92 750 Honda Nighthawk ticking

Over the weekend, I took the valve cover off and took a look inside.
The cam chain doesnt move at all so theres no slack that I can tell,
but maybe because the top of the chain has so much distance from the 2
top sprockets.

I cranked it over with the valve cover off, a little messy but
everything ran fine and no ticking noise. When I got it all back
together, I took it for a long ride around town, but the ticking noise
was still there and ran fine. I was able to listn more closely to
where its coming from, definately not in the top end, its right across
from where the starter sits in the middle of the motor. Maybe the cam
chain gets slack at the bottom?

Now another dilema. When I started the bike this morning, it chugged
and sputtered a bit before starting and now sputters taking off and
giving it a good throttle. Any ideas?