R1200ST possible balancer leak…fix or leave it alone?

I have a new to me 2005 R1200ST. This rare bird has a slow oil leak that does not leave a puddle on the floor, just a staining of the exhaust pipe below and a bunch of old carbon crud piled up on the outside and inside bottom of this pretty dirty cyclops. I am reversing some years of neglect from the previous owner as the bike is currently apart for various maintenance but overall it rides strong with no issues. ABS even works. No blinking warning lights.

I took off the starter and took some pics. I don’t see any obvious residue on the clutch so I’m thinking all that crud is from a slow leak of the balance shaft seal. I am thinking of just leaving it alone until the clutch needs replacing as I can live with a 16 year old motorcycle needing a quick degreasing on the engine case every month or so. I will be removing the driveshaft for proper spline lubrication so going farther into it to get to the clutch area isn’t that big a deal for me.

If going further than the drive shaft is no big deal for your skill set, why not go for it and get a look to see what's leaking? You can check the clutch and lube those splines while your in there.

I'd leave it. Sure, you could probably fix it but you probably have more urgent projects than that. I know I would.

Yeah, it’s looking like I’ll just leave it but I do have a USB inspection camera coming to me that I’ll use to confirm my leak area before I bolt the starter back on. In the meantime this morning I flushed the entire iABS III module and complete brake system with fresh fluid. It was pretty dirty.