DIY Sunday anyone?
On a sunny one like today me for sure.
Project: Manual on the go chain oiler
Why? Because I can🙂
OK, I also have a big trip ahead this summer. You may ask "why haven't I done this already before my previous ultra long ones?"
The answer is "who told you I haven't?". 12 years ago actually. Have a look here.
To be honest I'm in shock to find out it's been 12 years already but that comes with aging and that's another story. The above DIY lasted for a few trips till I had issues with pipes popping out and the whole thing didn't perform as well as I wanted it to. So I decided to go a simpler way and I just hanged a small oil container on the bike, oiling the chain before a ride every time the chain looked dry to my eyes. Worked wonderfully over all these years but a monsun while riding around Serbia in 2023 (read here) changed my mind. I had to ride more than two hours at triple digit speeds under massive heavy rain and I was wondering how my chain will handle this. This chain kit lasted half as my previous one. Coincidence? Probably not.
By the way, let me give you an idea what it means "half" talking about the lifespan of my chains. Wanna make a guess how long my record is? Your gonna fail anyway - check this out.
So, what's my new approach? Not fundamentally different than the original one but more let's say appropriate.
Have a look:
The only part I have to buy is that buble button on the left. It's a fuel primer for chainsaws. Cheap as the energy I need to type this. The container on the right comes from hand soap, mounted by a bunch of zip ties. This location is convenient cause it's low enough to avoid any syphon effect that will allow oil to drip (I doubt there's good chances for such an issue but better safe than sorry) and still easy to refill. Of course I removed the dispenser and filled the gap of the cap's hole with a rubber mount I had in my spares. The line coming out of the container is super common in automotive (fuel lines etc) and I put a smaller pipe at its end towards the primer cause the primer's input and output are super tiny. From the primer the output looks like this:
The metal part I used to mount the primer comes from KIA and used to lie around my spares. Yes, I have lots of spares lying around - I'm good in keeping the ones I might need🙂
So all I have to do is push the button once in a while as I ride, depending on the terrain and conditions (more often in dirt roads, rain and high speeds). Eyeballing it I can say that in normal/average conditions one push is good for at least 50, maybe even 100km. The button is behind my knee and away from the pillion's knee so no problem there. I just have to crouch a little to push it.
One can say why I didn't place it for example at the handlebar. The answer is first of all I want things to be as stupid simple as possible as long as simplicity doesn't reduce performance and convenience. Placing it at the handlebar would require long lines which would also have to move with the handlebar increasing risk of failure. And I definitely don't want a super long pipe dripping oil for ages wherever I park my bike contrary to this short as possible one which empties soon after I press the bubble.
Keep it stupid simple, even when the looks might flirt with stupidity, as long as it's not a real eye sore🙂
Safe rides everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment