Id`start by cleaning the battery cables up & any grounds along the way.
If you can clip the leads on & wiggle stuff,, well, you know.

Oh boy, 1 volt drop just by sitting still. More when you crank/run. There's only three places on the + side: Battery +, ignition lock connector and kill switch.
On the ground side... good luck. I hate loose grounds on cars, not fun to find and cause weird s**t.
Take it easy and do what Justin said. Cover every connector you find, clean it, tighten, whatever it takes. It can't hurt while you're at it.

Ignition lock connector and kill switch. That's what you have left on the + path to the coil. Check voltage between ground and those points.

dasch wrote on 04/12/10 at 09:18:30:

I think this is what I referred to as "junction near the ignition key."  Also, can you tell me specifically how to test the kill switch?  And I will also try the short-cut you mentioned in your last post.  Thanks.

Okay, I've tried every test I know to try.  Still no fire at the sparkplug.  Voltage is getting to the kill switch, the coil, the ignition, etc.  I think I'm gonna try replacing the coil.  Any other ideas short of that?

Oh, I got some ideas... all bad. Do what ratz said, for start. Check ohm reading of the disconnected coil.

You know... mine wouldn't start once, and it was because of the loose connection on the CDI. Everything looked tight, but one of the wires was still loose. I had to rattle each one separately while a friend was cranking, to find it...

It's been a long haul, but I got her back on the road last evening.  Here's a summary of my findings, with no definitive root cause as yet.  I tried all the testing on the wiring.  Finally found that the plug wasn't firing.  And, SURPRISE, the next time I tried it the plug WAS firing!  I got the wiring harness from Sakara and was gonna try that, but it wasn't necessary.  Last weekend I discovered that the main wire bundle, rear of where the headlight wiring branches off, had an issue:  While the bike was running, when I pulled it forward or pushed it in under the tank, the bike would die.  I think I had routed it wrong at some point in the past.  Re-routing it with plenty of slack, and on top of the tank support "ears", fixed the problem.  I rode to work today with everything working just right.  

Thanks for the help.  Just wanted to bring the thing full circle to a conclusion.

serenity3743 wrote on 05/27/10 at 05:14:19:

So it has a problem, but you fixed it by tugging on the wire and then tieing it down where it worked.  Seems to me that either you have a loose connector or a broken wire.  Sure, I'd ride it but I'd carry what I'd need to fix it at all times.