I'll try to keep this brief: Less than 20k miles, haven't ridden since hurricane, but on a battery tender. Went to crank, it would act as it wanted to turn over, but no go. Lights bright. Battery, 270cca, 2 years old, tested 12.75 volts. Even a hard time jump starting off vehicle, but managed twice, and the bike runs fine. Come home , same thing. Ok, replaced battery, 310 cca. But did not believe it was the battery to begin with. Same thing. All battery connections cleaned etc., with emery paper before new battery. Put 6 amp charger on new battery for 2 hours, same thing. Then, trying again, it turned over for a second, chattered (starter I think) smoked a little from that area, now nothing happens, You can hear starter replay click, and I get 11+ volts from the there to the solenoid (?) plug. What puzzled me before the new battery, I take the 2 spark plugs out, and it would turn over and over, long as I held the start button. I did that to see if the starter was working and that nothing was froze up. I'm thinking solenoid or starter??? Anyone have this problem or any ideas, I'm out of thoughts.

 

I believe it's a bad battery,12.75 is weak. Charged good battery on my bike is 13.2
Or 13.4 Volts. With engine at 2k rpm it shoots up to 14.2. Or so volts.

 

I had a similar problem and it was the starter. I rebuilt the solenoid and it didn't help, just wound up with a healthier sounding click. Haha

 

I replaced the battery, but really did not believe that was the problem, but now it's smoked. Guess I'll take the starter out. I have a service manual. What throws me off is it seemed all to work when the plugs were out, very little load.
Question, will the solenoid only work partially, or when bad, it's completely out, like works or completely out?

 

Problem is the starter, wet inside and corroded. Cleaned up really good but have an open field on one side, from shorting out, arching to the housing. You can see the wiring melted. Will get a new starter.

 

Look into an AllBalls 1.4Kw starter. I put one in Reaper (2005 Night Train), and it's awesome! Plus, it was less expensive than the stock HD replacement.

And, while you're at it, you should replace the battery cables. I went with Sumax Extreme Duty (2 gauge) in Reaper.

Cheers!