I had a cam cover leak (more of a minor 'weep', really) on the right side that was fixed under warranty but your description doesn't sound like the symptoms I saw. The mechanic at the dealership told me they'd had more bikes in for head gaskets than cam cover leaks which surprised me, I have to admit, given the relative lack of online reports about same. If you are seeing oil on the fins and it's not obviously coming from the cam cover above them, it's almost certainly a head gasket.
Mind you, that's thrown into doubt by the fact that your mechanic is struggling to figure out where it's coming from, because a blown head is usually screamingly obvious. There aren't too many sources for oil leaks up there, and the cam cover is easy to rule out as you can see the whole extent of it and spot any leaks easily. I don't want to second-guess what the fella with hands-on is seeing and thinking, but if he's mystified then it's either not a head gasket or he's stringing you along. I'd guess the former, because most people are basically decent and honest - even those in the autotrade
Best of British luck with finding and fixing this, chum! It'd be a good idea to make sure the mechanic, if he has to remove the head, checks it for manufacturing faults. On old bikes, a persistent leak could mean the head was veeeeerrrry slightly bowed and could never create a perfect seal, or had 'porous' qualities, which is another way of saying the skimming was substandard and microscopic flaws were forming channels that the oil could escape through (as it's hot as Hades and under a lot of pressure).
Bad Luck
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