Engine trouble... awaiting diagnosis

[jodyz_imp]

I've avoided this forum the the past couple weeks because I didn't want to post anything until I knew something more. I got my bike back from the dealer a few days after dropping it off. They could not reproduce what I was hearing. Since I mostly heard it while riding at speed (40+mph), I was convinced by the dealer, and eventually myself, that what I was hearing were normal noises, license plate/bracket clatter, or paranoid delusions. Well... no more. After the bike sat for 8 hours in the +95 degree heat of east Texas, I insert the key, hit the starter... it fires up with a clatter/rattle plain as day. I quickly grabbed my iPhone from the tank bag and recorded the noise (held the phone about 1 foot away from the left side of the engine case). I rev'd it a bit, and the rattle increased/decreased along with the rpms. This was the first time I actually heard it clearly without my helmet on and the bike idling. I drove the bike to the dealer (30miles away) figuring that if the rattle is damaging anything, it's long ago done whatever it was going to do. Road normally, and I still heard the rattle/clanking noise at different speeds up until the wind noise overpowered any odd engine sounds. Of course, when I pull into the dealer, the service manager (good guy; very knowledgable as far as I can tell) listens to the bike but it just sounds normal (loud, mechanical sewing machine sounds). He listens to my recording on the iPhone speaker and agrees that something sounds wrong. So, he will start the bike in the morning and try to diagnose the problem IF he hears the same sound. At this point, I don't want to bring the bike home until they find the issue.

( I've tried to upload the .m4a file from my iPhone but it didn't work. Converted file to .wav and it still won't show in the post. Must only allow images)