First time on forum.
I just bought an 87 Savage with plans to Bob it out in the near future. The bike started pretty good when I first got it, but you could tell it hadn't been used recently. The second time I rode it, it would stall out when at idle. Rode it a couple more times with only slight stalling(seemed to be OK after it warmed up). Rode it to work and back one day with no prob, next day couldn't get it started. Has a brand new battery which I think i drained trying to start(which is now charged back up). After ready a few forums and some searches, I'm wondering if I have bad compression?

Also the air filter was horrible. Could this alone be the prob.

I want to modify and put a cone filter on, what kind of adjustment may be needed w/ the carb.

I'm obviously an amateur mechanic, but part of the whole idea is for me to learn.

Any suggestions?

+1 sero

and puts some seafoam in the tank.

Have you looked at the s plug ? A bad plug will first show up as hard starting. And a dirty air filter could sure cause a plug to fail prematurely. And like a fuel filter, a dirty air filter will first show up at WOT hi speed, and slowly work its way down to slower speeds. It would rarely if ever affect idle to low speed.

Yadotta have a look at that cam chain..