So reading about piston slap and cam spindle adjustment arouses my curiosity and that tic tic noise seems louder... visit the aussie importer who pleads ignorance and says quote " its an alloy engine mate its gonna be noisy, don't worry about it" . There is of course no reference to the spindle check or adjustment in the service history of the bike,I dont think any of the dealers have read the service manual(although i did meet a good mechanic at melb city m/c), meanwhile that tic seems louder..
I got into several discussions about the necessity of the cam gear adjustments when I got my manual. Since it says to do it before 500 miles
I wondered aloud if any shop actually does it.
Most of the shop people didn't even know that was in the book since it's in the rear wheel section, I investigated further and found CMW never did anything about it, but did say that if it was never done before 500 miles, do not attempt to do it later as the gears will be seated and should not be disturbed.
However, since it's in the wrong part of the book I finally ASSumed it was another big error in the manual and shouldn't even have been in there. There are a lot of errors in that book, so you need to take that info with a grain of salt. A lot of the stuff came from the iron barrel manuals is is totally unapplicable to the UCE's, such as break-in speeds, which are far too low especially 5th gear. This applies to the owners manual, too.You are really lugging that engine to maintain their limits.
But there are a multitude of other errors in that book which if I were a critic, I would not recommend it. It has some good stuff, but you have to read it very carefully an determine if it even makes sense! If you see something that sounds questionable, at least put it up on the forum, or ask your dealer if you trust their mechanics. But believe me, many of the guys working in shops nowadays don't really have a clue about working on 1950s machines. And this is one, not withstanding the electronic ignition and injection, which can be trouble shot by you and do the parts replacement yourself. That's what they would do.
Most of the bike is made for the owner to fix anyway. That's how bikes were built in the old days. If you aren't a mechanic, you will learn to be one as time goes on. They don't expect you for tear the entire engine down, but just about anything else should be well within the owner's grasp.
As far as clanking, ticking and clattering go, the noises will dissipate as you put miles on your bike, or maybe you just get used to them. At any rate my G5 now sounds good and runs quite smoothly. Patience, my friend, don't jump into anything hastily. Just keep on putting the miles on. It will be worth the effort! You've got a couple of years to figure out if it's gong to blow up, which is really not likely!
Bare