Kicker broke the cover?

[Redbird]

Make sure when you kick the bike you kick it hard and follow all the way through. Half arsed kicks and stopping part way can cause the motor to kick back like trying to start backwards and a broken cover is often the result.

Thanks for the info. In the decade and a half that I've been kicking her over, I felt like I'd gotten a feel for it. Basically, I push the kicker down kinda slow until I feel her hit compression. I would then let the kicker return to the top and give it a steady push down through about 75% of the arc. Usually she lights up around the 30% mark, but if not, I'd start the process over again from the beginning. But moving forward, I'll make the mental note of 'don't treat her like a school girl. kick her like a Ho that owes you money.'

[Redbird]

Just a thought.  Perhaps you can put the assembly back in and rotate it with the kick starter and see if there's anything wrong( with the cover off).  Maybe by visual inspection of the moving parts?

I did just that. Thinkin maybe the ratchet mechanism in the kicker was somehow the culprit. Couldn't find anything that appeared out of the ordinary. But if by chance it happens again, I can replace the kicker shaft assembly as well.