Motorcycle Repair: 1985 Yamaha Virago 700 starting problem, regulator rectifier, starter solenoid

Question
Hello Sir,

   The problem I have was pretty sudden.  I believe it started after I got caught out in the rain one day, stopped at a gas station and it died out when I parked.  Upon returning to it, I got it to start after a few seconds but it died right back out and wouldn't start again.  Starts up with a direct jump to the starter and runs fine, but won't start on its own.

I used my multimeter and tried following the starter system from the battery, and found that I had 12V (I believe) going into the solenoid, but nothing coming out, no matter if the ignition was pushed or not.  When I push the ignition, the headlight dims, and all the speedo lights die completely, kind of like it doesn't have enough power to turn over, but the battery is fully charged before and after testing.

Thanks for any help you have and for your time.

Answer
You may have a blown starter solenoid. Do you hear it click when you crank it?

If you hear it click and it still won't crank, then I would suspect the battery or the starter. Since the starter seems to test out I would suspect the battery doesn't have enough charge to turn the starter.

Even though it reads 12V the battery's condition may not be good enough to start the bike.

Once you have it started. Put a voltmeter on it and check the charging system at various RPMs. It's common for old bikes to develop a charging system problem which can be fixed by replacing the regulator/rectifier.