I went in for a battery today. The shop began to charge a new one but decided to just jump start me to get me on my way. I rode for ten minutes then on a hill doing 60km/h, I went to neutral and tried the starter. Not enough charge so back into gear and I went for another five minutes and tried again.
A couple of minutes later I noticed a noise over the exhaust (which I am having welded since this). I was passing the shop so I pulled in and switched all off but the starter was cranking. I ripped the FI computer out and called the attendant to pull the battery.
I spent a long ten minutes waiting for the auto electrician to be available. I explained the model's issues with the starter relay welding on a low battery, but he checked it over and everything was working as normal.
My best guess is that with power to the computer being low and interrupted, it may have malfunctioned and latched onto a start condition, and I could only reset it by pulling the battery.
I am well impressed at the starter motor surviving although the noise might have meant it was getting hot. I must have driven it for a few good minutes though I didn't go above 4k revs as I was trying not to overload the alternator on the flat battery.
The rear main seal aparrently took a beating as I lost half a litre of oil through the bell housing in that few minutes. I have a new one on order anyway...time to do a spline lube...
At least open it and review/redo the contacts, if you do not plan to mistreat your starter motor again in this way 