Motorcycle Repair: Electrical, suzuki intruder 1500 lc, intruder 1500 lc

Question
I own a 1998 Suzuki Intruder 1500 LC with about 18,000 miles on it. never had a lick of trouble with it. in the 3 yrs since purchasing used w/ about 10,000 mile on it. I am the second owner. Recently have had to jump it a few times since replacing the batery about a year ago. Saturday while attempting to let a prospective buyer try riding it, he killed it twice and we had to give it a jump(hasn't really been driven enough lately to get a good charge or so I thought. So it started from the jump, driveing home(almost msde it, about 10-15 min.) the bike started to feel like it was limiting out/stalling out like not getting enough spark, backfired a couple of time and stalled. After trying to jump it again, it started once but did the same thing as soon as I tried to drive it. My assumption is that the battery was bad, dead cell short or something, so purchased another battery but after charging and trying to jump it can only get a single click and the bike wont turn over. Hopefully I've discribed the problem well enough to narrow it down, may the solinoid, starter or some related part. Please advise, would prefer not to trailer bike and spend as little as possible as I was trying to sell the bike to raise some cash, not spend it.  

Answer
Hi Jim,

Very good description, thanks.

I have a couple of questions:

1) Was the Intruder stored over winter?
2) Was the engine started often during storage?
3) Was fuel stabilizer added to the gasoline?
4) Was the old and new battery tested with a meter and or hydrometer to determine state of charge?
5) Do you have a cylinder compression test tool?
6) Describe the apearance of the spark plugs. Remember which cylinder each is removed from.
7) With spark plugs removed and grounded to engine, crank engine and look for arc at plugs. Want a blue arc. Describe what you see.

I need to send you a few troubleshooting files. Review the files and if possible, perform the tests. You'll need a multimeter (Volt-Ohm-Meter) and the service manual. If you don't have the manual, many local libraries have them.

Reply to my email: mshively1@woh.rr.com

We'll go from there.

Respectfully,
Mark Shively