If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

- George Washington

Friday 4 March 2011

Unbridled Filth

Or, as we in the trade know it, old chain oil. I was trying for a post title that didn't contain 'Scottoiler' yet again. I suppose it will get me a few hits from one-handed Google users.

Last weekend, I posted that I had given up with the 'freebie' Scottoiler and had ordered a new one. Two new ones, in fact. They came a couple of days later, but today was my first day off work, so I took the opportunity of a sunny afternoon to fit one to the XT. All the plumbing was already in place, so it was just a matter of fitting the new RMV, priming it, and checking the flow rate.

I have found quite a neat location for the reservoir:



The advantage of having it here is a very short run from the reservoir to the chain - the tube is about 16" long in total and visible for all its length, so I can see that the oil is getting where it is supposed to be. The reservoir takes up some of the space where the toolkit should go (yes, a 15-year-old trailbike which still has its original tools, call Norris McWhirter), but since the toolkit is hidden behind a panel that needs an allen key to remove it, it is not an issue. I could not have used the tools on the road anyway, unless I carried tools in my jacket to unfasten the ... you get the picture. The bike has a topbox, and I will carry any tools I need in there from now on. The rattling should keep me awake on long runs.

With the side panel in place, the reservoir is almost hidden, which is neat and keeps it away from prying eyes and fiddling fingers.



And the delivery nozzle delivers the oil at a rate of 1 drop per 40 seconds to exactly the right place on the chain.



On the drive, it works well. Tomorrow, a test ride and then I will fit the other one to the Bonnie.

I would have test-ridden the Yam today, but my shopping list of milk and a newspaper suddenly grew as Anna added a big bag of potting compost and a massive roll of bubble wrap to the list. And then decided she would come too, as there were some things from Homebase that she needed to look at. Oh well.

14 comments:

  1. "....the toolkit .... (yes, a 15-year-old trailbike which still has its original tools).."

    I've still got the 'adjustable' (elongated fulcrum hole) cast steel pliers, and, the compact but powerful T-bar screwdriver set which came with my mid '60's CB72.

    Retained because of their practicality, when the bike itself was sold. I wish I still had those wheels.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks like a bomb.
    Sorry, I don't know bikes :-(

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Joe: those tools were brilliant, and I kept a set for years, although I couldn't tell you where they were now. A CB72 was the first bike I ever rode.

    @Bucko: a bomb? Well, the bike is known to explode at inopportune moments ...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yeah. I've had a few cars like that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. And there I was thinking I was about to read an erudite and searching article detailing the activities of those gentlemen who delight in hurtling around in high performanve BMW`s; you know, those with the factory-fitted option that goes " nee-naa, nee-naa "......

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sorry to disappoint. At least it wasn't cheap porn.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm now the proud owner of a Scotoiler on my latest acquisition, a 2002 BMW F650GS bought ostensibly so Mrs Nikos can get back on 2 wheels - I rather like this bike.....

    I presume that I should be able to see the odd drop ever so often when I start the engine and let it idle or do I need a vacuum? This is FI machine so is there much of a vacuum? The oil tank is hidden behind the number plate. It´s all very exciting raelly.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nikos - the oiler needs a vacuum from the engine to activate the valve and allow the oil to flow. Otherwise, it would empty itself over the back wheel whether you were riding or not. There should be a thin black tube leading from the top centre of the oiler (the one at the side is a breather tube) which goes to a point on the engine intake, where it connects to a stub on the manifold with a small black elbow joint.

    Your BMW doesn't have a stub in standard form, and there should be a small brass spigot drilled into the rubber inlet manifold. There are pics and full instructions here - just enter the bike details (making nsure you select the FI option) and it's all there in a PDF.

    The oil tank behind the plate is the high-capacity version - a separate reservoir to feed the main one.

    You can pull the black elbow off the inlet manifold and suck the end - if it's all OK, you will see the yellow valve inside the reservoir rise slightly, and oil should flow from the tube. Ideal rate is between 1 and 2 drops a minute. If the tube has air bubbles in it, it will need priming. Perhaps email me if it has and we'll talk about that offline. If your oiler doesn;t look like the ones in the post above, then you may have the electronic version, and I can't help you. If you give the Scottoiler guys a ring, they are extremely helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Forgot to say - I had a Scottoiler on the Ducati. That was FI, and it worked fine.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Richard

    Thanks for demystifying this for me, an ardent shaft drive fanatic entering into the dark satanic zone of chains after 30 years - I'll investigate the bike next week when I have recovered from the Wiesbaden Mardi Gras parade...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Post some pics when you do. From what I have heard, the F650 is a really nice bike.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Will do asap - my blog time has become dilated due to mega IT issues involving a very nasty trojan!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I could not have used the tools on the road anyway, unless I carried tools in my jacket to unfasten the ... you get the picture.

    I love it when designers do things like that.

    I recall a comedy sketch whose script called for them to dial 999 on the emergency phone. To get the phone, you had to break the glass. How to break the glass? Easy - use the emergency hammer... which is behind glass that you need to break.

    How to break the hammer glass? Easy! Unhook the cover for the emergency phone using the little latch off to one side, open the glass door covering the phone, use the phone to break the hammer glass, put the phone back, close and latch the glass door, go to the hammer and take it out through the glass, and use the hammer to break the phone glass!

    ReplyDelete
  14. To be fair to Yamahaha, I have no idea what fastener was on there when the bike was new. When it came into my keeping, the panel was held on by a rusty 10mm bolt, which I replaced with a stainless allen bolt as a way of making the bike just fractionally less like a rusty pile of shit. For all I know, it could originally been a thumbwheel or a butterfly - although that would create problems with itchy-fingered passers-by. Unless I find a mint example at some classic show, I will never know.

    ReplyDelete

Comment is free, according to C P Scott, so go for it. Word verification is turned off for the time being. Play nicely.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...