I turned it on normally and hit the starter. It turned over once and stopped, then the instrument cluster went dark. Turned it off and on again - instrument cluster still dark with a rhythmic tock tock tock tock.... tock tock tock tock... coming from the front of the bike. I lifted off the seat thinking maybe dead battery. The battery tested at 12.8V.

When I turned the bike on again, it came up normally but when I hit the starter button, there was a puff of smoke from this area under the seat:



The 30A main fuse tested fine. Smoke is never a good thing in an electrical system but I'm not sure exactly where it came from. Unfortunately, I don't have a CANBUS diagnotistic tool.

Any thoughts before I load it up and haul it in to the dealer?

Could the smoke have come from the starter motor instead of just from the under seat area? Worth checking for a loose or dry connection on the battery terminals and then following the wiring from there to the starter, etc.

I turned the bike on again yesterday and the multifunction display came on normally but was reporting a "General Fault" on the display. As soon as I hit the starter button everything went dead.

I haven't really tried to dig in and trouble shoot this yet - just no time right now so just doing some research on possible causes.

Finally got around to trouble shooting this bike and found that it was the starter solenoid shorting. Replaced it and all is right in the world again. Really weird the way it brought down in instrument panel - it must have killed the CANBUS when it shorted.

Great news! Glad you found the problem!