Who's got a Loobman?

[Dualcyclone]

http://www.loobman.com/index.html

I been told about these guys at work - as I have about 3 cans of spray left over from miss daytona, then was considering a scottoiler.

Does anyone here have a Loobman? It does look a little mickey mouse but just wanted to know how well it works and the various applications.

[Biker Biggles]

I bought one for 99p on ebay a while back just to try it out.Very crude and basic and a bit of a hassle so I took it off.(Before it fell off as thats what it looked like it was going to do.)

[ridelikeaturtle]

I also thought the loobman looked a little too simple, and its effectiveness also looked dubious.

I opted for a motrax "lubetronic" for one bike, and a scottoiler for the other. The lubetronic is fully electronic; both work very well.

[SVeeedy Gonzales]

I had one on the last bike and bits would fall off of it, though it did the job OK. Just stuck a scottoiler on current bike - much less hassle and the chain is always clean and well oiled. For £60 (ebay) and about 30 mins fitting time it's well worth it.
Loobman is easier to fit but needs to be stored somewhere easily accessible.

[Lozzo]

Fit a Scottoiler, don't bother with inferior copies.

[chazzyb]

I have an unused Loobman in the garage. I have a Scottoiler on the SV...

[yorkie_chris]

+1 for the scottoilers, mine's great.

[CB1ROCKET]

I have used a loobman for the past 5,000 miles. Its very basic but does it very well as the scotoiler. Only problem it drips oil if you squeeze the bottle too much for a short ride. I do have both the loobman and scotoiler, but if your on a budget and don't mind getting messy at it then the loobman is the best kit.

[CB1ROCKET]

Fit a Scottoiler, don't bother with inferior copies.

This is funny, loobman invented the double sided oil feed before Scottoiler, so who is copying who?

[phil24_7]

Turtle, what's the lubetronic like??

[Lozzo]

This is funny, loobman invented the double sided oil feed before Scottoiler, so is copying who?

The Irish invented the toilet seat, but the English perfected it by cutting a hole in the middle.

[$tevo]

And copper wire was invented by two Scotsmen fighting over a penny:)

[SVeeedy Gonzales]

This is funny, loobman invented the double sided oil feed before Scottoiler, so who is copying who?

I thought they were good on that, until half of it fell off within the first week, leaving just a single sided system anyway.

I never saw any benefit with the double sided system - the rotation of the sprocket and movement of the chain ensure that everything is coated. My scottoiler is just a one sided system but the entire chain is well-covered with oil.

[yorkie_chris]

I never saw any benefit with the double sided system - the rotation of the sprocket and movement of the chain ensure that everything is coated. My scottoiler is just a one sided system but the entire chain is well-covered with oil.

+1

The double sided things, IMO, are a con.

[ridelikeaturtle]

Turtle, what's the lubetronic like??

1) it's fully electronic, so no vacuum lines to deal with. But you will need to wire it into your bike's electrics, which is easy enough if you already have a relayed distribution block set up for accessories (e.g., heated grips) that is powered w/the tail lights. See http://www.canyonchasers.net for instructions, you can get all you need at Maplin.

2) the reservoir/pump is smaller than a scottoiler. This means mounting may be easier, but you don't have as much oil in it either. But the system seems more efficient in that the tubing is much smaller diameter than the scottoiler, so not as much oil gets used. When first priming, it is best to use a syringe to fill the tubing w/oil first, as even w/the flow rate set as high as possible, you'd be waiting quite a while for it to go through all the tubing.

3) the reservoir/pump is not clear (you cannot see the oil in it), so to know how much oil is left, there is a dipstick-sort of tube that indicates the level within the reservoir/pump. This is good if you mount the unit in the rear fairing, where it'd be very hard to check the level or refill anyway; w/the lubetronic you refill from this same tube, which extends @6" from the reservoir/pump assembly.

4) the dispenser mounts w/zip ties to the swingarm or the frame, and it drops oil directly onto the chain. The dispenser does not contact the rear sprocket. IMO this is cleaner than the scottoiler, but only bc my scottoiler got hung up once when reversing the bike and got ripped off, so I had to get a new dispenser tube and re-attach it all and it was fiddly. Otherwise, not a big deal, but you do have to watch (w/the scottoiler dispenser) for this each time you push the bike back.

5) the flow-rate controller is extra, and brings the cost up to about what a scottoiler is. But it can be mounted separately from the reservoir/pump unit, and so makes the flow easier to adjust. Not a big deal really, as the scottoiler isn't difficult to adjust either, unless the unit is mounted where it is difficult to get to.

If interested, I can put pics up of all this... I should do this anyway, maybe I'll have time on Saturday.

If I was to get another, I'd probably get the lubetronic over the scottoiler. There's nothing wrong w/the scottoiler, it works great too; it's just the lubetronic has some minor improvements and I generally prefer to go electronic/digital if I can.

[yorkie_chris]

I disagree

Making things electronic is a sure way to introduce failure points.
Air pressure and gravity are simple things, which IMO is a good thing.
Funnily enough this is why I prefer carbs over EFi as well.

Also if your scottoiler tube was getting munched by the sprocket, then it wasn't fitted right. Mines a brass tube which is on the side of the sprocket, its a very solid mounting for it.

[Dualcyclone]

yes please pics would be great...

I like the idea of having an adjustable flow rate with this caboodle

[phil24_7]

I'll await your pics before I make any decisions!

Cheers for the informative write up though.

[ridelikeaturtle]

I disagree

Making things electronic is a sure way to introduce failure points.
Air pressure and gravity are simple things, which IMO is a good thing.
Funnily enough this is why I prefer carbs over EFi as well.

Also if your scottoiler tube was getting munched by the sprocket, then it wasn't fitted right. Mines a brass tube which is on the side of the sprocket, its a very solid mounting for it.

I agree that I didn't initially fit the scottoiler dispenser tube correctly. I didn't secure it well enough so that it wouldn't get dislodged or move when reversing the bike. Fitted correctly there should be no issues with this; w/the lubetronic's mount it's harder to get wrong in the first place.

But if something goes wrong w/the vacuum connection -- for whatever reason, sure it's likely to be "pilot error", but who's perfect -- then the bike starts running badly, and it's more difficult to fix than to simply disconnect the unit. You have to fix the vacuum connection back up too, if you spliced into the fuel tap as I did, or a carb vacuum spigot, etc.

The scottoiler overall is genius in its simplicity WRT the vacuum operation; but I still prefer the simplicity of plugging the lubetronic in.

[yorkie_chris]

Personal preference then.

I hate electrics, fully rewired my bike and had plenty issues before I went to that measure. So I would far rather deal with a mechanical problem than an electrical one.

[ridelikeaturtle]

I'll await your pics before I make any decisions!

Cheers for the informative write up though.

It's probably easiest to put some pics out here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ridelikeaturtle/Chainoilers

I apologize in advance for the crap wiring, crap zip-tie-ing, crap scottoiler dispenser tube mount, crap image focus, and general cruddy crap all over my bikes. (That's a lot of crap!) It's nice to get things perfect, but I don't do this for a living, and don't have a garage or a whole lot of tools or time. So it's functional for me; YMMV.

And I didn't get any pic of the vacuum tap into the fuel tank, bc I didn't feel like raising the tank. I will assume you can imagine it, just cut the vacuum line, shove the tee, in and 'poof' you're done.

[yorkie_chris]

Ha Ha ... mines got more crap on it than yours! :p