Sublunacy, The reeds look to be sealing well, I did loosen the screws and try to square one side up a little better.  There's not much play there, but it made me feel better for trying to micro manage.      As for the compression, with throttle wide open and about 6 to 8 kicks I had 150psi.  Not sure if that's too many kicks, or if kick count isin't as important as the final pressure reading though.

Motorgeek, thanks for the reply that makes a lot of sense.  I did order some boyesen reeds yesterday (cheap insurance to rule out reed problem), do you think I should try to get some backstops, or with the boyesens' it shouldn't be an issue?

Also I'm wondering if the bike is fairly stock and seems lean with a 250 main jet if I don't have a crank seal leak, does that sound like a possibility?

Thanks everyone so far for the replies and help