Motorcycle Repair: Upper end rebuilding, softail 1340, rod bearing

Question
Hi Mike,
I have 99 softail 1340 with 28k miles.I have done every potential mod. to increase hp. excluding having it rebuilt from top to bottom. The shop that supplies my maint. stated that one of the main reason they found for loss in power was the compression was really low in one of the cylinders. My question is does it make sense to rebuild the upper half now and do the lower half next winter? Lastly, what do you consider rebuilding the upper half? thanks for your time

Answer
When you rebuild the top end you remove the heads and rework the valves, remove the cylinders and install new pistons if needed, and regasket. Whith the amount of milage you have on the bike you really dont need to worry about doing the bottom end. It should be fine for quite a while. the only reason for rebuilding the bottom end is a rod bearing or side bearing goes out.
Good luck and happy riding
Mike