Motorcycle Repair: Goldwing motor noise, head gasket leak, goldwing 1200

Question
I have a 1985 Goldwing 1200 aspencade. it has 72,000km. It runs great and uses no oil. After the motor is warmed up and cruising down the road, sometimes the motor will all of a sudden start tapping for a few seconds then quiet again. This can happen at various rpm and speeds. Sometimes even when i idle down to a stop it does it. The noise sounds like a lifter tapping and the volume of the tapping also varies from very quiet to very loud. There does not seem to be any power lose during the noise. I change the oil and filter regularly (pennzoil 10-30)
What can I do to solve this problem.

Answer
Ken,

-tapping noise on 1200's
It is usually related to the valve
train. Sometimes it is the hydraulic
valve lash adjusters on the end of
the cam followers or rocker arms.

-They can be shimmed but it is more likely
that they are sticky or have low oil
pressure due to goo in the oil passages.
This happens even with regular oil changes
over time. The passages have to be
cleaned out manually. You have to pull
the cam and rocker assy.
http://venwish.com/tappet.html

-there is also a collar between the exhaust
rockers that needs to be centered before
the bolts are tightened or it causes
tapping noises as well.

-the other possibility is
hydraulic noise due to a head
gasket leak.

-these engines can sound very noisy if the
carbs need synchronizing.
A carb sync can smooth out alot of noises
that are caused by carbs opening at different
times.