ZZR600E Ticking sound.

[johnsmith222]

Hi.

I am looking for help to see if anyone has any idea on a ticking sound that my ZZR seems to be making. It only started making this sound yesterday and I don't really know what it is. It could be a valve but I'm not really sure.

The noise happens when the bike is idling in neutral and the more the revs the faster the ticking. I have been riding the bike every day for the past year so I am 100% sure that this is a new noise. What I find is that when riding along the road I can hear the tapping noise when I open the throttle, and it increases in speed with revs. As soon as I shut the throttle though it stops regardless of whether the engine is doing 2k or 10k revs pm with the throttle off.

The sound doesn't sound metallic, if that makes any sense. By that I mean it doesn't sound like the tapping you hear from the valves in a cylinder head.

This might sound rediculous but it sounds or feels like something is impeding the air that is going into the engine. I know that both my air filter and airbox were cleaned just over a month ago (nothing to do with the noise I'm hearing).

I think the best thing would be to stop riding the bike and investigate, but seeing as it's my only transport it's easier said than done. Performance doesn't seem to be affected, although I seem to remember having a feeling like the engine wasn't getting enough fuel at one point when I was on a motorway slip road. I know I was in a high gear but it kinda felt like I was coasting in neutral even though I had the throttle open. (I had plenty of fuel)

Bear in mind I know this bike very well so it's not some newbie confusion. Something isn't right.

Thanks for your opinion on what this could be.

[P.addy]

Im guessing cam chain??