Update--
I pulled the electric start motor (left its housing in place to cover the hole in the primary), which instantly took away a lot of "resistance" I felt from the kicker. Still get the clutch slip feeling occasionally, but not as much now that the primary moves freely.
Still need to go in and pull the sprag and starting gears... I'll come to that later.
For now, the engine appears to have some starting issues. Since I pulled the electric starter, I've gotten it to run a handful of times, but always after a LOT of kicking. Whenever it has started, I've had to goose the throttle just to keep it running. Won't seem to idle even for a minute.
The gas in the tank was pretty old, so I used a siphon hose to suck it out and put in 2 1/2 gallons of premium (Shell, if that helps). Thought the fuel additives might help break up any old gunk in the carb.
Today I left the battery charging overnight, then drained the carb through the screw at the bottom of the float bowl. Gas came out yellow and seemed to have some particles in it. It started up after that (still with the hard starting and refused to idle). After it died out, I drained the carb again-- fuel was much clearer (almost like water), and smelled a bit better.
Guess my question at this point is, what gives? I did try replacing the spark-plug, just to see, but didn't seem to do anything special. If fresh gas is getting to the float bowl, is there any chance the carb is still my problem? I have some gumout carb and choke spray cleaner-- should I just spray some in the carb drain and see if that helps?
Oil in primary and crankcase have not been changed since I got the bike (I know I know, I have the 20W50 oil sitting on my counter, just don't have a new oil filter for the replacement). No chance that's causing this headache, is there?
Any suggestions appreciated,
RP