Who recently posted about their Scot Oiler Install?

[Wintersdark]

On 9/5/2023 at 8:50 AM, Yaman said:

Hi. 

I have a question about  chainoiler. Im thinking of order a tutoro oiler and why do the nozzle have to be at the rear sprocket , cant it be just  behind the front sprocket cover so the oil will drip on the chain . This Way it will be almost invisible . 

So, you can install it on the front sprocket, but you don't want to drip onto the chain.  An important part of how they function is capillary action and centrifugal force causing the oil to spread across the sprocket then across the entirety of the chain from the inside (relative to it's spinning) so the oil gets to both sides of the chain and moves inside to outside before being eventually flung off.  This results in total chain coverage with minimal oil application.  Dripping onto the chain is just going to get flung off immediately.  Still, you can apply it to the front sprocket in the same way you do to the rear sprocket, by having the nozzle touch the side of the sprocket.  It'll need to be the top side to work most efficiently, but I imagine the bottom would work well enough too. 

This is kind of difficult to set up with the stock cover, YMMV as I haven't attempted it on the Tracer, but I've planned out doing it on my Tenere which has a "screened" (if you will) sprocket cover I can feed the nozzle through. 

[Yaman]

So, yesterday i route the hose for scottoiler . I hide it on the inside of the swingarm. Today the glue was dry so i could do the rest. 

The reservoir i put under the seat . Easy to fill up and adjust . Will go for a ride and test later today 

[2and3cylinders]

I've had my scott oiler for decades

Pretty bullet proof except the seat for the needle or the needle itself gets worn and it can drip just a bit

I have a great place to mount the unit on the left Shad 3p pannier rack

Mounting the unit under the saddle could get messy and having it rigidly mounted so you can fill it with the squeeze bottle vertically and the vent being higher than the unit is preferred.

[Yaman]

The bracket is ziptied to the frame so its not moving , i dont know how the older ones are but on this you remove the rubber and vent and fill with squeeze bottle,  the vent is above the bodywork on the bike . I set it to drip 1 drop pr 90 sec. Now its Rain and only 12° c so hopefully i can go for a ride and test the tires tomorrow.  

[2and3cylinders]

My riding may be curtailed for a while, now my hip is bad. First neck, then back, shoulders, etc. 

But rode today despite the agony.

[The Cheese]

I might be opening a can of worms here...but why a chain oiler? Does it really need that much oil constantly dribbled on it? It's a sealed chain after all. Clean it once and awhile and oil very occasionally and shouldn't it be fine? 

[lather]

They main reason I run an auto oiler is for long trips. I just did a 6000 miler last month. I don't want to deal with chain maintenance in motel parking lot after a long day on the road. 15 years ago I switched to shaft drive bikes for Touring for that reason. (After having to change chains and sprockets twice while on trips on my 900 Ninja). Now at 71 years old I feel I need a lighter bike than those big shaft drive bikes so I am back to chain drive.

[Lone Wolf]

3 hours ago, The Cheese said:

...but why a chain oiler? Does it really need that much oil constantly dribbled on it? It's a sealed chain after all. 

From the Scottoiler site:

The problem with traditional chain spray is that it’s sticky and tacky. It has to be – so that it stays on your chain for as long as possible. However, due to its tackiness, your chain will pick up dirt and grit from the road. Over time this then turns into the black grinding paste that every motorcyclist hates. This grinding paste is what wears away your O-Rings and ultimately makes your chain fail prematurely – costing you hundreds in chain replacements and repairs.

With a Scottoiler chain oiler system, you are always feeding just enough oil to your chain – in very small doses. This allows us to use a lubricant that has almost no tack additives and dirt and grit will not stick to your chain. A cleaner chain means your chain does not develop the black grinding paste. Your chain will last up to 7 times longer, plus you don’t need to manually clean and lubricate it every 300 miles.

--------------------------

I have a Scottoiler on one of my bikes (other systems are similar). Adjust the "drip" to about one drop every 2 minutes. Chain rarely needs cleaning because the oil flings off, taking grit with it. I have to clean the rim now and then but no oil gets on the tread region of tire.

O-rings remain moist with light film of oil, rather than getting dry and cracking due to neglect.

[Wintersdark]

On 9/24/2023 at 5:24 PM, The Cheese said:

I might be opening a can of worms here...but why a chain oiler? Does it really need that much oil constantly dribbled on it? It's a sealed chain after all. Clean it once and awhile and oil very occasionally and shouldn't it be fine? 

So, as a devoted auto oiler fan, here are the reasons:I

f you ride a lot (particularly in bad weather), you need to clean and lube your chain a lot.  Where one rider may do that a couple times a year, I was doing it weekly.  That got annoying.  

Related to the above, if you're on a long road trip it's really nice to just not worry about it at all - your chain will be fine.

if you clean and lube based on miles travelled, you'll get more chain life out of an oiler because the chain is always clean and freshly lubed.  There's no drying out process, no getting dirty, no period just before you clean and lube again where your chain is wearing more.

it protects your sprockets too.

As @Lone Wolf says above, you're using a low viscosity oil that carries debris off your chain vs. Sticking dust to the chain.  I took my Tenere 700 to an adventure rally weekend.  It saw some 300kms of dust, dirt, mud, and river water. It was a *mess*. When it was time to come home, I turned up the feed on my Tutoro for the ride home.  When I pulled in at home, my chain looked brand new again, spotlessly clean. 

 

[The Cheese]

Does that not sling lube everywhere? Seems like it would be a real mess.

[2and3cylinders]

1 hour ago, The Cheese said:

Does that not sling lube everywhere? Seems like it would be a real mess.

Asked and answered...

[Ride365]

I have been using Clenzoil bicycle chain cleaner/lube on my chain applied quickly/easily with a small detailing sponge for most of my ownership of this bike, and at almost 16K miles......the original chain and sprockets look amazing.  Up on the centerstand and a few rotations of the wheel, and I lube the chain very quickly and with little to no mess and hassles. I have run oilers on bikes before, they do fling no matter what you use in them, but do agree the convenience is nice for some while on a long trip. Personally I like lubing my chain manually, gives me a good opportunity to see the condition of everything, and it just takes little time at all. Nice to have options for sure, but always some trade off and compromise no matter what you choose. 

[Lone Wolf]

1 hour ago, Ride365 said:

... I have run oilers on bikes before, they do fling no matter what you use in them, but do agree the convenience is nice for some while on a long trip. 

That is true - and at first it bothered me.

Then I witnessed in real life what the literature says, the intent is to fling off grit and road grime. I agree it is sort of a trade off - compromise, but the auto oilers are adjustable.

You are taking care of your chain - the auto oilers really shine compared to neglect.

[Wintersdark]

16 hours ago, The Cheese said:

Does that not sling lube everywhere? Seems like it would be a real mess.

Not nearly like you'd think.

Yes, the underside of your chain guard is gonna be gunky, but the mechanics of how an oiler (properly) works are not what you'd think.  If you just drop oil randomly onto a chain, it's going to go *everywhere* and make a huge mess.

But you want your oiler set up to *very slowly* let a very small amount of oil out onto your sprocket. Capillary action aided by centrifugal force carries that out to the teeth of the sprocket and around both sides of the teeth even though you're only putting oil on the outside of the sprocket - dual application nozzles are a waste of time.

At this point, it's not drips of oil, it's a very thin film.  Those same forces spread that oil film across the chain, covering all surfaces equally.

Because it's not drips, it's a super thin film, as particles of matter stick to the chain they're carried outwards and fall off, but they're not thrown off so that they splatter all over your bike; there's not enough oil on them. 

Without particles of crap, the excess oil basically aerosolized as such absurdly small amounts let go at a time, and drag pulls them away from the bike as they took lack sufficient mass to be thrown onto the bike.

So, *as long as your oiler is set up correctly* it won't make a mess on your bike.  If you just drop drips of oil onto the chain, or if you turn the feed rate up high, then it'll make a mess - that's user error though.

In my case above, I deliberately turned it up too high to force clean a muddy chain.  It did get some gunk onto the bike, which was also covered in tons of mud.  Thus, when I got home, I power washed the mud off the rest of the bike but didn't need to worry about the chain (which I won't power wash of course) as it was already clean.

But day to day?  No, it doesn't make a mess of your bike.  If you'd like, I can take pictures of my Tracer and show you - it's got about 1500kms on it since it was last washed, so you can see what happens.

[The Cheese]

13 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

Not nearly like you'd think.

Yes, the underside of your chain guard is gonna be gunky, but the mechanics of how an oiler (properly) works are not what you'd think.  If you just drop oil randomly onto a chain, it's going to go *everywhere* and make a huge mess.

But you want your oiler set up to *very slowly* let a very small amount of oil out onto your sprocket. Capillary action aided by centrifugal force carries that out to the teeth of the sprocket and around both sides of the teeth even though you're only putting oil on the outside of the sprocket - dual application nozzles are a waste of time.

At this point, it's not drips of oil, it's a very thin film.  Those same forces spread that oil film across the chain, covering all surfaces equally.

Because it's not drips, it's a super thin film, as particles of matter stick to the chain they're carried outwards and fall off, but they're not thrown off so that they splatter all over your bike; there's not enough oil on them. 

Without particles of crap, the excess oil basically aerosolized as such absurdly small amounts let go at a time, and drag pulls them away from the bike as they took lack sufficient mass to be thrown onto the bike.

So, *as long as your oiler is set up correctly* it won't make a mess on your bike.  If you just drop drips of oil onto the chain, or if you turn the feed rate up high, then it'll make a mess - that's user error though.

In my case above, I deliberately turned it up too high to force clean a muddy chain.  It did get some gunk onto the bike, which was also covered in tons of mud.  Thus, when I got home, I power washed the mud off the rest of the bike but didn't need to worry about the chain (which I won't power wash of course) as it was already clean.

But day to day?  No, it doesn't make a mess of your bike.  If you'd like, I can take pictures of my Tracer and show you - it's got about 1500kms on it since it was last washed, so you can see what happens.

Thank you for actually explaining it. This is my first chain bike that will be sticking around for awhile. I'm just trying to ask questions to understand what's going on. Opinions on chain maintenance seems to be widely varied.

I've only put about 600 miles on my Tracer so far. When I got it the chain was pretty wet. The area you would expect to have lube flung to was covered in lube. To the point of it dripping off the bike. I'd like to keep that from happening again.