I have an early '05.. 76K+ miles and rode to work this morning.. Wish I was riding to RAA!! 
Sometimes the 'rattle can' noise is just the chain that drives the oil pump. I used to have that noise if my bike sat for a few days. It was only noticable when the bike was cold and after a few minutes would go away. But since you mention it, I don't think I've heard that noise in a long, long time. If the noise doesn't ever go away.. it may be a timing chain issue, like was previously stated...
Your bike will also shift smoother once you get more miles on it. My transmission, on all three of the Hinckley Triumph's I've owned, smoothed out alot at about 40K miles.
