Back with an update, she's alive! Some more riding around and pulling the clutch in eventually did the trick and those stubborn plates freed up. I'm now able to start it in neutral and shift into first without stalling. Takeoffs are still difficult because the clutch is pretty on/off as opposed to a slow release, but there's room to tailor that in the future.
I took her out for a good ten mile ride yesterday and was having an absolute blast. So incredible to feel the feeling of riding something I built piece by piece, mistake by mistake over the course of the past two years.
That said, I did have a hiccup on the way home. I was in fifth gear and got on it a little too aggressively. I heard a loud backfire through the exhaust and then it kind of shut down. I tried to bump start it and the engine would come to life briefly but die back out as I tried to give it gas.
Pushed it home and ran some tests, here's the info I've got for you.
Compression is still good so I didn't destroy the cylinders. Reads at 120psi on both cylinders.
No blown fuses in the fuse block. Voltmeter shows battery voltage between ground and each side of the fuse which runs to the coil.
Coil ohms are reading higher than usual. Should be 2.5-4.5. I'm seeing 7.3. This is measuring with the leads on each side of the coil where the wires usually run to. I performed this test with the wires disconnected and the spark plug wires disconnected as well.
Reconnected everything and pulled the plug out, grounded it to engine and kicked the engine over. No spark. Tried the other plug, no spark there either.
To me it seems like my coil is toast. I can replace it with a new coil but I'm more concerned with WHY it's toast. Did revving her too high blow my coil? If so, how did that happen without blowing my fuse?
Any insights would be appreciated. I've got yet another lesson to learn from this, and will come out more experienced as a result. I think back to 3 years ago when I first started riding, I wouldn't have even known what to test for in the first place haha. I've come a long way, but still have more to learn before I'm ready to make a vintage bike my main ride.
PS: The stock gearing is a joke. 17-34 that is. This thing needs a 31 tooth rear sprocket BADLY. Riding it reminds me of when I went to Italy and rented a fiat 500. Every time you enter a gear, you're seeing the indicator that say it's time to shift again lol. Or in this case, your teeth are chattering lol.