I did 300 miles on mine before opening it up runs really nice.
Has a 70cc polini kit
19mm dellorto carb
boyesen power reeds
Polini air filter
Gets up to 56/57mph
As for the starting problem. Did you use the choke? Mine can be a pain in the rear to kick start if i dont put the choke on.
Lonewolf sounds to me as though the bikes overheating happened to me once. Check the heat rating on your plug & try a different one. I think mine is a 7 but not 100%.