I'm been noticing a few drops of oil under the left side of the bike, almost parallel with the gear shifter. Any ideas where it might be coming from? If I run my finger underneath I get some oil, just hard to locate since the engine casing is black. I'm assuming it's a gasket of sorts, but not totally sure.

Any info would be appreciated.

Dave

actually, i'm getting the same thing.  i just cleaned off the underside this morning.  alot of oil ends up on the side and center stands.  looks like the mount of whatever that bar is that runs from side to side to the rear of the transmission is is caked in oil.  i checked the levels and was able to put about 1/2 quart in.  mine's an '01 and luckily i don't have the black casings so it's easy to tell how dirty everything is under there.

Normally this is lube flung off the chain. The front sprocket is under that cover. Sometimes oil will leak from there but it's not normally severe.

that sorta puts my mind at ease...though the stuff that's coating my stands looks more like oil than chain lube.  thicker and darker, for sure.  i dunno, maybe it's just lube combined with dirt and grime...does that make sense?  maybe i can borrow a digital camera and snap a couple of pics to get a definite answer and put it to rest fo' sho'.

Check out the old thread Fluid Leak.

Seems like a close match for your situation.

good info there; i bookmarked it and will follow those cleaning instructions when i get some time.  thanks for the link!

Any time there is a suspected leak, the first step is to clean the area. In this case you should pull the side case off and clean around the countrsprocket. The chain lube builds up and gets dirt and gravel stuck in it. So it's important to do this ocassionally anyway.
9 times out 10 it's just chain lube leaking out. When everything gets hot it liquifies and runs down like oil. Since it is stickier it spreads different. Engine oil would get splattered farther with the wind from riding.

Fluid Leak was from me, and let me tell you the amount of crud that I found when I took off the sprocket cover was just amazing.  Since I cleaned it up, not a drip of crud anywhere.  Once again Kerry, thanks for your help.

Wayne