Motorcycle Repair: No Spark, honda cm200, honda dealership

Question
I just bought a Honda CM200 2cylinder twin star.  We had to crank it a lot to get it started when I bought it.  I charged the battery and cannot get it to hit a lick.  I have no spark, and everything seems to be ok in the electrical and carb system.  I live an hour away from a Honda Dealership, so it will be some time before I get the bike to them.  It is low on oil.  Will being low on oil cause it to not start,(Safety Soleniod on somekind)?  I don't know if they had that Technology on those bikes back then.?

Answer
Hi Dave.

 Are you sure that it is spark and not compression?  Have you looked and seen that no spark is hapening?  Have you had the carbs properly cleaned as well?  It should be done if it hasn't.

 The Twinstar is a very old machine and so it doesn't have all of the more advanced systems that modern bikes do.  It does have the first generation electronic ignition, so that could be in question, but more likely the ignition coils are bad.
 Get the repair manual for the bike, if you haven't already done so, and do the specified tests on the coils.  Also do a proper check of the ignition system for shorts as well as other, possibly bad, components.  Also make sure that the stop switch has good contact as well.

 Also do a compression check on the cylinders.  You could have compression loss from any number of possibilities.

Good luck and ride safe.
FALCON