Is that my starter clutch making that noise?

Hi all,
have had the KZ440 bike running recently and this morning when I went to start it to do some further timing analysis, it made a lot of whirring spinning noises.
Is it the starter clutch I'm hearing making that racket?

See link:.
Starter clutch noise? (youtube)

Thanks!

Doesn't sound great, does it? I had a z400 for years and it always screamed as it disengaged... did it for years without issue.

That's definitely not the same. Sounds like a loose chain is getting rattled by the low tick over.

I suspect the starter clutch is dragging and not disengaging properly.

Cheers. I took the flywheel cover off and the chain was very loose. Too much play in my opinion, but then that could be completely normal... Youtube vid of loose chain?

As long as the sound is coming from the chain and starter clutch area, I wouldn't worry about it. Because the motor is not actually starting, there will be some oscillation (or lash) in the chain and starter sprocket and could cause the starter clutch rollers to jiggle about and make noise. (The starter chain and starter sprocket don't turn while the engine is running.)

If it was making that type of noise at idle or higher RPM, then you might consider looking at the primary chain or balancer chain for excessive play. But even that noise is pretty common until the bike warms up and the idle smoothes out.

The first video sounds much worse than the second. Once the bike gets running, the bearings of the starter clutch will get pressurized oil . That might make it quiet down on subsequent starts.