There was a thread in here briefly this morning, and old thread, in which someone had the similar symptoms and cured it by fixing some problem with the park brake switch. Someone this morning explained that kawasaki had that feature.. a rev limiter if the park brake was on. Seemed unlikely but like you Gw I looked at the wiring.. didn't seem to be any connection. Perhaps the original poster in the old thread had incidentally fixed the problem and the brake light switch wasn't really the cure, and this morning's poster was wrong.. I'll let you know what Yoshi says in the other forum if it doesn't come out in here..

Just checked the wiring diagram, parking brake switch is not in the ignition circuit only in the starting circuit along with the neutral switch, bypasses neutral switch to let you start it in gear ,the regulator rectifier, if not covering AC to DC could have some effect, you can check that while its running, see what voltage you are getting at the battery.

Yup try a standard service/tune.. plug and air filter, If it has a carb drain it with the screw on the bottom, if it's efi then perhaps a new fuel filter, then adjust the valves.. Those are probably the easiest and first steps.

I think I'd either try adjusting the cable or rod so it goes into gear further, or disconnect the cable/rod and shift it by hand on the engine and see if it goes into gear further.

If you look the part up in partzilla, and then choose the part as though you were going to buy it, it will take you to another page where it will tell you what other bikes the part fits. If your wiring fits another year or model, then that other models wiring will also fit yours. If you don't trust partzilla, then look the parts up on some one or more other parts places, a lot of which will also say what other models the part fits.

My first thought would be bad starter solenoid, you might check the connections make sure they are tight .

Thanks Jim and Gwbarm. Your input backed up my worries about buying aftermarket clutches from amazon or ebay. I typically look at reviewers comments about a product if they're available before buying. It does seem that some of the aftermarket parts on Amazon have free returns, which can be a good thing if the part does not match up. I think I'll stick with OEM for the clutch and transmission if possible. Thanks!

Yeah inspecting the wiring is a good start.. Check the fuses. Check the wiring for anything chafe or unplugged, then get the manual and start reading. It uses a CAN digital communication system and the various computers onboard all communicate and record any problems. The communication is all along two wires and each computer recognises it's own messages and responds to them, we can't test for communication with a test light or multimeter. We can test the units are connected, but we can't read the digital signals.. we have to use the polaris software on a laptop or rely on the stored trouble codes we can get out of the dash to diagnose problems. The trouble codes are only an indication of a reading that is out of range and doesn't necessarily mean the component is faulty, it could be a wire broken, or a mechanical fault causing the bad reading. Check the fuses and wiring, then try to read the trouble codes and let us know what they are.