You folks have seen me whine about this before but now I have a few more clues. Maybe someone will know where I should look next. What it does is:

Always, without fail, cranks cold.

Sometimes after running a while will not restart. No click, no nothing. The light dies when I hit the start button. Does that mean the start button is working? When it Does finally fire the solenoid it cranks as if it is all full of life. Not dragging around barely cranking over.

I have bypassed the kickstand switch & clutch switch. Is there another switch I need to bypass?

What you need to do is to get another bike... one to ride, one to fix...

if the headlight is dying on start, you have a short... wait, maybe not, what year is it?

yeah, sounds like the starter switch is working...  if yout ake off the left side engine top cover (it's purely cosmetic), you should be able to see the decomp lever.  when you press the starter switch, you should see the lever move.

I do not recall offhand how much noise the starter relay, not solenoid (okay, maybe it's a solenoid...? but it functions as a relay) makes.  I seem to recall that it should click.  I doubt it is broken, though, but it might be.  SO... if it's not clicking, it's prolly no good, or not getting juice itself.

You may want to take off the starter motor and test it.  be careful, it likes to spin!  You can directly connect the hot/red lead of a 12V batter to the little post, and the other/black/ground/cold lead to where it bolts to the engine.  If it spins like crazy, it works, assuming you have a good battery.

I have poked around a bit more & here's what I am seeing. The decomp is noisy when it gets power. That IS the click I hear when the starter engages. Gonna find the solenoid next.
I have found the decomp controller. When it gets power it can be felt, like any relay. IF it gets power it works. IF the decomp solenoid gets power it works. I will look for any wires that I have crushed, tho in my studying this thing I think I would have spotted it, but I will make a conscious effort now.
The starter switch on the handlebar dims the headlight BEFORe it sends power to the decomp controller. I am starting to wonder about the starter switch but the fact it always cranks cold makes me wonder how it could be the switch when it seems like the "fail to crank" problem is related to having been run & that switch is far from heat . I am baffled! BTW, doesn't even almost upset me to be having this problem. That doesn't mean I don't want help, just that I am learning a lot about this bike I wouldn't learn if I didn't have any problems. I will share what I learn so if anyone else finds this problem maybe this will help.

Paladin. wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:12:
what is the status of your battery?? under volt?(original that came with bike?)sounds like UNDER voltage to me,loose connection(s)low charge state...

OKay, it wouldn't crank when I tried to leave a restaurant yesterday. Hit the start button & NUTHIN, no click, nada. Hit the little button I added & it fired right up. Conclusion? Since the clutch & kickstand switches are bypassed & since my button fires the decomp timer & not just the starter solenoid, the only thing it can be is the starter switch itself. Or a busted wire or bad connection, which I will look for one day, but for now my problem is solved. Thanks for the input, I hope this helps someone someday.

6 a?? Naaahhh. I ripped a tiny little switch off the control panel of a dead dvd player. Ran a wire from the input of the decomp solenoid to the switch, ran the other lead to the red wire under the seat. It is always hot & it will turn over without a key in the ignition when I push the button. I stuck the switch, still on a section of the circuit board, in 2 fingers , one inside the other, of a nitrile glove for waterproofing. Naturally liberal amounts of electrical tape were used. To connect to the decomp solenoid & the red wire I used automotive fuse taps. I used zip ties & mounted the switch under the frame rail on the right side with one tie in fron of & 1 behind the bar the tank mount bolts run thru.
How long will this miniature switch take the punishment? No idea. All I did was isolate the problem & give myself hope of getting home.

U mean pulling the solenoid & just jumping a hot wire straight onto the starter manually? Like an old truck with the floor switch ? I thot of that, too..   Not out of the question. But, I do think it's easier & just as practical to used a solenoid. They rarely just up & fail w/o warning.Thanks for the link, haven't gone there yet.