low compression on 200s?

[1984 honda 200s]

G'day fellers whats shakin your bacon??
im just wondering, my 84 200s has always been EASY to pull over. i recently just did a top end job( valves and gaskets). the piston is stock (no scoreing) and the sleeve is very good shape. i sold some parts to a lad who had the exact same bike. he says he is steady breaking ropes trying to start his even with the decompression button on!.
i let him try mine and he told me that this wasnt normal, its like theres nothing there...
im running the original rope and all, never have to use decomp. button, and always starts on 1/4 of a pull, runs very well. do you think my bike has lo compression or do you think my friends bike has something wrong?

[1984 honda 200s]

running a stock header pipe and new cobra megaphone on the back......

[1984 honda 200s]

..did a compression test and got 120..did the ring+valve trick with oil, and got 150. so looks like the rings are worn?

[Crash5291]

my newest purchase is the 83, starts and runs great like you its simple to pull over and 1/4 pull it runs even when its covered in frost did a compression check today and its just a hair over 90psi warm no oil, didn't try that (non on hand to use)

[sledrat]

sounds like you have a good engine
your friends engine whom is breaking ropes might be a little out of time..
i would recheck the valve lifter clearance how did the valve seats look?
clean them perfectly.

[ailll1]

My 200s is pretty hard to pull over, I need to hold the handle really hard and yank it with all my weight so it doesnt kick back. If it kicks back, the handle slips off my hand all the time and it hurts a lot. Never broke the rope once thought. The engine has 120psi compression also.

[1984 honda 200s]

@crash all you need is a quart cap full of oil on the piston, poor it threw the spark plugg hole then pull it over once. put your tester back on and pull about 7 times than you should see..90psi is really low !
my engine was knocking kinda loud before, i just did a valve clearence check about 4 days ago,the exhaust valve was off abit. adjusted it and its fine now, but extreamly easy to pull, i did get the cylinder honed lightly when i did top end gasket work, it had maybe 2 small scratches on the sleeve and none what so ever on the piston
@ aill thats odd, some kick back like yours and other just seem to have no comprssion what so ever like mine LOL.
i just did a bottom end swap on a 185, i put it all together and it has a kick back like yours, very strange...

[Frankencelery]

My 200s has a working decompression cable, but as you guys know, it "misfires" every once in a while and the thing kicks back and about pulls my arm out of its socket. A buddy of mine had a 185, and pulling it was always super easy, but we raced them and they were about evenly matched (I would start to pull away in 5th gear, which he didn't have), so I didn't see much difference in performance. Never done a compression test on either one though.

[1984 honda 200s]

my 200s doesnt have a decompression cable hooked up, i locked up the button thing on the head so it doesnt move. i never have to use it since it is that easy! normal compression reading is 156 + or - 14
mine read 120, so i put oil on top of piston and got 150. the manual says more than 10% off the 156 reading with oil on the piston means rings are worn.. i dunno anymore lol. runs good ,looks good, dailey runner.