You can use a cordless drill to spin the wheel faster if you want to test.

 

Actually I did try spinning the wheel with a corded (probably more powerful) drill. It just didn't have the horsepower to spin it very fast at all.

There is one thing I did not try that would involve a cordless drill. You could attach the drill to the speedometer cable after it is removed from the front hub. If the noise is speedometer related it might show up. If the noise reappears I may use this method.

 

On my '06 the noise definitely wasn't the speedo drive, cable, or otherwise. My bike has a Vapor instrument panel, and the speedo drive has been gutted of the worm gear and now just serves as a hub/axle spacer. Now, that doesn't remove the possibility that there could be an oddball scuffing noise as the hub rotates in proximity to the drive housing or some other anamoly. Mine did it with some regularity for a couple of years, but it has quit for some unknown reason for the last two years. The idea that it is something making slight contact with the knobby is intriguing, because IMO it does have that possible sound effect...and it was almost always while I was decelerating which would allow some fork compression. Still, I've never seen any wear on the brake hose or Vapor speedo wire.