I left the volt meter connected to the battery,with the ignition on the voltage on the battery drops to less than 1v,turn the key off and the battery slowly climbs back to 12.4v.
Anything less than 9.5v when you press the starter button means that your battery is toast. Btw, I dunno why people always recommend having a suspect battery 'load tested' at a parts store. The largest LOAD that a battery has to handle is cranking the starter motor. In that sense, the way you connected the voltmeter to the battery is the equivalent of a load test.
Today I got the Valk out of my workshop,started her up and rode to the front of my house.I turned the bike off and went and locked the workshop and house.Put all the gear on,sat on the Valk,ignition on and,,,,,,,nothing but a click from under the right hand side cover.
After the bike has sat for a while, you might manage to squeeze ONE start up from a defective battery. Just don't stop anywhere because the bike won't start up again leaving you stranded. Fortunately, this happened to you just outside the house. LOL, you did yourself a huge favor by going back to lock up the workshop in the first instance. The loud 'click' sound that you heard is the electromagnet in the starter-relay closing the internal contacts. When you press the start button electricity is sent to the electromagnet and a plunger slams (loudly) into the internal contacts bridging the starter motor directly to the battery. The plunger is the upside down 'T' in the diagram below. Mind you, I wouldn't rule out something wrong with the charging system that may have led to a poor battery until you test the alternator, etc.
