will england :: loobman : review by david vaughnwill england :: loobman : review by david vaughnEditors Note: This page was originally hosted at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~vaughand/cycle/loobman.html but now reports '404'. I have copied the text from the Google Cache of the page, to preserve this for future netizens.
The original review was written by David Vaughn, and is posted here with his permission.
I took a (small) risk and ordered the Loobman chain oiler from its website: www.loobman.com . It showed up in a couple weeks, with obvious inspection by customs. Total cost, including shipping, was $25. I have seen no reviews anywhere, save the one-liners on the site itself.
It is just about the simplest way to get oil to your chain I can imagine. For your modest sum, you get a squeeze bottle, a couple plastic parts to hold it, a delivery head, and a lot of tubing and zip ties. Assembly and installation takes just a couple hours at most, and is only marginally challenging even to a neophyte, mostly getting the head aligned on the rear sprocket.
The dual-sided delivery system is about the only "advanced" idea on the thing. The oil is delivered to both sides of the rear sprocket by brushes mounted in the delivery head, which is itself attached to the swingarm. The "brushes" are actually little pieces of zip tie you have to cut and bend yourself. I told you it was cheap.
The bottle mounts just about anywhere, and the whole thing is gravity fed. Siphoning is not an issue (my main concern) because the bottle feed line runs into a slightly larger section of tubing with an air gap. Squeeze the bottle, fill up this section of tubing and let it drain onto the sprocket. Obviously, this is best done while underway; the instructions recommend squeezing before setting off, though hitting it on the road shouldn't be too much an issue as long as you can judge how much oil you've squeezed out.
And it works, or at least seems to after a couple weeks of use. Oil gets to both sides of the chain and nothing stupid (leaks, quick wear of brushes, etc) happens. I see no reason why improvement in chain life and ease of oiling shouldn't be comparable to a Hawkeoiler or such.
The one downside is that it's ugly. The pictures on the web site give you an idea. The bottle and at least some of the tubing is exposed, though I suppose you could put it under the seat if there was space. You'd just have to pull the seat to squeeze it. The delivery head is held to the swingarm by a bent piece of wire (think coat hanger) held in place by zip ties. Did I mention it was cheap?
I give it a tentative thumbs up for now. Time and miles will tell how it holds out. It might be just the ticket for that bike that lacks a centerstand, or perhaps for those who, like me, are on the go on the cheap.
I have recieved an informal review on the LDRiders list that indicates the brushes on the LoobMan lasted the entirety of the Iron Butt Rally (at least 10,000 miles). It seems they have substantial durability.
[editors note] I recieved these photos from David when I asked about the problems with 'fling' from auto chain oilers. Below is a photo of his install, and about 2,000 miles of use after a thouough cleaning.
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[editors note] He has modified the mounting bracket, removing the bent-coathanger bracket and replacing it with an aluminum strap. Below are two photos of his installation.
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Author: Will England (will@mylanders.com) Complaints? /dev/null
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Created May 23, 2003 :: Updated Thursday, September 06 2018 @ 01:44am
