Effects of oil below "L"

[alanmcorcoran]

On the way in today the bike felt kind of balky, power was a bit uneven, wasn't shifting consistently, didn't seem to settle into its post warm-up groove. Since I didn't have the formal "600" mile service done (I brought the bike back to the dealer at about 350 and they went through it then - no oil change though) I thought it was high time I checked the oil level (I'm almost at 2K.) In my office parking lot, I discovered that, unless I'm at home in the garage with the overhead trouble light in hand, the bike propped up to horizontal, and me hunched over on one knee to get the right angle through my tri-focals, I really can't see $hit as far as the oil level goes.

I checked it as descibed above when I got back home and could see just a glimmer of oil down in the bottom of the glass. Headed off to Manny. Moe & Jack's for some Valvoline 10W40 (non energy, non-synthetic) and ended up pouring in about a fifth of a quart before the level was midway between F and L.

I haven't heard any tapping. I was wondering, not having any prior experience with a transmission that uses the motor oil, what the effect on being down about 10% is on the overall operation?

Also, any tricks other than pour, guess and check as far as getting to the proper level? (Assuming you are topping off, not doing an oil change.) I ran the bike for a minute or two in between just to be sure it was all warm and circulatin'

And finally, has anyone ever ordered the filter and O rings on-line? If so, how did it work out as opposed to riding to the dealer?