TOPIC:

Ok, two dead starters on the same bike within 2 months. One that came in it when I bought it a few months ago, and another that came out of my other bike and was known to be good. Also, this bike has a habit of blowing fuses and the headlight blew sometime recently.

This morning I was about to head to work. I rode to the store to get gas and coffee, then back home to grab my backpack. When I cam back out of the house and went to start the beast, I heard a sick sizzling noise, and the bike's main power went out. I turned off the key, and checked the fuses, they were all good. The power came back on when I turned the key back on, but the starter switch just clicked. Ma Kaw was thoughtful enough not to put a kickstart on an 82 bike, so I had to take my truck to work. Not happy.

Any ideas as to what could be causing these electrical problems?

It appears that you may have a loose or bad battery cable. If one is loose on a post it will arc and make a sizzeling noise but generally will not blow fuses.

My 82 KZ 1000M1 CSR had several wires chafe through right where the main wiring loop comes out from under the tank and over the air box. It wasn't apparent right away but I could see the tape that wrapped the wires was chafed through and when I unwrapped it I found several wires had burned through insulation. I'm not saying that is what is ailing your bike but you might want to check for chafed wiring. Good luck.
Grant.

well, I replaced the wiring between the the starter and the solenoid. It still isn't starting reliably. the starter clutch is slipping, it seems.

I have a guess as to the source of this problem.
The advancer mechanism was stuck, and this was repaired by a friend. Previously, it wasn't advancing at high rpm, and had very little power as a result. Now, I think it may be stuck the other way, it is having a REALLY hard time starting, and is making a noise like it's backfiring, and a little bit of smoke is coming out of the choke knob orifice. Perhaps this is the source of the starting nastyness?