Scooterotica

Saw a good bit of blow by on the piston and measured the ring gap in the barrel and it's 0.80mm.

I read the gap should be no more than 0.60mm, but this gap wouldn't have been big enough to cause starting problems would it?

Could be, depends on what the compression is. Typically you need to have at least 100psi for a motor to reliably fire off. I find about 130psi to be a 1-2 kick bike every time. This is all very loose math here as there are lots of factors that will affect compression.

Ring gap = 0.12mm per inch or bore.