The ignition was working fine, battery level looked OK. The engine was wasn’t rolling over. I jumpered it up to the cage because I was afraid of draining the battery trying to start it so much and to throw out the low battery problem if that’s what it was. After a lot of trying and waiting and trying over and over, I finally got it to fire up, but man I never had such a bitch of a time getting it started ever.
I bought it used, 3000 miles or so, two previous owners. Last one didn’t put too many miles on it, it was the wife’s bike and she didn’t ride much. Assuming the first owner didn’t get the 500 mile valve adjustment, the Ninja site says that it can really get bad after a while. I’m also rough on my valves because I ride in the peak of the powerband all the time. Put about 3000 miles on it since I bought it, coming up on 6000 miles, and it should have a valve adjustment at 6000 anyway.