noisy starting scooter

[craglie]

after sundays advice on a solid disc caliper, which i followed & now have a freely rotating wheel, i now am asking for help in finding why my piaggio fly 100 4T is very noisy when trying to start the scoot.
the noise comes from the area of the motor where the starter motor turns & throws out the bendix to engage the starter ring.
it sounds sometimes when the engine doesn't fire, that the bendix disengages
then clumps & attempts to engage again. the noise is very alarming & also disheartening when i try to keep the scoot in good nick. its my only transport, can anyone suggest what's wrong.
thanks

 

[Crickleymal]

Is the battery well charged?

 

[Burnerman]

Usually these bikes use a starter clutch - its a sort of disc that has ball bearings in grooves, which fly out to engage with other grooves when the starter gets the disc spinning. When the engine is spinning faster than the starter clutch, the ball bearings disengage.
It could well be worth while stripping the clutch out (usually under the outer casing) and see what condition its in - any wear should be obvious.
The reason the clutch disengages is because the motor fires once, speeds up for a fraction of a second but doesn't start, so the clutch engages again once more.
As Malc suggests, a good battery is essential to allow the clutch to firmly engage when you press the starter button.
John

 

[craglie]

thanks to Malc/John.
The battery is fine malc, but from what john says it seems to be the bendix.
this style has teeth that are permanently engaged to the starter motor then centrifugal force throws out the other teeth into a ring that has push bike style teeth. maybe something has broken inside the bendix, have you ever tried to find a replacement that is not an original & therefore megga priced.
thanks

 

[Burnerman]

Its the same principle as my ball bearing experience - which was on some Chinese make.
Have a look at all the engaging teeth and see if the wear is obvious.....its about all you can do.
A specialist breaker may be the way to go - check out MCN for example.
John