Hi,
So I'm hoping to attach some heavy gauge wire across the relay bolts to bypass it and jump current straight to the starter. Yes, I know I should just by a relay but bear with me 
All info is greatly appreciated!
How safe is this? What gauge wire? type of switch? Should I wire in some sort of fuse?
Not a great idea. That starter and battery cable is a big wire pulling a lot of current through it. What makes you wish to do this? You are better off momentarily bypassing it with an insulated screwdriver as suggested if you just want to test or otherwise run the starter.
Once upon a time, long ago, an energetic but less informed....PERSON I KNOW *cough* wanted to turn over his starter and the engine it was attached to while it was out of the motorcycle. I ^h^h^h^h^h THIS GUY thought to himself, "Hey, that Romex over there looks pretty beefy, has to be good for 40 amps or so". and wired it up to his starter, grounding it to his engine. When I ^h^h^h HE put spark to this setup, the starter did dutifully spin, and all seemed right in the world for about 10 seconds, until the insulation of the romex melted to the consistency of maple syrup, and came this >< close to shorting together.
I advise caution with this :-).
P.S. Just googled this, and one fellow put his DC clamp meter on his Aprilia and measured it:
Peak draw: 61 Amps
Continuous cranking draw: 33 amps
