My bike is very difficult to kickstart when the battery is dead and will flood easily, when my battry is good, it kickstarts with ease. In reference to my original post at the top of this thread, I replaced the battery with a new one and the problem was solved. (The original battery went deffective after a few months.)

In response to Hescort's post, I have been kickstarting my bike recently with the battery pretty much dead. The lights come on when I turn on the ignition but are dim, and the electric starter will not turn over at all, the solinoid wont even click. A few days ago I kickstarted it and it began to sputter when I reved the engine, it went away after it warmed up. The next day it began to sputter when riding to work. So, I recognized these symtoms when I had the problem with the original battery. I replaced the battery yesterday with a new one, and problem solved. For whatever reason, the bike will not kickstart properly or run properly when the battery is dead.