no one has an american made one anymore

they are all garbage

Yeah - I've experienced that most recently on trying to get brake calipers. It sucks when you have something you're trying to keep stock.

I bought an All-Balls starter from Eastern Performance and a guy I spoke with at Eastern Performance sold me a solenoid imported from Brazil that they reccomended (at least, at the time they did).
Give them a call, maybe they have a reccomendation. It worked okay for me until I took the solenoid off the bike and went with a different set-up.

At the time indeed...just talked to them and all they carry now is Accel, so Accel it is I guess. Thanks.
It's still bugging me how just hooking up the wire from the starter closed the circuit. Tonight I'm going to check everything for a short to ground to see if it's coming in through a back door. That would be Murphy's Law in action big time because it would require a short from the starter to ground AND a short from the solenoid input to ground.

Garry - Disconnect the battery and startercables from the old solenoid,

1 - check continuity between the terminals - Continuity suggests the copper washer inside the solenoid is stuck and possibly arc welded to the copper terminals. Disassemble the solenoid, (Need to Pull Outer Primary cover) remove the plunger spring and flat copper washer, sand the surface of the copper washer smooth and clean the heads of the terminals. Place cleanest smoothest side of copper washer into solenoid for making the connection.

2 - check continuity between the starter cable end unhooked from the solenoid and the frame or ground - continuity suggests the cable or starter is shorted to ground. Disconnect the cable from the starter and check continuity from starter battery terminal to ground - continuity would suggest the armature needs polished, segments need seperated, and brushes need replaced

My bet is you have an interaction between 2 issues;
1 - Starter armature needs turned and brushes need replaced

2 - Solenoid is arc welded engaged due to increased amperage through circuit to turn over the shorted segments on the armature

Thanks Scrmn - earlier in this thread I described how the solenoid terminals were at infinite resistance with no wires attached but closed (to a couple hundred ohms) when I attached only the wire going to the starter. Since the battery is out of the bike and the cable from the battery is not connected to the solenoid, I'm curious where the energy is coming from to close the circuit.
I've already resolved to replace the solenoid but I will make sure the starter is isolated.

Just thinking outloud here...the first place to make the connection is the solenoid and what happens is over time the copper washer and the 2 terminals it is connecting get pitted. This is exagerated with increased amperage to turn the starter over. Increased amperage creates heat and continues to pit the washer and terminal heads to the point it is possible the washer gets welded to the top of 1 or both terminal heads therefore acting like the starter button is engaged as the solenoid plunger is locked down in the start mode. The reason this happens is increased amperage to turn the starter over. You have 4 brushes that engage the starter to transfer the voltage and amperage from the solenoid to the starter. The starter is turning in a circle so you have alternating poles on the armature. as the armature turns the 4 brushes are alternating the push of the electrical current on the armature and creating radial torque. Over time the carbon brushes will wear down and reduce the force of the spring behind them as they get shorter. At the same time the brushes are wearing they are smearing and wearing copper on the armature which is actually segments alternating polarity with a thin layer of epoxy between them. Once the smear goes across the isolating seperating epoxy and touches the next segment you have created an alternating short to ground path. As the ground path becomes better the amperage required to turn the starter over becomes greater. As the amperage gowes up the solenoid begins to pit.

If I were you. I would check for the ground paths i have described and if I found supporting evidence i would remove the starter and inspect the armature. Early failure can be repaired by using emery cloth to polish the armature surface where the brushes engage. Once you have the surface clean, use a broken hack saw blade and drag out a littler of the segment seperating epoxy to guarantee the segments are isolated. The solenoid washer flipping trick for me is a 1 time deal and the next time it fails I cchange the solenoid. Sounds a little wordy but that is what happens when you ask an engineer....

Your 81 does not use the prestolite starter but the concept is the same, 4 brushes connecting to the seperated starter segments
http://demonscy.ipower.com/manuals/s...er_motor_1.jpg

Here speaks a man in the know and with the ability to explain. A rare combination.