One thing after another. Metallic clunk on startup

This is for a 2003 ZX9R. Only asking here as I prefer this forum

Anyway, went out today for a ride and this morning all was well. No noises or anything out of the ordinary. However when I got back I noticed that now I get a noticeable loud metallic clunk when I press the starter button. Bike still starts up straight away and there's no noises once it's started, it's just the first time you press the button it makes the noise.

Any ideas on what this could be? I was thinking maybe damaged teeth or something but I have no idea how that would have happened during riding.

I'll try get a video of it tomorrow after work. Hoping it's nothing serious as I can't afford to fix it otherwise :'(

Thanks

[Craig380]

Don't know if this helps - someone had a similar problem, stripped the starter, and found nothing wrong ... http://www.zxforums.com/forums/zx-9r...g-starter.html

Sweet Thanks. Hopefully a simple strip and clean will sort it then. Not sure how an electrical problem would cause the noise but I'm guessing stripping the starter is easy enough so I'll get it done over winter.

Quick update.

Haven't stripped the bike down to get a good look at the starter yet, mainly because when I went to start it in the garage to see if it was shorting out somewhere it sounded fine. No unusual noises what so ever. Tried it a few times and it seems all is good now which I assume would eliminate damage teeth as that should make a noise all the time.

I'll strip it down at some point over winter and have a proper look as I do plan on fitting braided brake lines, stripping calipers etc so I'll check over the starter and wires when I do that.

Thanks again.