The starter motor is running. The crank is not. On this 1976 CB500T a friend heard the starter spin free instead of grinding or catching. The starter clutch still needs a rebuild. The parts were on order and had not arrived when the bike was otherwise being started on the kickstarter. Nothing here is a finished repair.
A free spin is a one-way clutch that does not lock. The usual pieces are the sprags, the springs, and the hub they bite. Ordering them from a vintage Honda supplier, by the fiche for the 1975-76 CB500T, is the path this bike is already on. There is no Amazon sprag kit on this page. Anonymous clutch kits that list ten Honda models are how the wrong rollers show up.
What the noise is
| What you hear | What is turning | What it is not |
|---|---|---|
| A whirr, engine dead still | The starter motor only | A seized engine |
| A grind, then a catch | The sprags trying to lock | A reason to keep cranking it |
| Click, and no whirr | The solenoid, maybe | A starter clutch |
The check that is still open
Take the points cover off. Have someone press the starter button for a second, in neutral, kill switch on Run, and you ready to kill it. Watch the points cam.
- The cam sits still while the motor whirrs. The starter is not driving the crank. That is the clutch.
- The cam turns. The crank is moving and the no-start is ignition or fuel, which on this bike became the coil and the feeds.
That watch has been described and not recorded as done. Do it before the rotor comes off. The bolt that holds the rotor is a separate failure, the 90014-286-000, and it does not whirr.
The button itself, and the fact that the key only turns the lights on, is the starting guide. A kickstarter that also fails to turn the engine is a different mechanism: the kickstarter that does not catch.