1998 kawasaki VN1500 Vulcan Classic Motorcycles

right at the clutch lever on the bars there is three wires that clip into the clutch make sure it is in there good

earth connection to the bike chassis from battery
A loose terminal on the starter motor
headlight could be a short or an earth problem
stater motor fault

Check your ground connection to make sure that it is clean and tight. If the connections are good, I would suspect the starter itself.

TO ALL VN1500 OWNERS....This once happen to me,
I went to the garage to start the bike "Nothing ""The first thing is the lights are bright but no turning over,Next you think the solenoid is kaput but the answer was very simple and the fix takes 30 seconds..
Do not take the bike to bits looking for other problems and look at the clutch leaver and you will see some wires going into a plastic shroud going into the switch in the clutch leaver, Make sure this has not popped out if its connection as it some times may do after a few years due to constant turning on the handlebars,
When this is not connected you will have a bike that will not fire up but comes alive and you will hear a clicking noise but this is from the engine carb area and every function of the bike will work but it will not turn over, Worth looking at and saves sixteen quid for a starter unit you never needed.

If you are hearing the clicking sound that means that your starter motor's relay is trying to engage. Probably you don't have enough juice in your battery. Charge your battery very good and give it a try again.If still nothing happens then you must take out the starter motor and have it repaired. That spinning sound also suggests to take a closer look to your starter motor and your starter clutch which is located behind the stator's rotor.

Hi and welcome to the site,

Initially, have the battery externally charged and/or load tested.

Offhand, with a freshly charged or new battery and clicking sound persist, then possibly a faulty starter relay. To confirm, temporarily jump the 2 big terminals of the starter relay. If the starter motor spins, then the fault on the relay has been confirmed. Should still be a no go, then a likely concern with the starter motor or more particularly, the carbon brushes and/or the commutator segments.

Good luck and thank you for asking.

Sometimes after trying to start a bike with a weak battery the starter solenoid gets damaged,or loose connections develop on the solenoid due to heat.It should be next to the battery.