Lately I noticed a change in the sound my exhaust is making when decelerating from ~4000+ revs while in gear with the clutch not squeezed (that would be engine breaking probably). I'm unsure how to describe the sound with a word, but it fits with what these guys are reporting on the model forum - popping maybe would be a good word (like popcorn in the microwave, but a bit more metalic). Also according to the explanations on the forum it is behaving as expected (because of mechanical reasons I don't fully understand, but I would trust them).
Now comes the question, why did it start making this sound just lately? I have this bike since autumn and I didn't notice it until this week. Could it be related to weather? The temperatures only recently started going over 20° C (28° even, today).
Asking for: Triumph Tiger 800, from 2011, with stock exhaust (fuel injected).
Update: I took out the spark plugs and the air filter. Cleaned them a bit with a wire brush for the former and compressed air for the later. Retightened and checked all the parts I could get at following this guy's excellent instructions.
Air filter, before and after:
Spark plugs, before and after (all of them looked almost the same, the picture has the one that was blackest):
The throttle body plates I didn't touch, but they didn't look too dirty to me:
In the process of dismantling and remounting I managed to not connect the fuel level sensor correctly and this (probably) triggered a check engine error. I reconnected it and fixed the fuel level indicator, but the error is still showing on the dashboard.
The result of this work: nothing changed, the bike runs identical to before messing with it. But now I need to see what that check engine is on for - probably just need to erase the error, right?