I noticed about a week ago on a post about oil apparently coming from the gear lever it was suggested this could be chain-fling.

Just after that I noticed oil on my lever and in the bolt indents on the frame in that area, black mucky oil it was too. Have cleaned it up and not noticed a return. I have gagged-back my Scottoiler slightly as I am fairly sure it is oil from the chain. I had inadvertently knocked it putting a drying cloth back under the seat. Does anyone bother cleaning the oil off the inside of the guard or where the chain goes onto the top of the front sprocket? and is there any point?

Did your "symptoms" look anything like this?



In the past when I had excess chain lube it dribbled along the bottom edge of the shift lever first, and showed up on my boot; the additional stream on my sidestand came later.  But this time it seems to have skipped straight to the sidestand.  :dunno:

When I get a spare evening I'll pull the side cover off and clean out the 1/2" of gunk that has no doubt gathered below the front sprocket.  I'll try to take pictures (and possibly video!) this time - for posterity.  :mrgreen:

There's one overriding reason to clean out inside the guard.  Once the "gunk level" reaches the hole that the shifter shaft passes through, you're guaranteed a slow "oil" leak every time the engine heats up and liquifies the gunk.  The leak will stop when the bike cools down, but it will appear again next time around.  Best to do the thorough cleaning and apply the lube a bit more sparingly.  That will keep the monster at bay for a LOOONG time.  

Yes, that's the kiddie, almost exactly like your pic. I guesse I'll take the guard off and have a thorough clean-up.

I am pretty sure that when I shoved a rag back under the seat a bit enthusiastically I knocked the adjuster on the scottoiler and increased the flow a bit too much, I have reset it to "2" which seems fine, maybe when winter sets in, up to "3"

Somehow I just knew you'd have a pic.