It sounds a bit strange, Joe. A single cylinder engine with a tight tappet will be hard to start, and down on power, but should run all right once it starts. I once actually ran a Honda postie bike like that for months before I figured out what was wrong. It went from needing rapid kicking to start it, to starting first kick after standing for three months, and suddenly felt like a MV Agusta instead of a mo-ped, but with the tight tappet it had never been known to quit, let alone fail to start. Are you sure you aren't missing something, like an intermittent fault somewhere? Fixing the tight tappet would make it run way better, but I don't see why it would quit after starting, when you'd primed it.
