Motorcycle Repair: Blown head gasket or breather drain?, cylinder head gasket, blown head gasket

Question
I bought an 81 honda cb650 at a garage sale and it has an oil leak that looks like it is comming from the cylinder head gasket. It only leaks a little and will see a few drips of oil after ten miles or so. But it seems to have lots of compression still and if it was a blown gasket wouldn't I hear the noise? I did drain the breather tube and it had tons of water or oil in it. Someone said it could be the breather. Thanks for any help you can give me.  

Answer
Hi Dave.
 If you drained the breather and it had any fluid in it, then you should have been able to tell if it was water or oil.  Water will have no color and oil is lighter than water.  If there was water and oil, then there may have been a white substance in the oil.  That would indicate water in the system for a long time.  If you have that, then flush the system and replace the oil.

 Now, the cylinders have three gaskets; the lower head gasket (at the base of the head where it meets the crankcase), the upper head gasket (about half way up the head, where the head widens out) and the valve cover gasket (the highest major gasket on the engine).  If the leak is from the valve cover gasket, then it is easy to fix.  If it is one of the other two, then it will require the bike being out of service for a day or two and will be far mor difficult to replace.  Refer to the repair manual for specifics.

 As far as your breather, check the air filter.  If it is excessively dirty, then the engine would pull oil up from itself through the breather tube.

Good luck.
FALCON