If he built it, he's bullshitting about the power, but if it was sold to him like this, then he's prolly regurgitating whatever stupid shit the person sold it to him told him. Defiantly check compression, he might not let you pull the pipes or head to check stroke, or condition of cylinders. There's a thread on here about what to look for when buying a used bike. Find it, read it, live that shit. And of course, if the price is right, might be worth the risk. I'd feel comfortable at about $1500 for this bike. It's got some nice stuff on it. If compression checks out, and everything else looks good, buy it, and rebuild when it blows up.