My 99 savage with 20k on her is hurting pretty bad, but I can't bring myself to let her go yet.  I was hoping maybe this forum could help.

A few weeks ago she started sounding funny so I decided to bring her in.  The first place I brought her to said it sounded like something was busted and moving around in there and he would have to do an engine rebuild.  "POPPYCOCK!" I exclaimed, I just rode her 100 miles on Saturday and another on Sunday.. now its Monday and she's busted?!?
So I brought her to a more reputable dealer.

After adjusting the valves, doing a compression test, and $118 later they said she was leaking 50% of air and they would need another $295 just to see what the problem is... not including what it would be to fix it.

My idea was hoping that maybe some of the bright motorcyclists here could give me some possibilities of what the problem could be, save me 295, and I could potentially turn this into a project bike.  I'm not mechanically savvy, but I don't think this is good and i'll probably have to either swap the engine or do a rebuild.  Just asking for some input on some potential easy, or more likely, not so easy fixes.  

Thank you anyone who gives some input.  It's greatly appreciated!

Thanks for the input Justin! That should be simple enough to check.  

Forgive my ignorance, but how would the cam chain tensioner lead to a failed compression test?

Where do you live?

Maybe we have some forum members in your area.....or the members know of a reputable mechanic near you.