Edit #1: 20/06/2005: This is my first product review and is my 100th post!
Edit #2: 28/06/2005: Added more comments regarding D.S.D head.
Edit #3: 28/06/2005: Added tools required.
Edit #4: 08/07/2005: Minor adjustments made after three weeks usage.
LOOBMAN: simplicity saving you time, money and chain life!
Loobman - http://www.chainoiler.co.uk/
Price (includes postage): £18.99 - I bought during a special @ £16.99 (~NZ$46)
Estimated D.I.Y install time: 2.5hrs (took my time)
Delivery time: 8 business days from UK (ordered on Sunday, 2nd Wednesday it arrived).
Sorry: don't own a digital camera so no pictures.
Required tools:
Hot water for softening up the plastic tubing.
Sharp pliers for cutting metal wire and zip ties (I used two - one with cutting blade and another with long nose).
Sharp knife for cutting plastic tubing.
Small battery drill with 5.5mm bit if you make the same modification I did.
After having lost the factory RK chain and sprockets at under 10k because of the spray on o-ring safe chain wax, it was time for something better - an oiler.
After checking out and eliminating many products due to their features, size, install requirements, price, or lack of a dual sided delivery head, the winner was Loobman. [The Scottoiler was priced a mini fortune at $280 (Universal Kit-£69.95 + Dual Injector-£19.95 + Postage-£19.95)].
The week following unit purchase my new toy was here! After a quick flick through the 4-page instruction manual and ensuring the kit was complete, next thing to do was wait for new chain/sprockets to be fitted.
Weeks ticked by and then finally one Friday - new chain and sprockets.
Spread over the following weekend and in between other mandatory bike maintenance duties, the Loobman got installed and on very first attempt the dual sided delivery (D.S.D) head oiled both sides of the rear sprocket, the chain and my garage floor.
The D.S.D Head uses the ends of two tiny zip ties for guiding oil onto the rear sprocket - rest of zip tie is used to attach these onto D.S.D Head. Given the quantity of zip ties supplied, there's no need to buy replacements immediately after the first set wears out and because zip ties are common enough, your local hardware/electrical store should stock them for a few dollars. They’re a cheap and easy to replace consumable item.
Constructing and fitting the Loobman isn't difficult. Assembling the D.S.D head was simple, fitting the oil reservoir bottle to the pillion foot peg was straight forward, but fitting the metal wire used for supporting the D.S.D head onto the swing arm required plenty of patience and two pliers for bending. Do triple check before you bend the wire. Avoids repositioning your bend 5mm to the side or in the opposite direction!
Fitting the various sized plastic tubing with an air temperature of 8-degrees was impossible because they refused to slide into each other. That required a venture into the kitchen for a cup of hot water.
As the Loobman allows usage of any oil of choice and having just switched brands and hence onto a lighter winter weighted value oil, I've got 800ml of fully synthetic 15w-50 motorcycle engine oil for exclusive Loobman use. Did find filling the oil reservoir bottle tricky because of it's tiny opening but filling won't happen frequently, maybe every two to four months estimated by my current oil consumption rate.
Given the Loobman only requires Mother Earth Gravity, there's no wiring loom to cut or a carburettor to drill into. By mounting the bottle directly above the chain, getting the tube to run continuously downhill was a breeze and required only about 30cm of tubing between bottle and D.S.D head. The tubing zigzags through a gap in the chain guard and I've used a plastic zip tie to ensure it doesn't accidentally meet the nearby chain.
With the catchment chamber being positioned 2-3cm away from the rear wheel, it will get water/muck splashed onto itself when the road is wet. To counter this I've made one modification by attaching an E2 sports water bottle cap over the top of the catchment tube and forced the oil reservoir feed tube through it (first drill a 5.5mm hole).
The Loobman is a simple gravity feed system, so if you squeeze too much or ride not enough, oil will continue to flow after your ride has finished until the tubing and D.S.D head are empty. Have given thought about adding a mini 4mm garden sprinkler tap into the system, but the tubing is empty at my destination so any excess oil is therefore coming from what's still inside the D.S.D head - not much I can do about that besides trying to squeeze for less oil. There is no concept of oil drops per minute, all the oil flows out immediately until it's dry and will then require the rider to recharge the system. For me this isn't a problem, 99% of riding is commuter based. For long distant riders, fitting a segment of smaller tubing will make the oil exit slower.
After one week of service, the Loobman works great. The chain appears to have a nice thin evenly spread oil film coating. Actually some other sections of the bike are oil spotted too, namely; rear wheel, chain guard, and WOF holder mounted on rear of number plate. Never mind.
You get what you pay for, the Loobman is a great system for the price paid and I look forward to the benefits of a well oiled chain and hopefully this will translate into a long extended chain life.
All pictures are from Loobman website or their email correspondence:
The bike picture is a Suzuzki SV 650 S; this what my install is based on and looks like.
The other two pictures detail how the D.S.D Head looks like and how it should be positioned relative to the rear sprocket.
After three weeks of usage:
- The rear sprocket and chain are always covered in a nice layer of oil, even the o-rings are!
- Reduced the length of tubing between bottle and D.S.D head because noticed when sitting/riding on bike, a segment of tubing effectively goes horizontal, reduces oil flow rate. By removing 3cm, all the oil is now distributed beyond the D.S.D Head after travelling 5km.
- To reduce the amount of oil dispatched per squeeze and hence drip at destination, cut a few mm off the bottle feeder pointy tip.
- To catch any excess oil after parking, made a tiny clip on catcher from the base of a shampoo container. This clip on gets positioned just about where the chain meets sprocket. Function over fashion because it's bright white.
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