Engine noise

[nab 301]

Ok ,'99 1100s ,approk 65k miles on clock. I've owned for over 4 years so i'm reasonably familiar with all the aircooled pushrod noises......
Recently ,late night empty m/way nice and cold (not freezing ) 6k rpm in sixth ,loss of power (think blocked fuel filter) freewheeled onto hardshoulder thinking "did I remember to charge my mobile" .
Before I came to a halt it reluctantly fired up on the starter motor ..phew ,continue on at reduced speed and seemed ok.
Fired up the next day and seemed ok but (with no earplugs) noticed a new noise seemingly from the r/h side . Think throttle body? although I'm not sure . Noise is more pronounced under load and when starting off from a standstill.
Stripped the tank and replaced the filter although it wasn't blocked (and I replace regularly anyway.) Some water in tank (a few droplets )although i've seen more in the past. Breathers not blocked , disconnected injector lines and drained ,replaced the as usual dirty air filter, changed plugs (mixture imbalance and some funny white deposits on the rich r/h plug)
did the valve clearances, removed the air screws and cleaned and fired up the engine ,balanced the t/bodies engine running lovely.
Performance seems fine ,and running as well as it always does after the above apart from the "new rattle".
Searches have found r/h pots seizing .
Could it be piston slap ,or cam followers? (I don't think it's bearing rattle )although engine will idle perfectly near 1000rpm so I don't think it's compression loss (but I haven't checked as yet. )
Would you investigate further and is the noise just coincidence or would you just keep riding .........
Nigel B

[timbox2]

The R/H Throttle body( Its the butterfly rattling) is a known source of noise after a fair few miles, Motorworks do something called a Ticker Killer to address this, could it be that??

The mind can play funny tricks, was the noise there before this and you just didnt notice??

As for the sudden loss of power itself, dunno, could be all sorts of things, dodgy fuel, fuel pump, wiring loom(Known issue on some bikes), its horrible I know, I had this on a Kawasaki a few years back, only ever did it after fairly prolonged high speeds, that did turn out to be the fuel cap not venting( Big rush of air when you opened the cap)

Think youve checked everything you can really and youve got to try and forget it and keep riding

6K in 6th, not speeding then officer,

[r550s]

you can easily tell if it's the throttle body - stick your fingers round the back of the throttle body and squeeze the throttle cable quadrant when it's ticking over - you can stop the rattle that way. Failing that, a compression check will put your mind at rest.

[nab 301]

The R/H Throttle body( Its the butterfly rattling) is a known source of noise after a fair few miles, Motorworks do something called a Ticker Killer to address this, could it be that??

The mind can play funny tricks, was the noise there before this and you just didnt notice??

As for the sudden loss of power itself, dunno, could be all sorts of things, dodgy fuel, fuel pump, :

you can easily tell if it's the throttle body - stick your fingers round the back of the throttle body and squeeze the throttle cable quadrant when it's ticking over - you can stop the rattle that way. Failing that, a compression check will put your mind at rest.

The throttle body is a little noisy but it's a a slightly different noise.......
Fuel pump was replaced as preventive maintenance around 50k miles (although I know that doesn't eliminate it)
My em zed ran perfectly on the fuel I drained from the tank
I'll try to get my local dealer to ride it but when I called in on Saturday and mentioned the mileage he offered me a 1200st or a very reasonable priced low mileage '05 rockster........(straight sale only)
Thanks anyway ,I think i'll ride on.....