Hey, don't give up on your bike yet.. I bought a 93' for 500 bucks. I have EXACTLY the same problems with the choke, with the bike running fine with the choke out, but it would die as soon as I pushed it in. I had some cracks in the reed valve boot, between the carb and intake. I bought a boyesen rad valve and replaced it. I completely dissasembled the carb, and cleaned everything. it didn't work. I believe that some of the passages in the carb body were partially rusted shut or something. So, I bought a new carb, and reassembled everything. It runs amazing now, except that it vibrates like crazy. The rings on your piston have nothing to do with your choke not working, but it wouldn't hurt to tear everything down to check it out.