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Think that Joe has summed it up. Your battery does not have enough grunt to engage the starter pinion with the ring gear so it just spins insitu. Your relay will sound like a chattering or clicking noise as the contacts close and seperate as there is not sufficient power going to the coil to hold them together. Your battery may have sulphated if left for enough time-over about 8 to 10 weeks watch out as you could be in for a new battery! 
To state it again....the starter gear does not move back and forth against any ring gear. The starter drives an idler gear which meshes with another gear which has an integrated sprag clutch. This gear is in constant contact with the crank through the main clutch. When the engine is running the sprag clutch prevents the whole gear train from spinning backwards all the way to the starter but when the starter is activated it spins the whole gear train starting the engine.
As Keith stated....put a voltmeter across the battery and let us know what the voltage is when the starter is activated.
12 Rocket Roadster
03 Bonneville America
69 BSA Firebird Scrambler
73 Yamaha TX 750
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