Testing a starter solenoid

My bike turns over but won't start, so I bypassed the solenoid by arching the connections with a screw driver and the bike turned, but still didn't start. Is my solenoid good or bad?

With ignition switch ON, and pressing the start button turns over the engine, both starter motor and solenoid are likely okay.

The solenoid is basically a heavy duty electrically activated switch that allows full current to the starter.

If the engine spins over, but won't run, the reason it won't run is likely not related to the starter motor or the solenoid.

Akin to an engine without electric start, and only a kick starter, if the engine is kicked over with the kick starter, but won't run, the reason it won't run is likely related to something else besides the kick starter.

Good Fortune!

Your engine has two systems at work when trying to start;

1.The starting system,made up of the starter motor, an electric motor designed to turn the engine over, with a solenoid,an as mentioned heavy duty relay, that conducts the high current(Amps) from the battery to the starter motor via large gauge cables.

2. The ignition system,designed to provide the spark at the right time to ignite the compressed fuel/air mixture so the engine will run. This is composed of ignition coil(s) and either ignition points or electronic devices replacing the points, doing the same job, to provide the spark at the sparkplugs.

Alright cool. Thank again for the info. Hopefully I'm heading in the right direction now xD

pm'd