Can anyone identify the strange sound my bike is making?

Really nice weather here today so I took the bike over the Rainbow bridge to Niagara Falls NY down to the Grand Island Bridge then up to the Queenston Lewiston bridge back into Canada and back to Niagara Falls Ontario from there.

Lots of 4 stroking still but still a long way from the 300 mark. I think I put around 30 km on it today.

I made another 20:1 mixture as Im not too sure about going to 25:1 just yet. This is my new NGK B6HS that I installed 2 days ago. It is gapped at 026 and the choke is always on the lean position except for initial startup. The c-clip ion the carb needle is in the 3rd position from the top. This is the 3rd tank of gas since the install.

Wondering if by the previous details if this engine seems to be breaking in good judging by the picture of the spark plug? Is that the "nice chocolatey tan" that I am looking for or is this bordering on too lean and whitish in color?

I took the bike to Buffalo from Niagara Falls after moving the clip back up to the 2nd position and I did notice a good power increase but was still on 20:1. While on my way back I noticed that I was squirting gas from the fuel filter. I stopped off at a Yamaha dealership and got a run of fuel hose for $1 so put that on and rode filterless a good half of the way back. After getting back I superglued the cracks in the filter and that lasted for about a day so I took it off and am filterless again for now. While glue was drying I made a 32:1 mix and went for a test run. There is mega power increase and not near as much 4 stroking anymore but it is still there a bit. Almost maybe near the broken in point.

Last night I went out on it filterless and it started popping and backfiring all of the sudden and picking up-losing power. When I got back the plug was carbon fouled black. Is the lack of the fuel filter on a 32:1 mix a likely cause for carbon fouling? I would think opposite since I'm leaner now? Anything to look at past the fuel filter. Only things that have been changed is the mix and lack of fuel filter. Wonder if the lack of filter is letting TOO MUCH fuel in, but I though the carb is what created the mix and regulated the amount of fuel going into the motor. Or possibly the lack of filter cause something in the the float to stick open? The carb also leaks fuel when not running. Am I on the right path thinking float or fuel lack of filter?

Yes RICHER thats right. Less oil = more gas. It was early :S

I'll pull off the float bowl a little later to check that out.

The plug is a B6HS or the typical NGK #6 that I just put in last week so after checking the bowl I'm gonna try to clean this plug up a little and see if it refouls on me before using the other good plug. Would like to figure out what made it foul before using it. I also have the stock plug still for testing which is still in good shape.

Worst case I'll park it until I get a new filter.

So I took apart the carb this morning and everything looked pretty clean inside but I stll blew out the holes anyways. I also checked the float for pinholes but there was no sloshing of fuel stuck inside so it is good. When I had it open I sepated the "tang"? just a little bit to lessen the flow of fuel because the carb was leaking when the bike was turned off.

One thing I realized that I changed that I did not list before was the fuel. I was on a long trip to Buffalo on 20:1 and got a broken fuel filter halfway back home so rode half the way home filterless on 20:1. When I got home the bike was out of fuel so this is when I made my 1st 32:1. Now the station I go to sells Bronze, Silver and Gold fuel and for the first few tanks I used Silver but when I went to 32:1 I used the bronze instead. There was still a bit of the old 20:1 silver mix at the bottom of the tank when I poured in the new 32:1 bronze mix.

I don't think it should but could mixing fresh 32:1 Bronze with tank bottoms old 20:1 silver be any reason for a plug to foul up?

OK Now Im REALLY lost. After I looked at the carb and cleaned up the sparkplug its still making funny noises. I forgot about this noise. This noise started at the exact time my spark plug fouled up but didnt mention it cause I thought it was part of the four stroking /backfiring. Its almost like a clicking or ticking when it is given any gas. It does this on the fouled but cleaned plug, on the stock plug and this video was taken with the brand new NGK plug that I was saving. I ran out of ideas when it was doing it with the first two plugs I gave in and used my last one but it is still clicking/ticking. There is snow on the ground but I store the bike inside the house over a heat vent so its not like it was a cold start. Any ideas to what the cause of this sound is and a possible cause of it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrQsuPVGO98

This has been solved. Outside in the cold I noticed exhaust coming from the cylinder head at the same time as the popping. Turned out to be a loose head bolt. Re torqued them and now the "ticking" and I got my power back even on the fouled plug. Gonna take it out for a good run when it warms up again and see if that get the plug back to normal color burning off the carbon. But after tightening the head bolts all seems to be well now I would have never caught that had it not been cold outside and seen the exhaust.