark plug hole. Try not to just slosh it in there, use some finesse. If your readings are significantly higher, then it's likely your rings, if they're the same then it's guides.
EDIT: Also, smoking while accelerating is usually a sign of bad rings. I forgot you said you were new to bikes, and should've asked when it was smoking. It's not as common as rings or guides, but once in awhile, you'll have a partially blown head gasket, which means that your head gasket around the oil return hole is compromised, but not enough to affect static compression. This isn't off the table for a bike sitting for 5 years. If your compression is good (min. 90+ psi in each cylinder), I'd pull the head and check the gasket.
JK
