Hard starting..
 

Over this past weekend my 'Hawk went from starting up fine to not starting at all. Saturday morning went out to start it and it sounded like it had a dying battery at it was trying to start, then I could hear the solenoid clicking from the tail section. I shut it off and let it sit for a minute thinking the battery could be dead, strange considering it has been fine the past few days. I tried it one more time and it fired up but backfired.

Drove it all day saturday without a problem. I get up Sunday and go out to start it, same starting problem, but even after letting it sit the engine will not fire. It just continuously sound like the battery is dying when you hit the starter button. I check the R/R, batt, and stator voltage, those are within spec according to the manual. In fact the finned R/R and batt. are new as a 2 months ago. Tried crossing the solenoid, same thing. I haven't checked spark or did a compression test yet. I did check the coolant and it was where it should be, oil was down a quart. It's been awhile since the valves have been adjusted on it, currently the mileage is 49,4xx. Only noises I've noticed is a rattling sound when you let out the clutch when its idling in neutral.

Also, I tried starting it with engine stop switch in the OFF position, same thing, same sound. You can hear sound coming through the exhaust like its turning but not catching

I'm stumped ...

if the battery is fine & you jumped the solenoid and it's still slow to turn over then that leaves the starter or the cables themselves.

check & clean the ground cable, the starter cable & battery terminals.
the starter is chassis grounded so check & clean the mount point.
if it's still slow to spin then it's probably the armature contact ( brushes ).

tim

+1 that would be my recomendation check the ground wire

Thanks for the info. I will def. check and clean the starter connections and if needed pull the starter and investigate further. I'm going to have the battery load tested to make sure that is not an issue as well.

I just hope its nothing internal like the motor is locked or a bent valve of some sort. Wrenching is not my specialty and shop fees can get expensive.

I have the same/similar problem with my Hawk when I use 87 Octane. When I use 91 Octane, it starts right up. I have no idea why....

Sounds similar to the problem I was having a couple of weeks ago. I ended up replacing the battery (four years old) and it's been fine since then. Those motorcycle batteries sitting at an angle like that take a beating.

Ok, back on the road again. The regulator/rectifier was overcharging the battery at 17.5 volts. It killed it to the point where it would just have enough juice to power the lights and meters. When I would go to start it the batt voltage would drop to 3-4 volts. So I emailed the seller from ebay who I bought the reg/rect from, he promptly sent out a new one. Exchanged the battery for a new one, bike runs fine except for at an idle of about 1,000 it will eventually stall, so I turned it up to 1,200.