Bike won't start - help

[Len351]

A kid who works for me just bought a 1978 Ironhead 1000cc. He had it for about a week and it sounded awful. We pulled the plugs and one was fine. The other one's electrode was broken. We replaced the plugs and then tried to start it. It magically went dead. We put the old plugs back in and nothing. I know a lot about cars but nothing about bikes. The starter sounds like it's spinning but there's no spark at the plugs. I took off his distributor cap and saw that it doesn't spin when he tries to start it telling me the starter isn't engaging the flywheel or other tranny gear bikes may have. I had him leave the key on and open the points. It sparked. So there's definitely electric. I tried tapping the starter with a hammer to see if it was stuck. Nothing. Like I said, I'm clueless about bikes. I assume it's the starter but I don't want to pull it out to find out I'm wrong. A new starter for his bike is over $200. I'm trying to help him save some money. Can someone throw some knowledge my way about this?

[Dave63]

No different then a car. If the engine isn't spinning, it's either a bad starter, or a bad Bendix/solenoid, not allowing the starter to spin, and not engage with the clutch basket teeth.