Although I think they make sense for use in your home environment, I would never use one on a trip. You get lulled in to a false sense of security and don't check the chain and sprockets. If I hadn't been lubing the chains every day I wouldn't have noticed the fact that my wifes new O-ring chain had stretched so much in one day that it had started to erode the engine casing, in the middle of Patagonia!!

I have a dual injector Scotty on my KLR650, and i think it's great. The dual injector was a bit tricky to install (and I lost one nozzle to a sprocket bolt when reversing, on my first attempt at installation). I find that I watch the oiler and chain on a daily basis anyway, but the difference is that now, I just need to have a peek, and normally no other action is required (as oppopsed to actually having to oil on a daily basis). Every few days, I needed to top up the reservoir, which is a trivial task. If you need to re-prime the system (only required first time around, or if the reservoir runs dry) don't forget to reset the valve from "prime" afterwards though, or else the oiler will promptly dump the entire reservoir's contents all over the chain, rear wheel, and possibly the brake discs and pads! I did this (hey, I'm not perfect!), and it caused a big dirty mess that caused people to approach me to ask me if I knew that the bike had a serious oil leak!

I can understand why people doing dirt / sand routes don't use oilers.. that stands to reason.. sand + oil = nice abrasive paste.

For an O ring / X ring, oiling *is* recommended to keep the rubber o-rings soft. If the seals harden, the internal lubrication is lost, and chain life suffers. If the o-rings harden, it also causes a lot of resistance, which eats your mpg (kmpl) and your power.

In Canada you can buy winter or summer grade chainsaw chain oil .
I generally use winter grade because it flows easily .
You could mix in some parrafin or diesel to thin yours out a bit and make it flow better .


Of the spray on chain lube ,I have found PJ1 to be much better than the others.

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Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

The answer is.........YES, DEFINITELY. I wouldn't have a bike without one. End of story. There is no debate to be had on this issue.

Chris

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"Life is too short to drink cheap wine!"

Hmmm, well I would say, by the fact that this thread is well on it's way into the second page, that there IS debate to be had on this issue. I actually would say that no, they are not worth the money, TO ME. My Loobman does a great job, some say better, some say not as good as the Scott, but at 1/4 the price.

Regards

Nigel in NZ

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The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with . -- 2200 BC Egyptian inscription

Another vote for the 'Loobman' I got 30,000 miles from my 1200 Trophy chain and sprockets, using a Loobman, cost effective
Scotoilers are a good bit of kit, but way too expensive for what they are, a few pieces of rubber/plastic tubing and a plastic reservoir :confused1:
Plus more to go wrong with all that plumbing, I have heard they are a PITA to bleed? But they are better than having nothing fitted, and relying on anal retentiveness

Trophymick

Scottoilers? Chains? What are those then? :confused1:







(I'm surprised that no other BMW owners have posted something like that )

They are the things that make the back wheel go round and round
Instead of these oh nooooo its broken - ::. UKGS'er.com .::
and considerably less expensive in the event of a (re-occurring) seal/bearing failure The Japanese shaft drives didn't/don't seem to have many problems
Meeeeooowwww!


Trophymick

Read my review and see if a Scottoiler is for you,

F650 Ride the World - A journey of Global Proportions

Much better and much cheaper.

In my opinoin of course.

LOOBMAN - manual chain lubrication system for all motorcycles with regular, O-Ring and X-Ring chains

I have one on my XT. It only oils when I want it to, doesnt make a mess, can run on any oil , easy to fit and only costs £20.

Happy days !

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

I have a view on both. At the moment my Dads varadero1000 has a scottoiler on it and to be frank it is good. For the money you do have to do a bit of fiddling but once fiddled it works great but you have to keep an eye on the level of oil (ran out on ireland trip) and keep an eye on the chain as it wears but not as fast.

The loobman i bought and placed on my big brothers varadero 125. I have only used it a few times since placed on but it does work but takes time to fit and you have to have the bottle in easy excess for when you want old which can be a bugger. (scottoiler under seat or on number plate). The few problems i have had are remebering to use it on a trip, getting the oil to run the full length of tube, getting it to go out the plastic ends onto the chain.

All the problems of both oilers can be fixed it just takes time. On money wise the loobman wins hands down at £18 (ebay) it is cheap but at £70 + attachment (if you pay for it) is more expensive but you get more for your money and better control over the oiler.

For me it would have to be the scottoiler as you just start the bike and it goes you stop it stops. easy. but not as cheap!!!

I had a Scottoiler for years, and also another device (CLS200u or something like that?) that had wires going to the battery, where it got a hunch that now the bike´s running its time to get to work.

Both require some time to fit into the bike, and some time to maintain them as well. And after a few months, sometimes even half a year or so, both broke down for whatever reason (there were several), but anyway the oiler was the most common place where I had to fix something on any bike. They just do not last, and I got fed up with both. They do work well when they do, though.

Now I got a Loobman, and it was easier to fit, requires you to remember to use it (ive got no problem with that as Im used to checking the condition on the chain) but on the other hand there isnt much that can go broke. The steelwire thats used to keep the oilpipe in the right position isnt very convincing, though..
Only had it for a few weeks now, but so far I dont feel like tearing it off the bike (like I sometimes did with the more tricky solutions!).. planning to put some chainsaw oil into the bottle instead of motor oil to maybe get less oil flying around the back of the bike. For me this system seems to be LOW-TECH enough, while others sadly werent.