Resurecting my old GS

[icabodcam]

Having children can really slow down one's life.  Turns out that child neglect is not preferable to bike neglect, so I now find myself with what was a great ride 6 years ago, sitting dusty in the garage (I'll blame it on the wife!) 

I couldn't stand it any longer, and my kids are a little older now so I've started rebuilding.  So my '89 gs has finally gotten almost complete.  New brakes, new fluids, new battery, teardown and reassembly of handlebar switches (yeah I really had to do that, there were dirt dobber nests EVERYWHERE), clean carb, new air filter, etc. etc. 

Problem is I finally got the start switch to work tonight (bees had built nest around the spring, no contact until complete disassembly), and was rewarded only with a faint "click-whine".  I've got the battery on a charger as I type, but does anyone have any suggestions for this first start?  I'm worried that there may be issues in the starter, or starter clutch, but I've got nothing to go on, as I've abandoned my poor gs for the last 6 years.  The few posts I've seen referencing "Goat's" have me a bit worried...

Should I bump start it, to get the juices flowing first, and hope that it'll start on the starter subsequently.  Or should I hook 'er up to a jumper cable and try the starter till she jumps to life? 

I really need some advice here, thanks. 

[the mole]

I'd disconnect the bike battery and connect a known good car battery with jump leads. If that works the starter, you know its a battery issue. If not, you have just eliminated one link in the chain and can check the next one.......

[DoD#i]

Could be the relay. Easy way to test that is to short the big terminals on the relay (with everything else set to crank it) and see if it fires up.

Might well be a bad battery, especially if that sat unloved for 6 years. Oh, it's new. Well, check it anyway.

Several starting (not) or cranking (not)  threads in recent weeks. Go look at them.

[Ickaber]

By the sounds of it, my money is on the starter clutch being loose.  The give away is the whine of the freely spinning starter motor.  The click-and-whine sounds exactly like the issue I had with my '95 -- a loose bolt on the starter clutch.  The noises were the starter motor clicking and then spinning with the starter clutch not engaging.  I tightened that bolt down to spec and the starter now engages and fires it up every time.  I would certainly check that.  The bolt doesn't have to have fallen out before it will cease to work.

It's not nearly as big of a job as I had originally thought it would be -- probably an hour or so (depending on how the old gasket comes off).  Just crack that left hand side cover and it's the big bolt in the middle.  It's only an $8 gasket there too (for the cover), so won't cost you much, but you'll feel better knowing it's right.