Well at least you did not have to ride on the back of a Honda....
OK, great diagnostic start, and I agree with you that you can rule out starter drive and clutch. And if you can see the timing chain going around, certainly that has not snapped so let's consider the valve train running for the moment.
Now, is the engine still spinning fast when engaging the starter or is it at (or close to) normal cranking speed? Does it lobe as it should going through compression (the high- low- high RPM of a normally aspirating engine)?
At this point, there are two basic choices, 1) mechanical failure but you have ruled out the most likely culprits although of course this does not mean it is 100% certain that all is well, just the 'the usual suspects' are working (starter drive, crank turning, cam chain in place and running at the bottom.... and we will assume at the top as well at this point). 2) Fuel or ignition interruption, both controlled by the ECU. Probably the easiest way to check out the ECU commands at least is to track the wiring down and test them while cranking the engine, looking for pulses that would fire the stick coils or open the fuel injectors. Unfortunately, this may require an oscilloscope or equivalent automotive testing device to check as they pulses will be very fast and of short duration. Now, that said, if the ECU is stopping the bike from starting, there <should> be error code(s) displayed on the LCD.
And still, it is a concern that the bike quit at such high engine speed and load- this does not point to an ECU or electrical / electronic component failure, at least not without the ECU throwing error codes. That said, I believe your symptoms could be, for example, the result of a fuel pump (or fuel pump regulator) failure and I do not think that would throw any codes. I know you said you can hear the fuel pump turn on but we do not know if it is producing any / enough pressure, for example.
Please elaborate about the bike's cranking behavior and we may be able to narrow the choices further.
Brian
OK pulled the timing cover off. The crankshaft spins when the starter spins. The cam chain is taut and intact. The manual troubleshooter says"
Starter motor rotating but engine doesn’t
turn over:
Vehicle-down sensor (DFI) coming off
Starter clutch trouble
Starter idle gear trouble
I think we can rule out Starter clutch or idle gear since the crankshaft is spinning. I hear the fuel pump so I don't suspect the vehicle down sensor but will check per manual anyway and the batt connection. In the morning. Now I need a whisky,
Since the cam chain seems to be fine I will have to consider sheared cam sprocket if the easy things don't produce results but if that were the case I would expect plenty top end racket when spinning starter.