Motorcycle Repair: 95 Honda Shadow VLX, starter clutch, trickle charger

Question
Hi Rich,
I have a Honda shadow that always ran mint until a few months ago when the battery kept dying.  I have a trickle charger so i would plug it in over night but the charge would not hold.  I replaced the battery and it ran great for a couple days now it will start if I hold the throttle a bit while pushing the button but it shuts off.  When it dies it makes a funny like air spinning sound.  Oil is fine, gas is full, new battery, and I even tried adding coolant but it pour out the overflow so I know it must be full.  Another thing is that if I crank it too many times after it dies, the battery drains again!!!  What do I do?   Any ideas or help you can offer is much appreciated.
Thanks

Answer
Melissa, my experience is limited to the older pre-82 Hondas. But I'll take a guess based on your description.  It's normal to run the battery down if you crank too long.  Those are pretty small batteries without a lot of reserve capacity. I'm assuming you mean the engine will crank if you push the starter button but the starter will not continue to crank the engine even while you're still holding the button in.  Is that correct?  The whirring noise could be the starter still spinning but the starter clutch is not engaging to make the engine crank over.  If that's what's happening, it sounds like the starter clutch is slipping. The starter engages a one way clutch that locks the starter to the crank so when the starter turns, the crank will turn.  When the engine starts, the clutch spins freely preventing the starter from being driven by the crank and damaging the starter.

Hope this helps
Rich