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I have a confession.. I'm useless at looking after my chain. Every time I buy a new set, I tell myself that this time I'll clean and lube it every Friday afternoon. But it doesn't happen. As a result I'm replacing chains pretty much every year (10-12k miles).
So with my new chain and sprockets arriving today, I'm seriously considering investing £100 in a scottoiler.
What I'm wondering is how worth it they are. Are the reports of tripling chain life actually legit? How much oil does it go through per mile? Is it straightforward to swap the system to a new bike? What chain maintenance do I need to do with an oiler fitted?
Any advice appreciated.
I've had the old V System on previous machines and an E System on my last one. I really, really rate the E system, so here are my thoughts and experiences:
- Fitting the E System is a piece of cake as there are no hoses to cut or splice. Connect it to the battery, and route your cables/hoses carefully. If you do this well, you'll never even know it's there.
- The E System's readout is helpful in that it shows how much oil is left in the reservoir. If you've got things set up correctly, you'll get about 8-10,000 miles out of a bottle of oil.
- I mounted the reservoir on the subframe, under the cover of the pillion seat. Yes, it means removing the plastics to refill the reservoir, but hardly a big deal. You couldn't see the single hose from the reservoir, as I'd mounted it on the inside of the subframe and the back of the rear hugger.
- You'll still need to clean the chain occasionally. For me, this ended up being about once a month. Just a light clean with a touch of kerosene on a clean rag and an old toothbrush. Including removing/reinstalling the front sprocket cover? About ten minutes. Put a little oil on a clean cloth and give the chain a brush with it.
- If you're sitting at a standstill with the engine running, it stops feeding oil onto the chain so you don't get all that greasy fling. You can also adjust the flow rate on the fly.
When I installed the system, I'd just replaced the chain and sprockets. When I took off the front sprocket cover, there was a thick sludge of black, grinding, greasy paste that hadn't been removed in years. Whenever I cleaned the chain after that, it was as clean as a whistle (despite plenty of wet and shitty conditions). There was negligible chain fling too.
If I were to place an experienced guess, that chain will still be good for around 30-40,000 miles. I change the sprockets when I change the chain. It's overkill, really, but a habit to which I've grown accustomed. It's more work, but gives me a chance to check the cush rubbers, wheel bearings and re-grease everything.
I usually enjoy cleaning things down and inspecting everything, but chain maintenance is probably the least interesting of those tasks. Cutting this down to once per month (and eye-balling the chain slack every week) is just fine by me.
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