"and it takes practice finding that sweet spot just past TDC."
An aside I know, but any clues as to HOW to find it??
Press through the kickstarter until you hit compression.
Without any decompression, continue to stand on the kickstarter as it slowly goes thru compression. (Or let the kickstarter come back up to get better leverage before you press through).
You will feel it as the compression dissipates - take care as it'll start to move quickly and you don't want to go too far past TDC; now push thru another inch or three
Let the kickstart lever rachet back up to the top
It is now just past TDC and there will not be signicant pressure to kick against. You're now ready to give it a good kick.
After becoming familiar with the routine, you can use the decomp so that you don't have to actually stand on the kickstarter and press thru the compression.
My Electra X likes about 2-4 inches once I've pressed thru the compression.
Seems like other thumpers I've had like it closer to TDC than the RE.
Note that before any of this, I kick thru about 6 times under full decompression just to get things fluid (and to tickle the carb on the last one).
Matt