Your Choice: Hawke Oiler or Scott Oiler?

[HoosierBiker]

Hello,

I'm modifying my wife's FZ1 for Sport-Touring duty and I'm trying to decide on a chain oiler. After reading the info on each manufacturer's web site, I'm sure that either option is probably acceptable. But I would like to hear the opinions of some folks who have actually used either, or both of these products.

Please list your positives and negatives.

TIA,

HoosierBiker

[cuhlik]

I have a Scott Oiler Tour on my 2000 VFR800. For a while I really liked it. My chain was always like-new clean and the tension never changed. The chain was not wearing out. I don't believe chains stretch, rather they wear and elongate. With the oiler, this elongation wasn't happening. I've got now about 15k miles on the chain (2 sets of touring tires) and the chain is still like new.

OK, that's the good part. The bad part is that total loss oiling is a MESS! The bike is always dripping a few drops of nasty black goo everywhere I park. The swing arm and chain guard and center stand and rear wheel are NASTY. The worst part is the back brake is now useless. The chain basically throws a very fine, very sparse mist of oil which gets stirred around by the rear wheel and gets on everything behind the front foot pegs. This is not because I have the oiler set for too fast of a flow. I pretty much keep it on the slowest setting and the reservoir lasts about 1500 miles. I'm taking it off and never going to use an open circuit oiler again. I'd rather oil my chain, wipe it with a rag, and occasionally replace the chain. I'm tired of the mess and non-functional rear brake.

Chris

[VFR]

WOW! This is a thread that is sure to get radical opinions from both sides, so I'll give you mine.

I have four bike & have Scottoilers on all of them. I would rather wipe a little oil off the bike than sticky chain lube. Scott sells two types of oil - a blue one for winter & a red one for summer. Keep in mind here that Scott is made in Scotland, so their idea of winter & summer may be completely different from where you live.... When I was on the VFR list, there was quite a discussion on what to use-various concoctions, etc., since Scott oil is $10/pint.

I have found on my bikes that the lowest setting will work the best and on a couple even that is too much flow, which means that the oil is too low viscosity. I have the touring setup on my Blackbird. The regular reservoir is good for 600-800 miles & the touring with a remote reservoir is good for 3-5000 miles, they say. I can't say on that one as I am still trying to get it adjusted & to siphon from the reservoir. That bike has been in Tucson most of this year & I am going over to ride for a few days & bring it back to SoCal in a couple of weeks. The ones on the Aprilia, VFR & Yamaha are working well.

Both systems are pricey but cheaper than a chain/sprockets & much easier than lubing the chain manually. Just put it on and ride...

You will no doubt get many different opinions on this one. Good luck with whichever you choose.

[Jimmy D]

I have the scotty on my Caponord. 26000 miles and no problems. I tried the green oil, it made a mess on my back wheel. Then I went to chainsaw bar oil, since I have gallons of that at work. It also made a mess. I switched to the red scott oil and it works alot better, a little mess but it's no problem to wipe it off.
I have the touring kit and it lasts about 6000miles between fill ups. All in all, I like the scott-oiler. My wife has to carry a can of chain lube when we go on long trips, so I avoid that.

Jimmy D

[cuhlik]

I also have a 2005 VFR800 on which I don't use a Scottoiler. I've been using Gunk industrial chain lube. Every 200--300 miles, I put the bike on the center stand, spray on a little lube. Then I wrap a shop towel around the chain and give the rear wheel a few turns. Then I wipe the sprocket down. This takes about 2 minutes. The rag gets black. The chain looks like new. So far, only about 3000 miles, the chain is still like new with no detectable stretch. The bike is pristine clean with no lube even on the inside of the chain guard. I like this a LOT better than the scottoiler situation.

I have been using plain 90 weight gear oil in the scottoiler. Not the special stuff VFR talks about. As far as I could tell, the scottoil special oil is identical to 90 weight gear oil. I did try using 30 weight motor oil for a while, but that was even worse.

Chris