"I think the oil sold by Scott oil is expensive, so I tend to use gear oil."

It is pricey, although not extraordinarily so.

I believe that chain saw oil makes the best cheap replacement. It is very similar to scott oiler oil, both in weight and its anti-fling capacities. But whatever works for you...

Simon

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Simon Kennedy
Around the world 2000-2004, on a 1993 Honda Transalp

I like the idea but as someone else posted, oiling your chain after a days ride gives you the excuse to check over the bike.

Iv had a scottoiler and I could never get the drip right. Either making a mess or not oiling enough.

They do drasitcally improve your chain life if your lazy on maintenance but not really neccessary.

Riding through dust and sand, an oily chain will ruin the chain.

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

I'm using the heavy oil at the moment (for hot places) and it's too thick (cos I'm currently in a cold place). I don't want to go through the hassle and expense of buying the real thing so I thought I'd go the chain oil option. Any idea of the right chainsaw oil I should use? or will it all do?

cheers
Brett

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

Maybe it's the lack of a Scottoiler that's causing them to break


I don't want to bring up the age old argument of chain vs. shaft, but I personally hate having to think about oiling a chain at the end of a long days ride through water and mud. If I had a chain driven bike, I would definitely fit a Scottoiler or something similar (My old BSA B40 had a primary drive with built-in total loss chain oiler - no, it didn't just leak oil, it was designed by the factory to do the job), although for sand, I know that this is not recommended.

Well I have two of the things, the one on my '91 Tenere works perfectly, I couldn't recommend it more highly; the one on my AT is a worst nightmare. It won't work, or works erratically and intermittently. So as I can't trust the thing I end up crawling around the ground, which is what its supposed to avoid, to see if its working and manually oiling the chain anyway...just in case.

Don't ask me!!!!! :confused1:


I must say though that they are a bit Heath Robinson like!!and expensive as well.

Best excuse ever for a BM or a Deauville - only joking they are not as bad as that!!!

Hi,

We used a Scottoiler on the Vstrom for our UK to Aust trip, the first chain lubing system I have ever used on any bike I have owned, it worked a treat, highly recommended. I have never seen a loobman and didn't know they existed when I bought the Scottoiler, but if I had known probably would have given one a go and been happy - you gotta be happy with 1/4 the price.

I am sort of person that checks the bike over (quick walk around) at start of the day and at every fuel stop to check for any problems - ie anything loose, missing, broken, leaking etc. At this time I always look at the chain to see if its tentioned and properly lubed and at scottoiler to see if it needs toping up. The scottoiler is mounted where its easy to see at a glance and also easy to adjust/refill. If chain looks too dry, I simply give the flow rate a tweak up, and if quite oily and a little too much fling-off, tweak it down. Then at next stop check it again to see if its OK now. After initial set-up I have never used drops/minute, just tweak flow up or down depending on what I think it needs.

Its much harder to get the correct oils when travelling 3rd world countries, so I just used left over engine oil in scottoiler, probably not as good as scottoil/bar-oil/ gear-oil but it worked fine and no need to try to buy & carry a range of oils. Its hard enough 2-up with all your gear, no need to make it harder. I put new chain & sprockets on in Greece and we got home to Aus with same, now with over 35,000km on them. Front sprocket was quite worn but rear sprocket and chain still OK, so a few days ago I replaced the front 16t I have been running with the 17t spare I had carried all the way - gotta get some use out of it. I will be surprised if I don't get 50,000km before full replacement.

I find the oiler fling-off easier to clean up than the residue from spray-oil which usually needs lots of solvent as it seems to go solid when mixed with road muck. I often turn up the flow on the oiler when on dirt or particularly after dirt so it cleans the chain, a bit of extra fling-off, but cleans chain with no effort.

I am a convert to oilers....

Skillo

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

F650 Ride the World - A journey of Global Proportions