by Slider on Mon Feb 25, 2008 10:40 pm
Pro oiler look good, heres some info from there site:-
FAQ r1.6.1
General
1. What's the problem with spray-on lubricants?
A spray-on lubricant has to satisfy two conflicting requirements:
· it needs to be sticky to adhere to the chain for the 500km (or more) between applications
· it needs to get to the contact areas of the bushings and rollers - and stay there, doing a lubricating job, whilst being contaminated with road grit.
Being sticky means that road dirt and grit adheres to it - and this gets crunched into a grinding paste - which just kills your chain.
You've probably heard the expression "clean and lubricate the chain".
The cleaning part is actually almost as important as lubricating - this means cleaning out the caked-on abrasive gunge from the contact areas - before applying a new layer of lubricant.
Only the most fanatical owners actually clean the chain with paraffin or a specialized chain cleaner before applying the next dose of chain lube. It's a really dirty and time-consuming job.
Some spray-on chain lubricants are dry and waxy - which helps somewhat to prevent grit adhering to the chain and getting turned into a grinding paste. But they still don't solve the issue of keeping lubricant where it's needed in the contact areas.
Next, the lubricant suspended in solvent needs to penetrate into the bushing/roller contact area, and then evaporate fully. So you need to lube the chain a quite some time before riding off - in practice this means doing it when you get back in from a ride.
If you manually clean and lubricate the chain every few kilometers, then you could begin to approach the performance of a continuous lubrication system - but this is just impractical.
The PRO-OILER gives your chain a regular shot of oil every few kms, which
· keeps the contact areas of the chain permanently lubricated
· keeps the chain clean by flushing out and shedding the grit.
So the fundamental problem with spray-on lubricants is that they simply do not lubricate the chain as effectively as an automatic continuous oiler.
· The chain has a much shorter life.
· You need to adjust the chain much more frequently.
Cheers, Steve
Ex-ZX9R rider, ex-CCM 604RS now Benelli Tornado TRE and GS1150 ADV (so far so good)