So I managed to come across a running 77 XLT for a great price. Some friends and I took her out for a good 8 hour ride when we got it.

At first, it would start up without much issue, a slow turn or two and it was off. After the second stop on our trip, and at every stop after that, we had to jump it off. After that it would hesitate some at idle, and sometimes die. Got it home to my garage and threw the battery on the charger overnight, but it still wouldn't start unless I attached my charger and set it to 10 amp start.

Ordered a new starter shortly after and installed it. After doing so, the bike would get no power at all, but tracked that down to a loose wire to the ignition.

Now when I turn the key on, and press the ignition button, nothing happens. The light doesn't even dim.

Checked the continuity of all the wire, but everything APPEARS to be in order(did replace a couple wire, including the one to the ignition.) Tested the button and it functions on a test circuit.

The beast can be jump started(with a few attempts downhill lol,) but nothing else works, including the jump box. When we manage to jump start it, it runs a lot better than before, without any hesitation and can idles almost too strongly. Also, we noticed after jump starting and riding it around the yard that the upper exhaust pipe began to glow orange at the first bend. Though research says this is a common problem and may be from running to lean, just thought it might provide a little more information.

I'm thinking it may be the starter relay or the solenoid. I did run a jumper wire on the solenoid and the starter turned over without an issue, though there was about a 1 second delay from contact to turning. Are there any ways I can test the relay? Any other things I should know about testing the solenoid?

I am still somewhat of a mechanic novice, but love doing it myself. Does anyone have some advice? Maybe I missed a fuse somewhere? Anything would be of great help.