Thank you for the advice all. I'm not sure why but on my commute today I couldn't hear the noise. Hopefully it'll stay that way although it's frustrating to not get to the bottom of it!
I checked the calipers over and they seemed tip top. I'm quite thorough with cleaning and check them regularly (I'm probably a little ocd). I always use red rubber & copper grease. There's very little wear on the pins or other components, the calipers came off a very low mileage FZ6, I'd be surprised if they have done over 10k miles. There was barely any movement in the pad springs and the pad shims seem okay too. I spun the wheel whilst the bike was on it's centre stand and everything is smooth with no noises which suggests to me that the bearings are ok.
Packie, interesting you mention a rhs noise that you think is the fuel pump. That caught my attention because my bike really struggled to start a couple of weeks ago (battery was recently charged up). It had been standing a week, I usually ride everyday. Recently a slow surge in revs up to 2000rpm has begun to appear at idle too. I checked the choke cable & throttle cable and they seem fine, cracked carb rubbers don't seem to be leaking either. Come to think of it, it only started when I upped the choke to max and adjusted the idle up. That seems to point to fuel starvation. I replaced the fuel filter last summer so that should be fine... maybe my fuel pump is dying too? It has started on the button ever since though and it rides well apart from the revs rising slowly at idle.
I didn't mention this before because the noise really does sound like it's coming from the front wheel so although I thought about it, I didn't make the connection. With all the other noises of the engine, wind etc to confuse me I guess that could be misleading me.
In any case, the bike has been booked in with my mechanic for a once over including perhaps a carb balance so we'll see where that'll take me and whether it affects the noise at all.
I checked the calipers over and they seemed tip top. I'm quite thorough with cleaning and check them regularly (I'm probably a little ocd). I always use red rubber & copper grease. There's very little wear on the pins or other components, the calipers came off a very low mileage FZ6, I'd be surprised if they have done over 10k miles. There was barely any movement in the pad springs and the pad shims seem okay too. I spun the wheel whilst the bike was on it's centre stand and everything is smooth with no noises which suggests to me that the bearings are ok.
Packie, interesting you mention a rhs noise that you think is the fuel pump. That caught my attention because my bike really struggled to start a couple of weeks ago (battery was recently charged up). It had been standing a week, I usually ride everyday. Recently a slow surge in revs up to 2000rpm has begun to appear at idle too. I checked the choke cable & throttle cable and they seem fine, cracked carb rubbers don't seem to be leaking either. Come to think of it, it only started when I upped the choke to max and adjusted the idle up. That seems to point to fuel starvation. I replaced the fuel filter last summer so that should be fine... maybe my fuel pump is dying too? It has started on the button ever since though and it rides well apart from the revs rising slowly at idle.
I didn't mention this before because the noise really does sound like it's coming from the front wheel so although I thought about it, I didn't make the connection. With all the other noises of the engine, wind etc to confuse me I guess that could be misleading me.
In any case, the bike has been booked in with my mechanic for a once over including perhaps a carb balance so we'll see where that'll take me and whether it affects the noise at all.