I commuted in this morning and the joys of Midtown Manhattan pedestrian traffic, Ubers cutting me off and getting cursed out in some filthy pig latin language I can't understand but whatever, 75% of the people are texting behind the wheel. I pull into the garage and stop the bike to talk to the attendant, go to start the bike and no response from the starter but you can see it pull power and the headlight dims. New battery was installed April 2nd. I'm hoping this is just a matter of the starter being sensitive to heat? I've seen a few occasions where a friend's bike wouldn't start after a hot run or several consecutive starts due to stalling, let it cool and then it would fire right up.
If not, the bike is positioned so I can push start it but I really hope the starter button functions later today. Just a guy trying to attend the Two Wheel Tuesday meetup downtown after work.
A little discouraging, hopefully I can attend the meetup and there will be some cool biker bros who won't mind helping me push later if needed LOL.

 

Usually what you described won't have an effect on the starter. Once the starter does its intended job, it's just kind of along for the ride until the next time you hit the button. Sound more like you have a stator, battery, or RR issue.

 

I would have preferred if it were simply a battery but it's only a month old, I'll check everything later today after work. Fortunately, it's not parking by the hour and bikes only pay a small 24 hour fee as opposed to by the hour for cars. Sounds like I'll be doing a push start to get home.

 

If the headlight is dimming, my money would be on a bad starter. You could try tapping it...

 

In older cars, I've had success with poking the starter when it wouldn't engage. If that works tonight after work, awesome. Just need one start so I can ride home and put this things on stands and see what's going on.

 

Went back to the bike after work and noticed a lot of water spotting and such on the exhaust. I didn't seal the coolant cap correctly and it was dangling there and the tank was almost bone dry. I guess the bike was overheating and not engaging the starter? The max temp I saw on the way into work while stuck outside the Midtown Tunnel was 233F. Bought some distilled water from the pharmacy nearby and filled the tank, the bike started so I burped the system and was able to ride home at a nice and consistent 172F on the highway all the way home.

 

Good spot, hopefully all sorted now... fingers crossed.

 

I hate when that kind of stuff happens. I did the same thing (in my truck) before an 800 mile drive. Got about 600 miles into it and all of a sudden my truck overheats. Get a tow to AutoZone and we start looking over the truck and find the overflow cap off. I couldn't believe it waited 600 miles and 5000' of elevation change before the coolant boilded out.

Hoepfully that was the only thing and all is well!!

 

I remain optimistic, it was a great ride home and no hiccups. Perhaps the old girl feels neglected, which is probably true. Nothing says I'm sorry better than dumping some money into her and attention. Full flush and new fluids, filters all around maybe a new windscreen.

 

Do these 2 measurements:

1. battery voltage with key ON, volts = ???

2. battery voltage when pushing start-button, volts = ???