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As a CSM player the biggest trouble I have and I think a lot of CSM players have is dealing with shooty armies that sit back behind defensive lines.

Heldarkes for competitive lists are basically auto include because they are so fast/survivable/hard hitting. Being that i mostly play friendly games I only include one.

I was looking for other options in terms of fast hard hitting units. I'm interested what other people are running bikers/raptors/spawn or other strategies against tau.
There is probably another thread like this but I would like to begin/continue discussions about getting fast attack/elites quickly into combat.

Nurgle bikers was something I was considering. While bikers aren't insane CC machines they don't need to be in order to take down firewarriors and dire avenger squads. With meltas they can also be tank hunters.
Currently I use land raiders and terminators inside to hit the enemy front lines. A single land raider gets torn to pieces and more than one is often just too costly.

The current list I run is basically I have incredible difficulty reaching firewarriors in their gunline and effectively fighting them. Would bikers help with this and if so how would you run them.

Typuhs+ 3 termies escort
2-3 squads of plague marines in rhinos
Heldrake
Land raider
Obliterators

Edit: try to include mono-CSM strategies. Taking daemon's allies is a good solution with hounds/FMC but I'm curious what the CSM book has to offer here.

A Nurgle Lord on Bike with the Black Mace escorted by either Nurgle Bikes or Spawn would fit into your list thematically. The Bikers in this example more or less work as ablative wounds, the Lord ought to be able to carve straight through Fire Warriors. A Juggerlord (Khorne-Lord with the Axe on a Juggernaut) escorted by Bikers or Spawn works as well, but doesn't fit your Nurgle theme.

I am slowly building a White Scars force - bikes as troops, supported by land speeders and scouts.

It gives me excellent mobility, but it comes at the cost of models - I'm just as vulnerable to a heavy firepower army as any other list, particularly as I don't have any heavy support to attract some of the fire away from my bikes.

In a combined arms list I think some fast units would probably fare better - the key is giving the enemy multiple threats that synch very well. Therefore if you're using bikes, make sure that everything else is threatening at the same time, e.g. don't have troops on foot following up as this invites your opponent to defeat you in detail.

If you want to see what running a bike list is like in 6th (albeit SM rather than CSM) there are several battle reports linked in my sig.

As always with this type of post, it boils down to what else is included in your list. However, I just ran a CSM list with 4 walkers, where i actually swore beforehand that 2 of them were never going to see the table in this edition again.
I used a forgefiend and a defiler and they were brilliant in this single game against a tau gun line.
2 helbrutes, a forgefiend and then the defiler. I didn't trust them to be able to shoot worth a damn, so instead they were running like mad men across the table.
Even with average, or maybe slightly above average, dice rolls, they succeeded in charging in turn 2.
Granted none of us had stellar AP rolls for vehicles, but the force of a dreadnought in combat with a unit of fire warriors made my day.
If you support the charge of the machines with either raptors and hopefully some daemon allies (flesh hounds are awesome to give an early presence), this style of attack in two waves seems quite hard to effectively counter.
I also played a single unit of raptors with a biomancy lvl 2 sorcerer for support. The list presented too many targets to single out the walkers effectively and therefore it worked.
This isn't a trick you can play every single game, but raptors and bikes are awesomely priced (bikes most so). I think the MoN is a bit steeply priced, although small arms simply bounce off of them (and I'm a big Khorne fan).

Edit: didn't see the CSM only sign, but bikers and raptors are excellent at what they doand spawn are a great way of delivering a lord to melee.
FA is a very strong slot and should use a good amount of your points if you want a hard hitting assault army. Also, look for the maulerfiend. It's excellent at fast attack and can give the survivability to your bikes or raptors.