Sounds like a KiPass issue to me (I cannot believe that no one thought of this already- c'mon guys, think outside the box).
If the bike cranked slowly after sitting for a bit, even several days, and then cranked at normal speeds after being ridden, and given that it is not yet that cold out, my guess would be a tired battery. All batteries suffer from self- discharge but there is usually enough capacity available that we do not notice it in vehicle batteries. However, when batteries get 'tired' and start off in a weakened state, a little bit of discharge pushes them into the area where they struggle to provide enough current. Just as an example: say a given battery has 500% of what is required to start a vehicle correctly, and it self discharged down to 400% capacity. Starting the vehicle would not show any appreciable or noticeable difference as there was so much more available power than necessary in either case. But once a battery deteriorates to, say, 1/2 of its original capacity, and then self- discharges even more than normal due to being left for a longer than normal period of time than usual, it would eventually be noticed that something is weak.
I agree with the others in that you should check the battery and frame ground connections, and it is really impossible to diagnose a weak battery without a true load test but what you describe are the classis symptoms of lead- acid battery deterioration. When they get really bad they will not hold enough of a charge overnight to start the vehicle the next day but after a charge and / or jump and a bit of running, they seem fine for several starts in the same day.
Brian
I didnt have time to do anything last night, but went out and gave it a go this morning. Started up normally. Maybe the cold coupled with sitting for four days due to the weather. If so, I'm thinking the battery might be about done. Looked at the Motobatt yesterday and it seemed to fit the bill.
