TOPIC:

If the smoking stopped as the engine warmed up, I would be more suspicious of the valve stem seals than the rings.

Never knew they could be damaged by the valve stem. Seals are only 800 miles old!

May have come loose.
Steve

Looking at them right now. They look undamaged and springs are still in place. Can feel good resistance when I push the valve stem through.

Wayyyy back when.. I would order a valve / head job gasket set for an engine. a top end gasket set,would also include a valve seals package with a condom or two, depending upon manufacturer.

Lately, I have kinda been letting that little detail slide on my stuff, knowing darn good and well that I >should< be using a condom. (don't we all?)

Of course, I do try and limit the number of times I slip the shaft into the bore, to cut down on the chances of causing something to happen, that can't be overlooked. Like your wetness concerns.

Valve seal wear / damage oil, almost always burns off right away (within 1 minute or so), but ring damage continues to smoke.

Hmm, just pulled the cylinders and everything looks good, dang it. This is Cyl #2 up close. Kinda hoping for an obvious problem. Sure is dirty around the studs, wth?

SOLVED!
For those who are curious:
AFTER I had removed the head, cylinders and examined the piston rings, replaced valves seals (only 800 miles on them!), new head gasket, etc. in a desperate attempt to solve the wet piston crow problem, I realized what had happened - ME! During the first rebuild I removed the EGR plumbing and ran a hose from one butterfly valve to the other. Several months ago while tinkering around I decided to re-install the EGR apparatus. Well, I had then mistakenly installed the left (cyl 1&2) butterfly valve upside down and the bike ran horribly. I quickly realized the problem and removed the EGR. During that short 2 mile ride those cylinders were constantly filled with exhaust gases from cyl 3-4, which I totally forgot about until now. Never even thought about it.
If only I had used my brain and remembered that F-up before tearing into the engine I could have saved myself $100 in gaskets, etc. and 2 months riding time. The only good news is that, while apart, I did install much-needed cam chain guides. So, thanks for trying to help and if anyone in the future ever has a strange problem with cyl 1-2 or 3-4, have them check their EGR plumbing! Best Regards.

EGR? Are you talking about the air injection system? Never heard of a KZ bike with EGR. I looked in the 1995 KZ1000P parts fishe and can't find any EGR system parts.

That system does not admit air or anything else to the cylinders. The reed valves admit filtered air into the exhaust port in order to dilute the pollutants to make the tailpipe-sniffing NAZIs happy.
The air travels through the air filter box, through the tubing and vacuum valve, through the reed valves, into the exhaust port, and out the exhaust pipes.
Repeat.

As to where this system could pick up oil and introduce it into the combustion chamber, by having one reed valve upside down has me baffled. That is a air injection of sort, with the exception of not having a AIR pump. As texaskz pointed out.. it draws filtered air out of the air cleaner, and sucks it into the exhaust for an after-burn in the mufflers of any remaining hydrocarbons in the exhaust gasses.

I can kind of understand not wanting to reinstall it as designed, but then again I can think of nothing adverse going on from leaving it intact. No HP loss, no performance loss, nothing adverse other than hooking up a couple of hoses. There is no reason to try to defeat it's purpose, yet removal can have adverse effects on how things function without being intact.