First of all, I am not mechanically inclined, although I am learning. I went on a road trip yesterday from NE PA up to Syracuse for the Stuntfest they had. 7 hour roundtrip. Bike road fine the whole trip, but when I stopped at a rest area to get out of the pouring rain for a bit, when I started the bike back up I noticed a ticking coming from the engine. It was a slow tick at idle, but as the RPM's increased, the ticking got faster. I have read a few threads about the CCT, could this be my problem? The ticking is constant, doesn't go away. I woke up today, went out to start the bike and it is still there. Oil is good, everything else is good. Any advice would be appreciated.

Also, while riding on the highway, the bike started losing power and sputtering then shut off. I pulled off, tried starting it and no luck. Thought maybe I was low on gas, so I opened the fuel cap, and had well over half a tank. Closed it and was about to call the wife to come get me with the trailer. I decided to try to start it again, and she started right up on the first shot, and rode home without an issue, other than the ticking.

Thanks, Jim

 

I cannot answer to the engine ticking but, I went through a ordeal with the bike shutting off during riding. Mine would bog and sputter sounding like it was running out of gas.
I thought it was the tank vent causing a vacuum (mine was plugged) but after a work around on that I found the petcock to be faulty.

If it wont start take a tool from your pack and tap on the block of aluminum on the petcock repeatedly with medium force.
If you bike starts right up its a simple replacement or dissection of the petcock.

 

The 'ticking' noise you can hear on your bike may just be valve clearance noise. Have you had the clearances checked for a while? If not they may need adjusting. As you say the ticking increases with engine revs it looks likely. Could be the CCT, but I would have thought a worn CCT would make a different sound?

 

Yeah, the ticking noise is consistent with the RPM's. As far as having the valves adjusted, no. Haven't done that. I just bought the bike last May. Maybe, a trip to the bike shop is in order.

Thanks for the info!!

 

I know this may sound a bit basic but a slightly loose spark plug can causwe a light ticking noise that is tied into engine rpm and also can cause slightly rough running.

May be something as simple as that

 

check the oil

 

Literally, a hundred different "maybes"…

In the rain, my first guesses are:
exhaust leak due to possible crack from hot to cold water?
intake/vacuum leak
spark plug
CCT
exhaust leak…
leak in vacuum @ petcock vacuum line
exhaust leak..


(can you tell I may think it has to do with a hairline crack where the 4 go into two, and into one on the exhaust?)

 

Just got word from the bike shop, it's an exhaust leak. They ordered a new gasket and they say it should be done in the next few days.

Thanks for the input from everyone!!