Are you sure it's overheating? What temperatures are you running and is the fan kicking on and staying on? The owner's manual will give you the normal operating range. On gen 1 bikes all you have is an overheating light, no temperature readout.
I don't recommend removing the cap from the radiator after the engine has warmed up. It's safer to take the cap off and then start warming up the engine. You can see the coolant flowing when the thermostat opens. The absolute safest way is to remove the thermostat and see if the pump is working. This involves removing all the coolant first so it's kind of a PITA. Definitely do this if your testing says you're getting no flow. The thermostat may be bad/stuck.
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OK, so now I've got the coolant drained and can't get the thermostat off. I took off the hose , grounding clip and the 2 bolts, but the cover is stuck. Is there some kind of gasket that could be stuck? I'm hoping it's just a bad thermo, which would be fairly easy. Reason I say this is the fan never kicks on at any temp, which is a new occurrence on this bike. Oh yeah, I stripped the aluminum threads on the cooling fan thermo switch, so it looks like I'm into a new radiator AND switch. Any help you can give on removing the thermostat would be appreciated. thanks