[transalp] Loobman chain oiler
Jeff Fitzsimons
Hi all,
I just fitted a Loobman chain oiler. It's a cheap (16.99 Pounds Sterling
shipped anywhere) manual chain oiler. Basically, it consists of a
washbottle which you fill with your favorite lube (they recommend basic
10W40 engine oil). A tube runs out the top into a reservoir, then into a
narrow tube to the rear sprocket. At this point it attaches to an
interestingly designed plastic 'head' which holds two 'brushes' (actually
zip-tie ends!) alongside the rear sprocket.
Each time you squeeze the bottle, the reservoir fills, drains into the tube,
travels along the swingarm, and dribbles out the head via the brushes onto
the rear sprocket. From there, the rotation of the sprocket pushes the oil
out onto the chain (cleaning the sprocket in the process) where it coats
evenly.
At the moment I'm using a mix of kerosene and 90wt Mobil 1 gear oil, I've
used such a combo for a long time to clean and lubricate by hand. The chain
was pretty gunky, so I have been squeezing the loobman quite a bit. Once
it's clean I'll switch to something like Mobil 1 10W30.
The rear sprocket has cleaned itself up quite a bit already (after a single
five mile ride). The chain looks evenly wetted. There has been a fair
amount of fling-off onto the swingarm, chain guard, tire sidewall, etc, but
that's to be expected with such a lightweight oil mixture and so much
application.
The bottle has been mounted to my left crashbar. One benefit is that engine
vibrations keep the solution well mixed-up, it almost looks like percolating
coffee. :-)
So, it's a slight annoyance having to remember to squeeze the bottle every
50-100 miles, but it's way easier than manually scrubbing and lubing every
week! Also, at $29 USD it's MUCH cheaper than a Scottoiler!
Pictures to follow when I get off my lazy butt and put some film in my
camera. :-)
Jeff
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