2007 Street Bob was cranking over quite a bit before firing. Couple times I hit start button and starter would grind a bit then start. Replaced battery and it is always on Tender. Wires are tight and no loose grounds found. Battery holds charge. So am I looking at a new starter? Bike has 13500 miles in her.

 

It's possible you have a bad battery, the one on my 07 didn't last 2 years. Something else that comes up is a pinhole in the fuel line inside the tank. If you don't have a lot of gas in the tank you can hear it spray when you prime the pump by turning on the ignition.
After I replaced mine the bike starts instantly.

 

Do you have a fuel tuner by chance? If so, what kind?

 

No tuner. Stage 1 with map and slip ons. I replaced original battery 2 mo. ago. didn't fix problem. Just seems that it starts harder than it should. I notice most other F.I. bikes fire right up.

 

while priming the fi, do you wait for the engine light to shut off?
Try prime and start fast, dont wait for the check engine to shut off...

 

Ya I have a fuelmoto efi tuner, and it's turn on the kill switch and crank it over right away, before with no tuner is was turn on kill switch wait for prime cycle to stop then start. Makes all the world of difference to do it the correct way for how your bike is setup.

 

Thanks, I have had this bike for 5 years, know how it starts. The starter doesn't catch sometimes. It's not a procedural problem. Acts like it has hard time cranking over. Just wanted to see if it was a common issue.

 

mine does the same thing but only when hot, when its cold it cranks right up

 

Keith 71, Now that you mention it, it has been worse when hot. Still, Don't think it should act that way.

 

Have a cranking amp draw test done to see if the starter is in spec. Slow cranking could indicate excessive amperage draw and if the starter isn't cranking fast enough, the bendix gear may not be thrown out fast enough to engage the ring gear all the time. The fix could be as simple as replacing the brushes and cleaning up the commutator.