Thanks for the input HedNut, followed Pinhead's thread and finally got the charging system working last night. Turns out I had a bad ground coming from the field coil. Got that resolved and she's charging right at 14 volts
I'm still having some issues with backfiring and it feels like my clutch is sticking a bit, but one thing at a time.
In other news, the other day I got my valve cover pulled off because something didn't sound right in the top end. Turns out the locknut on the #2 intake tappet adjustment screw had backed itself all the way off and was just lying there. So the #2 intake valve was never opening
Replaced it with a spare one I had, reset the clearances and it's all good. Also have a leaking fork seal, my tach sticks and my speedo reads 10mph OVER what i'm actually going. No wonder everyone was passing me