is my battery goosed?

i think the charging system (battery/alternator or something else)is shot .its a curvey 2001 and from cold the starter is very reluctant to spin (once the bike is warm its no prob and works normally).maybe its the starter solenoid ?when the bike is cold and been left for a while when the starter is pressed its just spinning over for about .5 of a second and i try pressing the button a few times and (so far)this has been enough in the battery to start it up(btw when its just ticking over the lights seem to pulse with the engine running but this goes away when the revs are higher) can i just check across the battery terminals for the right voltage?and if so does any one know what reading i should get? if its the alternator where is it .im just back from the nw so its had lots of use recently so the battery should have had a good charge ,but the next morn its barely spinning over fast enough to get it going?so far iv got away with it but i have to sort it b4 im stranded in the middle of nowhere,once its warmed up its 100% ,any ideas folks?

http://forums.sv650.org/viewtopic.php?t=38396