Motorcycle user forums promote a lot of bad practice. Among them is the bad use of tools, and ironically, the use of bad tools. "Toy tools", I call them. Not realizing it would get be banned from a forum, I used this term in a forum dialogue once. And banned I was. The discussion was about cylinder compression, and specifically about testing compression using a compression tester. All I did was what I do on my website, advocate good tools. There is so much nonsense surrounding compression on forums. The fact is, ninety perecent of the compression testers available are junk. And it has nothing to do with the length of the tester's hose. It has to do with the quality of the tester. They're all toys. I don't understand why this is not better known. But then forums don't know a lot of things that career mechanics know, and this is no less true when it comes to tools. Not surprising. Best practices have a lot to do with tools, and best practices are foreign to online sources of advice.

The classic Snap-On compression tester beloved by career mechanics may not be the only good one out there, but it is a known quantity and you must either buy it or find one of equal quality and while that will not be impossible, it will be difficult. This tool is very important. It is not the place to go cheap.

You don't have to get the Snap-On tool. But whatever you get needs to have well-made individual test hoses, should have an all-metal gauge with a glass front, and you really want high quality throughout. That will almost inevitably lead you to the Snap-On item, of which there are dozens for sale on ebay.