i have a 1997 honda cbr600 f3, purchased it about 2 months ago. it has been running great, very smooth, no problems at all. then one day i come out of class to start it up and its making one heck of a noise. sounds like its coming from the right side of the engine. i couldn't find anyone with a trailer so i had to ride it home. other than the initial chattering sound i noticed that it seemed like the horsepower was down a bit, also, whenever i got above 5000 rpms the noise stopped and it ran fairly normal (still down on power, might have been running quieter than usual but im not 100% sure because that was my first day riding with my new helmet and i wasnt used to it yet). last oil change was probably about 2000 miles ago, bike odo says 41,000 but the speedometer is about 15mph off so im pretty sure there are less miles on there. im thinking CCT based on talking to a few guys i ride with but wanted to get some outside opinions as well before i order the APE manual. any kind of suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

Sounds like your CCT went out. It puts tension on your timing chain. At higher rpms, the sound goes away.

 

thats what i was hoping to hear, seems like a pretty straight forward replacement that i'd be ok with doing myself to save some money. thanks for the response southpole

 

got the tensioner replaced! noise is GONE at idle but when i give it some throttle, i can still hear some slight noise coming from the chain...im just afraid to tighten it more and ruin the engine...what do you guys think? should i just live with it or try to tighten a little more?

 

Did you put a stock tensioner in or an aftermarket adjustable in?

 

i replaced the stock tensioner with the APE manual one

 

as i noticed when i did the conversion it took 2 adjustments.
i tightened it till it stopped making the sound, then i rode it for a few miles until the bike got warm
then i turned it about 1/8th more and was finished.

2 adjustments should do it.