Motorcycle Repair: Transmission slap, honda cbr, tight spots

Question
Hi Rich, I have a Honda CBR and need some general information about what would possibly be causing my gearbox to "slap" around it seems.  When I am riding at a steady rate I can feel the engine tugging and somewhat surging in all 6 gears and hear a repetitive revolution like clicking sound which seems to be coming from my transmission so I put the rear wheel up in the air on a stand and have started the motorcycle and engaged the clutch and shifted the bike into gear and slowly let the lever out to get the gearbox engaged and let the rear wheel revolve and the noise started and could be felt through the bike and this is what led me to believe something in the transmission is the culprit.  It seems like it slaps around like there's loose play in the transmission someplace and my question is what would cause a transmission to get 'loose' to allow a situation like this to occur?  What may possibly be failing or worn and what should I be looking for as a place to start to remedy this problem?  The machine has 31K miles on it and it's had a few previous owners that I can only wonder what they have done to this bike.  It didn't do this when I first got it about 6K miles ago, but suddenly it just started and I have no idea where to start.

Thanks for your reply in advance!

Chris  : )

Answer
Chris, I'd bet the problem is the drive chain.  Put some weight on the bike by sitting on it and check the tension in the chain.  Roll the bike forward and again check the tension.  Continue to do this until you've checked the chain all the way around.  I think you'll find there are tight spots in the chain caused by uneven wear or stretching.

Regards
Rich