The fact that the bike would'nt start when placed into gear was the problem the whole time. Disconnected wire coming from neutral safety switch, cut to length to connect directly to battery negative terminal. Bike again runs flawlessly. There was apparantly a high resistance to ground through that switch, or, right on the hairy edge that was causing the ignition system to misfire from time to time,especially under load. Switch finally went open over time. I can tell that the bike is back to original power, as it easily maintains 75 mph uphill. I knew I would figure it out...Moral of the story, If a "safety" switch is seeking a ground, cut the wire and truly ground it...
