Motorcycle Repair: Yamaha Virago XV1100 Starter Solenoid, solenoid coil, starter solenoid

Question
Hello Chris and welcome to the first day of spring.  My 1992 XV1100 starter solenoid died late in last season's riding and I just got the replacement to get ready for spring.  The P/N I got which matches the old one is 5A8-86110-50-00.  The thing that's driving me nuts is there's a ring terminal on one of the power post that's tied to one side of the solenoid coil.  This post is the one that jumps to the starter terminal.  It seems that this side of the solenoid coil is also at ground potential, thus when the solenoid pulls in the battery would be shorted to ground.  But wait, it gets even better.  When the original solenoid coil "opened" I could still spin the starter when I pushed the starter button.  When things originally worked, it was a bitch to start and I noticed the headlight would dim significantly.  Since the starter solenoid coil is grounded on one side, could I remove the connection that leads to the power post?  This makes sense to me.  Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.  By the way, this bike is garage kept and otherwise in excellent shape with low miles (@9k).

Answer
Hi Bernie.

Since the starter motor is directly grounded to the engine, and subsequently ground, it would very likely show as being grounded on that side.  Just connect the wiring to the new part exactly like the old part was connected an there should be no problems with it unless there is a short in the wiring itself.
 The only way to know if the line to the starter motor is shorted or grounding out would be to disconnect it at both ends and see if you show a ground fault.

Good luck and ride safe.
FALCON