Motorcycle Repair: 1983 Honda CM450A, hondamatics, honda shop

Question
I recently purchased a 1983 Honda CM450A. I replaced the battery on it, and it ran fine. Now all of a sudden, when I try to shift out of Neutral into 1st, the bike dies. If you are familiar with this model, this bike is what honda referred to as a "Hondamatic." Any idea what would be causing it to die like that?

Answer
That bike came out the year after I stopped working at the Honda shop in Lafayette, IN. So I'm guessing here a little bit.  What
is your idle speed set to?  If you leave the choke on does it still die?  What I'm wondering is if the load on the engine, when it drops into gear, is just more than the engine can develop with it's current idle speed or idle air adjustments.  I don't recall that the Hondamatics had any kind of an ignition interrupt circuit. The idle speed should be set to around 1000-1200 rpm.  If the idle is too low it will die when the converter is engaged.

Please let me know what you find out.   I'm curious.

Thanks
Rich