Mods and Farkles 5: A Chain Oiler for the Multistrada

A Chain Oiler for the Multistrada

I managed to get 24,000km on the Multi's OEM Regina chain, which by popular account is not the best quality chain available.  Towards the end of its life, I noticed that two or three links in that chain were stiff and had clearly suffered a lubrication failure. My understanding of modern o-ring chains was that they were essentially sealed and needed very little external lubrication. Wrong. Chain life is a function of maintenance so anything you can do in this regard is going to lengthen its life and save you money.

According to some, the factory lube is only good for 1-2,000 km. The O-rings (usually X-ring's in fact) are definitely damaged by dust and they do dry out and deteriorate over time, letting lubricant out and wear inducing dirt in. What's more, the various spray-on chain lubes that most people use are for the most part, not a great lubrication solution. They are formulated primarily to stay on the chain and not fling off - thick and sticky; some of the wax types don't even attempt to provide proper lubrication to the bearing surfaces in the chain where the wear takes place. So in general these products are not optimal, despite the hyped up advertising copy. So with all that in mind, 24,000 km was not at all bad.

I have always been aware of chain oilers, but thought they were archaic and of little value in the age of O-ring chains. Talking to Multistrada owners with chain oilers, I was astonished to learn that 50-60,000 km is commonly achieved with a chain oiler! This was corroborated by many, many forum posts and articles that I read.

Automatic chain oilers provide continuous or regular oil to the chain to keep the O-rings constantly lubricated. Furthermore, in the rain, the oil displaces the water and goes a long way to prevent water ingress into the bearing surfaces of the links. Similar for dust and dirt. With the oil flow rate correctly set, there is a degree of fling-off from the chain. Dust is picked up by the oil and removed from the chain by the fling-off mechanism.  For the chain oiler to work optimally, ideally the flow rate needs to be increased or decreased depending on riding conditions - more oil for rain or dust, less for regular highway riding. The rate that oil is dispensed is quite important. Too much and you will have oil all over the place; especially on you back wheel but potentially flinging onto your panniers (if you use them) and dripping out of the front sprocket recess, where the g-forces on the oil are strongest. Too little oil is too little to do the job. There's more to it than just that, oil fling-off works differently at low speed than at highway speed. At highway speed, there are aerodynamic effects that produce turbulence around the rear sprocket. This works to draw the oil fling-off onto the rear tyre and wheel as opposed to city speeds where this does not occur so much. So, ideally the oil flow rate should compensate for highway speed usage.

There are a number of chain oilers on the market. Some of them are simple mechanical devices, others quite sophisticated, electronically controlled units. The simple mechanical type offer fixed flow rates - not that useful for a multi-purpose bike like a Multistrada but better than nothing and cost effective. Some of the products come with or require the use of special oil. I could not see much validity for this need.

I researched all the chain oilers I could find:

Product	Construction	Flow Control	Control	Feed	Trigger	FOB price in AUD*
Loobman	unitary	Fixed/Manual	-	gravity	Manual	34.52
Tutoro	unitary	Fixed/Manual	Mechanical	gravity	Vibration	132.39
Motobriiz	unitary	Fixed/Manual	Wind	air pressure	Air speed	153.36
PD Oiler	modular	Dynamic/Variable	Electronic	pump	Timer	160.22
Cameleon	unitary	Fixed/Manual	Electronic	pump	Timer	184.20
Scottoiler V	unitary	Fixed/Manual	Vacuum	gravity	Timer	191.10
OSCO	unitary	Fixed/Manual	Mechanical	gravity	Manual	211.00
Pro-Oiler	modular	Dynamic/Variable	Electronic	pump	GPS/Distance**	235-337.28
Scottoiler E	modular	Dynamic/Variable	Electronic	pump	Timer	400.03***

* Converted from source currency as of 15 June 2016
** Pro-Oiler is available without GPS module, using a magnetic pick-up
*** In Australia the RP for the ScottoilerE is $449.95 from the Australian importers website

unitary: all major components in a single unit

flow control: how the oil flow can be varied:

• Fixed/Manual - flow can be varied manually while stopped
• Dynamic/Variable - flow adjustable whilst on the move

control: how flow is controlled

feed: what caused the oil to flow

trigger: how is oil flow triggered

Flow Control and TriggerMechanism

The two main variables are flow control and trigger mechanism. Some units are totally manually operated. Others are gravity fed and some have mechanical pumps. Pumps add complexity but give more mounting options as they can be mounted almost anywhere on the bike compared to gravity fed units. Flow rate can also be very accurately controlled with a pump.

As mentioned above, ideally the amount of oil released (flow control) needs to be regulated to cope with the requirements of varying conditions. A variety of flow control mechanisms exist. Logically, it would seem that distance travelled is the most appropriate metric to base oil flow regulation. The Pro-Oiler is the only product that meters oil based on actual distance travelled.

For me a key criterion  was to be able to vary the flow rate to adjust for prevailing conditions while on the move. So it was a toss up between the Pro-Oiler and the Scottoiler E.

The ScottolierE uses an accelerometer to sense vibration and acceleration that it uses to regulate flow. From the product literature it seems that once the unit has decided you are on the move, oil flow is regulated on a variable timing basis. The Pro-Oiler has two options for flow regulation. One can install a sensor that counts wheel revolutions, or as an option you can purchase a GPS module that measures distance and speed. The GPS option is easier and a lot quicker to install.

On the surface, it seems there is little to choose between these two products. Both seem functionally equivalent and quite capable of doing a good job. But if you are inclined to look below the surface there are some major differences.

I opted for the Pro-Oiler for the following reasons:

1. On the Multistrada the working components could be mounted in a totally concealed and convenient fashion. I could not find a suitable spot for the Scottoiler pump/reservoir unit; all the usual mounting points on my bike were already occupied. Most of the Scottoiler installations I have seen on the Multistrada, place it under a screw-in body panel, making refilling a chore. The Pro-Oiler's separate oil bottle gives more mounting flexibility and potentially easier access for refilling purposes. 
2. The sophistication of the Pro-Oiler's oil feed control seems to be a cut above any other product. If you choose to, you can make a range of adjustments to adjust the oil delivery rate to suite any riding condition, although it is pre-set-up ready to use out of the box. Ideal oil delivery is a function of distance and speed with manual adjustment to deal with environmental variations. As such you can achieve optimum lubrication with minimum fling-off more accurately than any of the other products.
   
   If the GPS signal is lost (or the distance signal is lost if one is not using the GPS module) the unit automatically reverts to "emergency mode" after 15 minutes, which meters oil on a timed basis, like many of the other oilers on the market. One can also invoke emergency mode manually if required from the control panel and flow rate can also be adjusted in this mode to deal with more extreme usage environments such as off road or desert conditions. 
3. It places no requirement on the type of oil that can be used. The Scottoiler is supposed to be used with their 'special' oil at $16.95 for 500 ml.
4. Complete with GPS unit, it is ~$100 less costly than the ScottoilerE in Australia.

The Pro-Oiler comprises an oil reservoir bottle, a pump, a control unit, a junction box (that connects all the components together), the GPS sensor and of course various pieces of tubing and a two sided feed nozzle. Although this seems like a lot of components, it gives a lot of mounting flexibility. The GPS and junction box are match-box sized items and can be easily tucked away. The control unit is  a bit bigger and it's best to mount it in an accessible location. There are installation instructions for various bikes on the Pro Oiler website. Assorted mounting accessories such as zip ties and Dual Lock are supplied. When ordering, you need to provide your bike make and model. Presumably this is so that you are supplied with appropriate hardware to mount the feed nozzle properly and a correctly pre-set control unit suited to your particular bike.

Installation of the Pro-Oiler on my 2012 Multistrada Sport

The Pro-Oiler website suggest that the oil reservoir bottle be mounted in the tool compartment of the Multistrada. I was not in favour of this as that space is precious and is already used for my tyre repair kit, pump and some tools. Also, the bottle needs to be located conveniently for filling.. After a close examination, I discovered that the Multistrada 'Central Blackbox" (that's it's official designation), is mounted on a hollow triangular shaped plastic bracket under the seat alongside the ABS pump under the seat. I removed the bracket, cut one side off and reinforced it with a 3mm piece of aluminium sheet that I cut into a L shape to fit the original mounting holes. This opens up enough space for the reservoir bottle to fit snugly under the seat, while the black box position is not altered at all. The bottle is held in place with a wire collar as illustrated below. (As an alternative, the plastic oil bottle can be reshaped by heating with a heat gun and as such made to fit tight areas - a handy feature)

The GPS unit and junction box were Dual Locked into position as illustrated. Power is taken from the tail light circuit accessible from the relay behind the battery using a supplied Posi-lock connector.

The oil pump was mounted under the body panel on the RHS frame alongside the regulator.

The oil line crosses the frame on the swing arm mount and emerges on the bottom of the swing arm where it connects to the Pro-Oiler dispensing nozzle, held in place with the supplied bracket.

The control unit is mounted to my LHS "hiss flap" with Dual Lock.

The oiler appears to be functioning correctly. The flow rate can be conveniently adjusted with the + or - button while on the move. The unit can be set very precisely in terms of wheel revolutions (or metres travelled) per pump stroke, although this is unnecessary as it comes pre-set for your bike. Once installed, the system needs to be primed using a button sequence on the control unit until oil flows. I have experimented with the unit to examine at first hand the effect of the adjustments. I am please to report that it works exactly as expected. In fact on a recent ride on a completely overcast day, the GPS module lost satellite contact and I was pleased to see that the unit had switched into emergency mode as expected.

In all this is the best chain oiler solution and it can be neatly and unobtrusively installed.