That's the sound my bike made the other morning when I tried to start it so I could go to work. I've experienced this before in 30 years of riding and the problem has always been either the battery or the starter. The last time it happened (just about a year ago at this time) it was the starter. Opened the starter and the brushes were fried. Bought a rebuild kit for the starter and problem solved. So this morning, as always, I checked the easiest thing first; the battery. Voltage was at 12.74 volts. Manual says a full charge is 12.8 or higher, so I figure it's close enough to at least start it. But I went ahead and put the charger on just to be sure. So on to the starter. Removed it and opened it up expecting to see the brushes I put in last year burned up. Nope... They are still good. Put the starter back together and bench tested it and it spins like a top. So back on the bike it goes. By this time about two hours has passed so I checked the battery and it's up to 13.2 volts and still charging. So I disconnect it and proceed to start the bike. Sure enough it fired right up. Let it run a minute or so, shut it off and tried to start it again. This time it went "grrr" turned over pretty slow but then finally fired. So I put the charger back on it until it was no longer charging then tried it again. And again it fired right up.

I know battery voltage is very critical for motorcycles, but is .06 volts really that big a deal?? Or, as I'm suspecting, is there another problem somewhere else?? Will a starter get weak?? So even though it spins when being "hot wired" to a battery, it's not strong enough to turn over the motor?? I've also heard of starters getting "flat spots", and not turning over all the time. What about the starter cable?? Could it break down over time and not deliver the full amount of voltage to the starter??

Any input or ideas are appreciated!!

Thanks!!
In The Wind,
Aaron

Both times charging did you take the battery cables off to charge? I'm guessing starter solenoid . My $000.02

Clean all you connection they may look OK but they have a film on them and can be robbing you of voltage. Also the voltage my be good on the battery but when you start the bike it draws the voltage way down. You may have a bad cell in the battery so take it and have it load checked.

Easy stuff first, right?

Load test.....