I sure understand wanting to just get mad & hammer on it, but, I can promise, youll regret it.

If you "bridge the solenoid", you arent supposed to touch any contacts other than Battery + cable in & Battery cable out.
Now, if the goal is to start something & ya dont have the key, Then you short between a hot lead & the coil that Engages the solenoid. In your case, we know the solenoid is being activated, we dont know how well the contacts that carry the starter current are working, If you cranked on it for 6 seconds or so & it didnt get warmer than room temp, it is working fine., However, if ya messed up a wire & now it wont even fire, then its time to look at that.
Explain , in detail, what ya did while jumping wires on the solenoid.
I dont think its even possible to actually hurt one doing that. YOu mite not get what ya want, but its not hurt.

& youve pulled the plug & hit the starter & it spins nicely, I remember.
Perplexing problem,,
I dont remember, have you used the car to go straight to the starter motor itself?
Need to hit the starter button, w/o the jumper cable on the starter, get it spinning, then clip it on & see what it does.

mmg123 wrote on 08/11/12 at 01:08:00:

Then the negative (ground) side is the problem.

Routy wrote on 08/11/12 at 06:12:04:


Have to say I agree with Routy. No disrespect, but, we are three pages into this post and we still dont know what the battery voltage is. Also leaning towards ground cable. Have you done as Justin said and hooked booster cables directly to the starter? If you do try that, positive booster cable to post on starter, negative battery cable directly to engine case not neg battery cable. If it spins good then it's probably the neg cable like Routy said. Since you have determined the starter is ok, if it still turns over slow then the problem is most likely in the engine.

I have been following this with interest. It describes my symptoms with my bike. Brand new agm battery installed May 2012, my bike sat for the last 3 weeks went for a ride stop for coffee bike slow to crank / no start boost it rode home. Bike started fine until the next morning same symptoms. 12.6 volts at battery, check voltage drop across solenoid, ground and starter cables- all ok less 0.001 V. Ground clean on case. Decomp solenoid working. Check for a power draw with a test light between + post and + cable with everything off- no draw. Should start right--wrong should have checked battery Volts during cranking-- drops to 8.65 volts must have min 9.6 volts or better during cranking. Replace battery 12.8 volts 10.88 volts cranking starts and runs now. Just because a battery is new and shows full charge do not mean a thing. If I would have checked cranking volts first it would have saved me alot of time. My brain fart for the day.

charging volts @ idle 14.20v and @ 1/4 to 1/2 throttle 13.85v unless its overcharging while riding?? When I get a new to me bike all electrical connections are checked, cleaned and electrical grease applied. Sometime because a part is new doesn't mean its good.

Ok guys neg jump lead on bolt on starter pos on post of starter nothing Took starter out Neg lead on body pos on post whizzy round like crazy

Yes i did its all part of learning makes you a better macanic Some people learn the hard way and some pick it up easy So what are you saying give up Am not one for quiting i want to learn if thats ok