I know what caused my accident on 2nd December

[beyond]

99% sure I know what caused my accident on the 2nd December 2006.

When I traded my bike, I had the Scott Oiler transferred to the new bike and never thought to check the oil flow settings, assuming that all the settings would have been kept the same at changeover. (NB: Assumption is the prelude to disaster) I am not blaming anyone here as I might have bumped it myself shoving the waterproof gear under the seat, though I doubt it.

While getting my bike repaired, I also had the tyres changed to Pirelli Spada rear and Pirelli Diablo Corsa front. I've clocked up 2700kms since getting the bike back and several times on left handers, I have still had the rear step out a bit. Because I haven't been pushing hard, nothing serious has come of this but man was I getting concerned.

Last night I checked under the bike and there was oil everywhere, running down the side stand, the main stand, the rear swingarm etc.

Because my other GSX1400 had white rims, you could tell if the Scott Oiler was feeding too much but the new bike has black rims so you can't. Also I have had to fill the oiler twice and normally it goes for ages. Last night it was nearly empty again so I refilled it and turned it right back to nearly minimum flow where it was before.

So, I truly believe that too much oil was getting on the back wheel and caused the rear to swing out on the 2nd Dec. with me going down hard. It's happened a few times since on the other tyres as well and now I know why.
On the 2nd, I stopped for a couple of minutes at the Whangamata turnoff to let some other riders catch up and oil will have seeped down the wheel at this stage. When taking off again and throwing it into the left hander where I came off a little oil on the tyre would have been enough to start the slide and the rest is history.

I could have had another accident since too as mentioned the rear has stepped out on me a few times now, so I will be checking this component regularly. Those with Scott Oilers: please be careful. Watch those oil flows.
I was amazed at how much oil was under the bike and dribbling down the swingarm and all over the wheel. :(

[MSTRS]

It must be a relief to work out the reason for your bin. At least you know you didn't do anything wrong per se. Good advice re Oilers

[Nutter34]

Glad you figured it out... Nothing worse than never knowing...

Hope it goes better now you've found a symptom and adressed it...

[Panther]

glad to hear you found out, the puzzled look on your face that day was priceless!

[Scouse]

Hey Paul I was thinking the exact same thing the other day and ment to say somthing to you on Tuesday about it

[beyond]

I am real pleased I found a cause. The look on my face must have been priceless cos at the time and until now, I have tried to figure out what went wrong or if I had done anything wrong and for the life of me had no idea what could have caused it.

I detest loose ends and this has bothered me for a long time. Real glad I have got to the bottom of it. I was beginning to think my new bike had an intermittent hinge in the middle :)

[Panther]

notice i said puzzled...not sitting there in anguish ;) :innocent:

[2much]

glad you finally figured out the lesson mate... will take note myself.

[Grahameeboy]

I remember years ago I must have overfilled the sump on my YPVS and got to Brighton and discovered that the overflow pipe had chucked oil all over rear tyre...lucky it was mainly dual carriageway..

[Leong]

Guess you'll sleep better now eh! Thanks for posting, I have a scott oiler too....

[bane]

it would be wonderful to live in hindsight....

pleased you have closure, (bloody hell, I sound like Dr Phil!)


...does that mean you will be apologising to all the BT020's you dissed :whistle:

[The Pastor]

err shouldnt you check your tires & chain daily? Sounds like you noobed it up a bit......

[RiderInBlack]

This is part of the reason I've stopped using this kind of product. The spatter on the left-side of my rear tyre on the VFR from the Scott Oiler worried me. Made me lamer on leaning over on the left (special if the road was wet). So when I lost the oiler due to righting off that bike (not caused by the oiler) and insurance getting their clammy hands on it before I could remove it, I did not get another one for my next bike. I have found that due to the fact that I regularly clean and lube my chain, that I am getting as much life out of it as I did using the oiler.
My advice here is that if ya just clean and lube ya chain regularly, you will not need an oiler, and this will save ya risking coming down due to lube on ya tyre.

[beyond]

Always check my tyre pressures but use the spray on and hose of gunk when cleaning the bike so never appreciated the amount of oil getting around under there. I suppose I keep my bike too clean. Is there such a thing?? :)

I can go a complete service interval without adjusting the chain thanks to the oiler and when it does get serviced they check the chain anyways, so it was pretty easy to miss what what was going on down there.

[The Pastor]

Always check my tyre pressures but use the spray on and hose of gunk when cleaning the bike so never appreciated the amount of oil getting around under there. I suppose I keep my bike too clean. Is there such a thing?? :)

I can go a complete service interval without adjusting the chain thanks to the oiler and when it does get serviced they check the chain anyways, so it was pretty easy to miss what what was going on down there.

most newbie mistakes ARE easy to miss......

[TonyB]

Glad you found the cause! That must have taken a load off your mind

I had a Scottoiler on my FZR, and quite frankly the back wheel was cleaner than I ever had on any bike using any other form of chain lubrication. If you just use oil or spray on lube most of it gets flung off in a short distance. As long as a Scottoiler is set right I'm sure they are the best option. Most people reckon they're doing well to get 30,000K out of chain- I did 25,000+ before I sold it, and I asjusted the chain for the first time shortly before I sold it. Thats a 530 o-ring on a 235kg (wet) bike with 125-130hp at the wheel.

[DUCATI*HARD]

like they say,you learn from your mistakes:)

[Steam]

Move to Amerika and SUE!

[RiderInBlack]

Most people reckon they're doing well to get 30,000K out of chain.Last chain did 21,000miles (33,600Km). Only replaced it as it was just showing signs of wear and I had the Grand Challenge to do (I get fussy for that and replace any thing looking even a bit dodgy before it). The one that is on now is @ 14,000miles (22,400km) and no adjusting need yet. Both of these have just got good old chain maintenance (no oiler). I wipe of the excess lube after lubing my chain and clean off any lube found on my tyre after lubing. I've had a Scott Oiler and have not had much advantage over proper chain maintenance from it.

[TonyB]

Fair enough. Actually thats pretty impressive. I found with the scottoiler the chain stayed clean and well adjusted, and never had to be maintained in any way. As I barely had time to ride that suited me well.

[Zapf]

Good to hear you found the cause Beyond :)

Personally, I have had an oiler on every bike I owned. And I do keep an eye on the oil flow as I know how much it is affected by air temp. Also by your right hand, as the oiler works off the vacume pressure. The harder you ride the more oil will flow. So if you change your riding style, e.g going from riding easy around town to giving it a bit over the back country roads. The oil flow will increase, in which case you should adjust the oiler accordingly.

Zapf out.

[mangell6]

There are two types of oil for the scottoiler, basically warm areas below 20, and hot areas above 20. Makes a big difference to the oil flow.

[sAsLEX]

Good to hear you found the cause Beyond :)

Personally, I have had an oiler on every bike I owned. And I do keep an eye on the oil flow as I know how much it is affected by air temp. Also by your right hand, as the oiler works off the vacume pressure. The harder you ride the more oil will flow. So if you change your riding style, e.g going from riding easy around town to giving it a bit over the back country roads. The oil flow will increase, in which case you should adjust the oiler accordingly.

Zapf out.

Thats why they aren't that great and one running off its own circuit would be better, pixie made one for himself I think...

[Zapf]

Thats why they aren't that great and one running off its own circuit would be better, pixie made one for himself I think...

u recon? you'll still have issue with oil flow change. Also if your motor is working harder then you are most likely riding faster. Hence chain spinning faster and should also be oiled more. The real problem is how the oil flow changes in relation with temp.

[sAsLEX]

u recon? you'll still have issue with oil flow change. Also if your motor is working harder then you are most likely riding faster. Hence chain spinning faster and should also be oiled more. The real problem is how the oil flow changes in relation with temp.

I would have a temp sensor, a flow sensor a wheel speed/speed sensor and hook into a simple Mega 8 or other micro and whammo all your problems solved. Next Problem?

[NordieBoy]

Also by your right hand, as the oiler works off the vacume pressure. The harder you ride the more oil will flow. So if you change your riding style, e.g going from riding easy around town to giving it a bit over the back country roads. The oil flow will increase, in which case you should adjust the oiler accordingly.

Zapf out.

Nope.
The vacuum just opens the valve.
It has nothing to do with the amount of the flow, the oil is siphoning out.
Temperature is the only thing that affects the flow.

Some bikes keep a bit of vacuum applied even when off - oil on floor/wheel etc.

[Lou Girardin]

Were there streaks of oil on the tyre sidewall? That's the giveaway.
A Pixie oiler can't have the settings altered just by bumping it.
A much better design than the Scott. PM him.

[Kornholio]

Being an eye witness to that particular bin it was so unusual that you went down...we werent even going that fast... Good to see you have sorted out the problem and rectified it... Personally I oil it regularly myself and that is sufficient

See ya soon Paul on the road somewhere :D

[justsomeguy]

Glad you found out what happened...

You didn't even have your pegs down before the bike just seemed to start to slide and you went for your tumble.

Any oil at that point must have rubbed off while you slid, perhaps that's why we didn't see anything when we tried looking for it.

[justsomeguy]

Being an eye witness to that particular bin it was so unusual that you went down...we werent even going that fast... Good to see you have sorted out the problem and rectified it... Personally I oil it regularly myself and that is sufficient

See ya soon Paul on the road somewhere :D

On the bright side - if there is such a thing- thank God he didn't chuck it about 5 minutes before stopping at the turn off - where the speeds were more "Beyond like".

[Mental Trousers]

Had an oiler on my bike. A couple of weeks back I had a low speed rear wheel overtook the front in a left hander situation. When I picked it up and had a good look there was oil everywhere. First thing I did was rip the oiler out. Turns out it wasn't the oiler (or at least was just the oiler). The petrol tank had been removed 1 too many times and the fuel line had worn through. I think the fuel + the oil combined to spit me out the low side at 30kph. A bloody pain and right in front of a full McDonalds at feeding time too.

[BarBender]

Great to hear you found the cause Paul.
But its crazy that oil should be getting sprayed around like that.

As has been alluded to - that bin of yours was at running speeds...imagine if it had been faster??? At least then we can rule out the tyre cooking scenarios that you Bruce and I were throwing around...

[Zapf]

I would have a temp sensor, a flow sensor a wheel speed/speed sensor and hook into a simple Mega 8 or other micro and whammo all your problems solved. Next Problem?

Want to build one? new product coming!... call it the Saslex oiler!

[Motoracer]

Glad you got it figured out man. It's important to know why you crashed.

Have fun out there.