Humm. . .. . about 18 years ago my brother had a 1969 Trail 90 he ran it for years without a battery, the headlight worked but was dimm at idol . ..  when i was a kid we had all kinds of old honda 65cc and 70cc we always lost the keys and never did buy batteries... (if i remember correctly) we just cross the black wire near the headlight with the white, then (at the engine) we cross the (green wire/red stripe) to the (black wire/white stripe) <or something like that> and start it up... the headlight did`t work on the honda65s but they did run...lol .. . .... i guess my age is showing in this post... hahahah

anyway the reason i started reading this thread in the first place is because i recently acquired a 1964 CT200 the stator it is full of crud and was wondering ........... has anybody ever ran a ct200 without a battery???
(if not) i may just junk the motor... (if yes) i will restore it