My 04 quest 650 makes a metal clink/grinding noise when I start it, I ran it for about 3 hours the other day and it was fine, I had a mishap and bent the bumper and tie rod, both are fixed now, the starter started to make the noise just after the hit to the tree, I took the starter out and it looks ok it spins without noise when I connect to power, the gear inside the motor housing spins freely, how does it engage the motor? anyone know what the noise could be.

 

could be your starter clutch(basically a one way bearing) is on its way out.

basics of starting the bike are that the starter spins which spins the gear on the outside of the starter clutch, this spinning locks the one way bearing onto the flywheel which turns the crank therefore starting your engine.

if the noise your hearing is like a mechanical grinding/crunching then i'd check that.