Chain maintenance

[Mitch9128]

Duc, sounds like you have had a bad experience, but at least you don't put it down to the product, but down to the ill fitting by mechanics. By Naysayers, i meant those the 'diss' the product, even though they have had no experience, but relied on the 'word' of others, not those that have one fitted badly. As for assisting in the setup, i can't, mine were both fitted at BIGCC in Wokingham, and were perfect, i always ran them on the lowest setting, apart from in winter/wet i would turn them up a 1/4.

[silly_simon]

I have run a scotoiler on all my large capacity bikes and all fitted by yours truly, taking one off one bike and swapping them over etc, as Mitch say's its all about correct fitting and upto now I have never had a problem apart from one reservoir that didn't work at all and scotoil replaced no questions asked

[Flying Half-Dutchman]

I've got a gizmo called a TUTORO. It's a cheap & chearful alternative to a scottoiler. It keeps the chain nicely oiled. But, the downside is that you have to turn it on and off again before & after riding. If you forget, you end up with a puddle of oil below your back wheel. I've done this several times.

[Ducatista]

Duc, sounds like you have had a bad experience, but at least you don't put it down to the product, but down to the ill fitting by mechanics.

I think it's fair to say I've had a fairly bad experience especially as I had professional fitting.
I think it's a great product, but as usual experiences vary for a number of reasons.

I don't think mine is fitted badly now, but it still doesn't work very well i.e. is either very messy or under lubricating the chain.
I'm think it's just the short chain guard, so rather than ill fitting I'm not sure they fit well on all models of bike.

We do have one on a second bike and that is currently leaking as well.

Perhaps I've just been unlucky with them :-/

[cerruti]

Ive been reading this thread with interest as I am undecided over whether to get a scotoiler fitted as I do a lot of commuter miles.

What I am gathering so far is that they can be a disaster if fitted incorrectly, but a godsend if you are lucky with the fit?

[Ducatista]

I wouldn't go as far as to say disaster.
I've still had longer than normal chain use with mine.

But everyone I know personally says they can be mucky (and that includes several professional fittings) and they still need re-filling regularly (unless you get the touring reservoir) so it doesn't save you from that. So for me it's not as clear cut as it is for other people, but I would never dis-regard other people's experiences or opinions.

[Mitch9128]

500 miles avg between fills, and it take literally no more than a minute to fill. Yes you also get some splatter on the rear cowl chain side, depending on flow rate, there are gives and takes, but 33k on the oem chain on a zx9r with one fitted, no adjustment needed in 20k i owned it, outweighs any downfalls for me.

[Ducatista]

and it take literally no more than a minute to fill

Only on the generation game :-)

Find keys
take off seat (find somewhere safe to store it where it won't fall on a spade and get scratched
get scottoil bottle
attach feeder tube if not already on bottle
Remove cover from cylinder
Attach bottle to cylinder
Squeeze it in (you cannot do this too fast - like putting oil into a car via a funnel you have to wait for it to go down)
refit tube back on cylinder hole
find rag
wipe up any spilt oil including awkward places behind/below cylinder
put seat cover back on
hang up keys

As usual a bit of exaggeration going on about the pros unless of course Mitch has the McClaren put crew in his garage :-)

It's not a big deal, I wouldn't say it's massively more effort than sticking some wax/oil/spray on a chain either and we all agree both have to be done regularly (unless you buy the touring reservoir but that does not fit on all bikes - I know because I got it put on and then had to had it removed).

As it does require regular refilling - which takes about the same time as oiling/waxing/spraying a chain then this detracts from the benefits IMO.

[Mitch9128]

LOL i had mine on the subframe, not under the seat, easily filled in under a minute. Pull off breather, attach bottle and squeeze hard, pull off and re-attach breather. No mess at all, if you pull off the bottle squeezed it's sucking up oil back in? As the scottoiler cleans your chain as it oils, no need for cleaning either. 1 min every 5-6 hundred miles, versus oiling and cleaning which takes 20-30 if you do it properly, you make it sound a lot harder than it is Duc!

[Ducatista]

you make it sound a lot harder than it is Duc!

No I'm being realistic and have listed all the steps there for you to see. Not everyone can fit the reservoir in the same place as your bike.
My bottles are a little bit oily so I have to wash my hands.
I usually spill a bit so have to clear it up and it's quite difficult to get a rag underneath the reservoir in the space underneath the seat as the oil runs to hard-to get places.

It's perfectly realistic.
Oh and I did knock over either the seat or a spade (can't remember which) and get a scratch on a brand new seat cowl, so there is no point rushing around as then things get damaged and knocked over.

This is entirely realistic and all true.
Do you think I'm making it up? Why would I do that?
Please don't try to dismiss the REAL experiences of other people.
That simply means you think your experiences are somehow "right" and everone else's experiences are somehow "wrong".
If you want to disagree that's fine, but my set up is real and my experiences are real and not made up.

The Honda one is also under the seat as well, so it's not a one-off unusual fit. That one was done professionally so I don't think it's an unusal pace to put the reservoir.

Have a different opinion by all means, but that's how hard it is for me.
I admit to not being a terribly practical person, but I haven't set out to make up stories or make it deliberately more difficult than it needs to me.

BTW - my lock under the seat gets stiff quite regularly so that needs to be oiled/aprayed regularly as well in order to get acess.
I also wash my hands before doing cooking etc.
So that's two more steps that I didn't deliberately fantasize about either.
If I want to fantasize about something I can certainly think of more exciting things than a delilberately difficult scottoiler filling process for Mitch :-)

I'm happy to agree to disagree but it's best people get both sides of the story even if you do think you are the only one who is right.

I don't think most people spend 20-30 mins doing their chains. That IS unrealistic.
They spin the wheel round and spray.
Of course that's not the best way I agree, but your comparison is totally unrealistic.
I would spin my back wheel round and spray and that's it.
Of course I'd need a paddock stand, not because the manufacturer made the bike like that but because I have gone out of my way to make things especially difficult