Phil
Your inputs make sense. I thought to summary what I recalled on my noise while it is still fresh.
Before I bought my 2008 C14, I did some internet review and found that some people had found rear drive clicking and someone posted that a Dealer suggested slight clicking is okay and nothing to worry about. (unless you hear clunks?)
When I was checking the bike out before I bought it, I turned by hand the rear wheel, (thought I turned it forward and reverse), and could hear some clicking. (That was a few months ago and about 1000 miles ago). So I bought her and planned to lube the splines in the near future.
I started to think about the noise more and posted my question about what noise is normal .. as Pre lube I could hear the a faint noise pushing my bike in and out of the garage (engine off).
Pre lube with the bike on the center stand I could hear the noise both forward and reverse when I moved the rear wheel by hand. I believe it was louder in reverse but not sure.
The noise seemed to be loudest in the forward spline area of the drive and I could not hear it towards the rear of the bike.
After I lubed all the spline / rear drive locations (Thanks to Fred's DVDs) and Honda Moly 60, I could not hear any noise in the forward and reverse direction. (after about 100 miles since I lube them I cannot hear any noise).
I posted the both pre and post lube video and later posted someone else's 2008 C14 that had a similar noise .. and asked the group if anyone can recall what the other C14 rear noise owner found.
Overall, I would find it useful to see / hear a set of known C14 rear drive noises if such noises can be used as a precursor to rear drive lube requirement .. sort of like a rear chain drive slack measurement.
(note: perhaps in the future .... Exhaust header leaks, noisy wheel bearing, head gasket leak and other diagnostic noises could also be useful to pin point what the issues is and where to look)
Thank you and everyone that posted thoughts and ideas.
Brent