I,m so done with cheap, Chinese, aftermarket parts.

$5.68 for a new starter relay. What a deal! Worked great for a day.
This morning I started up the bike, and the starter kept cranking.
Quickly turned off the key. The engine shut down, but the starter kept cranking.
How fast can you disconnect a battery?
It seems the choices for parts on our old bikes are:
a 40 year old used part. (Unreliable)
a new Chinese universal part. (Unreliable)
a NOS part. (Pricey, hard to find, still 40 years old)
a new or used part from a different make or model newer bike.
I like the idea of replacing the ignition coil with the coil from a GL1500, but used its still a 20+ year old part.
What would be great is a list of parts from newer bikes that would work in an XS650.

Ahhh....such are the the trials and tribulations of owning old bikes. I’ve bought more useless new parts than I care to think about, from China, eBay, trusted vendors you name it. I’ve also bought used parts that were a total waste of money, either they were mis represented as a part that would fit your bike, or deliberate deception or just plain ignorance on the part of the seller. Buying parts that don’t fit or won’t work is unfortunately just part of the game.
We are fortunate with our 650’s that they were such a popular bike with such a long run. At least there are options out there. Some bikes are a real challenge to restore , simply because there is no aftermarket support for them and your options are extremely limited and you sometimes have to be creative with adapting parts.
But I agree it is frustrating to waste your money.

Another strategy is to source as many local found parts as you can stumble on. Recognize Low Mileage ! And get those. Both Bikes and Parts. It’s all getting very hard to “stumble on” it takes persistence.
AND , look for part sharing opportunities right here amongst XS650 members ! It may become even more important sooner than we think
f jina

For electrical parts my strategy has been to use old, original, inexpensive parts, which just bolt on, and to double up with a spare if it's practical... I have lots of spares and very few things have failed, actually.

If you still have your old relay it might be repairable (another option). Or the replacement might be easy to rebuild into what it was supposed to be in the first place. A little bend here...a little lining up there...

You could kick start it.

Just about anything can be made to work. I have a gsxr600 starter solenoid, no name led blinker relay, k&s left switch, universal ignition switch, megasquirt ecu, gsxr600 throttle bodies, gm sensors, harley fuel pump, ninja 650 fpr, chevy ls2 ignition coils, etc.

It all depends on what you are capable of doing.

You gotta watch, too, about "U.S." aftermarket parts. Too many of them are Chinese, and re-branded by the aftermarket companies. Yes, our options are limited, but like you said, we're dealing with a 40+ year-old bike. Good luck, and best regards!

just going to have to get use to it as original parts get rarer the cheap crap will be the only option which is the case for a lot of parts now .. what i cant understand is why do they do it .. cant be that much more to make a quality part