Tutoro Chain Oiler Review
April 24th, 2011
As per my previous post, we recently fitted and setup the Tutoro Chain Oiler on one of our fleet of bikes at Fatbiker Central. A couple of weeks on and its time to report our initial thoughts and findings on this bargain of modern times…
Lets go back to the beginning and talk about the installation. I reckon it takes longer to read and digest the instructions that it does to actually install the oiler on your bike. You need to read the instructions because there is important safety information relating to the positioning of the oil feed nozzles. If you get this wrong it all go very wrong for you so take your time and read them…
On our test bike, a 2010 Kawasaki ER-6F installation was a breeze. We opted to work from the bottom upwards by installing the twin feed nozzle just above the rear swing arm lifting points. Its a bit tight but movement tests confirmed that the nozzle was not making contact with anything so for now thats where we’ve fitted it. Using the supplied tie wraps we placed the flexible hose at the bottom of the swing arm and tied it off securely. We used more tie wraps to keep the hose in place at the bottom of the swing arm until level with the foot controls. At that point we headed north up the frame to the point where we had decided to fit the reservoir unit.
The reservoir comes with some small sponge spacers that fit between the unit and the frame to keep things level, in place and to prevent scratching. Again we used tie wraps and one minute later the unit is fixed securely in place and ready to go. At this point we popped out for a quick ride on the bike to test things. We wanted to make sure the chosen location for the reservoir and twin feed nozzle was spot on before filling up. A couple of miles later and we’re ready to fill up.
Filling is easy because the kit comes with a small plastic device that allows you to suck oil out of its container and then fill up the reservoir. We used 10/40 engine oil for this particular installation. Initially you need to open up the valve fully and watch the oil make its way down the pipe to the nozzle. It takes approx 5 minutes to complete this. All that you need to do now is set your flow rate and ride off. We’ve gone for one click on the valve for now and this provides a slow drip rate which for a new chain is just right. The beauty about going manual is that if you’re out for a short journey only you can forget about lubricating the chain. If you’re on a longer trip of the weather is bad you can turn it on and ride off.
We’re running an automatic chain oiler on another one of our bikes so it will be a good comparison using real world riding to see how these units compare.
Heres some pictures to show you what Tutoro are able to supply. Please note that when ordering you choose either a single feed or twin feed kit and then add the option of the other nozzle if you want to have both available when installing…
Weblinks:- Tutoro Website
