and I noticed that all of these testing procedures (including the manual I bought) assume the presence of a battery. This bike has no battery...

 

one more thing I notice after looking at the wiring on this thing. It looks like the "secondary" voltage out of the magneto goes up to the key switch on the left side (as sitting on bike). Do you think this key switch might be the culprit?

Think I'd be that lucky?

 

I think that there is nothing wrong with the gen or with the reg.

I am not really familiar with the XLCHs, and especially the early ones [60s] with mag etc. The ignition circuit breaker that you are referring to is different from the electrical cb's that i am referring to.

The electrical circuit breakers are usually under the seat. There may be one under the headlite eye-brow. There are either 3 [earlier] or 4 [later]: MAIN, IGN, ACC and LIGHTS. Here they are on my 1978 ...



If you can find the circuit breakers like i am talking about, and listen closely, if there is a short you will hear the breaker click; if you have a finger on it you will feel the click as well.

What is in the lighting circuit? Where, for example, does the wire to the tail light originate from, and what path does it follow? Must be a problem somewhere on one of those wires, and there are not that many of them.

A very common spot for for pinched wires and the consequent short circuit is where the wire runs along the inside of the fender rail to the tail end, especially if there are turn signals.

 

shared something with you in PM that I cannot post here.. take a look and tell me what you think about what I'm seeing/saying.