jimp, last august around the 26th or 27th, I was on my way home from Canada. When I got to St George mid afternoon (stupid time to be in St George in August) It was well over 110 degrees and we still had to make Vegas. I have no oil temp guage so I don't know what my oil temp was, but my bike ran the same as it did when the weather was cooler. It did not ping even on the hottest days and of course It still has the irritating valve train noise between 2200-2800 RPM which was a constant during my entire 3500 mile trip. This was 2 up with lots of luggage. Finally got to Las Vegas at
dusk(took a 2 hour break inside Del Taco food stop while at St. George) and outside temp was 107. I have a fulsac stage one upgrade. Last trip to Wyoming before Fulsac my bike pinged incessantly as soon as I got out of California. Sorry to ramble on , but I was wondering how hot it was outside when your friends bike started knocking? CAHDBIKER P.S. when I had a knocking problem on my other bike with S&S 107 even though it sounded like valve train noise it was severe piston slap at only 2k miles. S&S couldn't get it right so I had to have a local S&S certified mechanic do the cylinders and pistons. Now it is quiet. Much more quiet than my 110. Sorry to get off subject, but valve train noise can easily be mistaken for piston slap.IMHO