Loobman Chain oiler

Accessories and other various gadgets that can be mounted on or otherwise used with the Vulcan 500. Links and pictures are welcome. Performance mods go in the appropriate forum below.
burkbuilds
Posts: 350
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:29 pm
Location: Rome, Georgia

Loobman Chain oiler

Postby burkbuilds » Tue Mar 09, 2010 8:14 pm

I'm a big fan of simple yet effective solutions. When I toured Lockheed Martin's C-130 line last year they pointed out that some of the high tech propellers had been getting nicks during the assembly line process, they solved this problem by going to Wal-Mart, buying some of those tubes you float around in the pool with in the Summer and slitting one side then sliding them over the blades and leaving them there until the planes were ready to go. Cheap, innovative, effective!

I saw the loobman chain oiler and it made me think, here's another simple product that may do a great job, so I bought one to put on my 500.
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I had just finished putting a new 40 tooth sprocket on the bike and during that process I cleaned the chain, front sprocket and everything around really good, so it was a good time to install this product. The instructions are a bit difficult to follow, but after reading them and studying the sketches of the parts and how they should be installed I felt like I had a pretty good idea as to what to do. If you like wire ties, this project is for you. The loobman doesn't have any screws to hold it in place but everything is held on by a series of wire ties. The head that delivers the lubricant to the rear sprocket does mount to a steel wire with a supplied plastic bolt and nut, but the wire is held onto the swing arm with wire ties and the tubing is held on with wire ties and the bottle that holds the oil, you guessed it, is held on with wire ties. They even use wire ties as the physical part that touches both sides of the sprocket to deliver the oil.
(1) get the head, and install the clip, bolt, washers, wire and nut as shown in illustration #4 in the directions. Go ahead and insert the wire ties into the head and position them according to the instructions so they will touch the solid part of the rear sprocket once installed. (2) insert the plastic tube into the head and tighten the bolt to hold everything together. (3) bend the wire onto the swingarm so that it contacts the swingarm at three points. This is very important in holding the loobman head in the proper position. I didn't exactly bend my wire the way the instructions showed, but I did mount it in such a way as to make it very secure to the swingarm.
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The loobman is a gravity fed system, so once the tubing leaves the bottle, it must travel down the entire length until it reaches the head, which should be located about mid way on the rear sprocket, (think 9 o'clock position). (4) route the tubing up towards the bottle. You must decide where you want to mount the bottle on your bike. The closer it is to the delivery head the shorter the tubing is and the quicker the oil is going to reach your sprocket after you squeeze the bottle to send the oil on it's way. I decided to put the bottle on the "riser" part of my sissybar/luggage rack. It's easy for me to reach while sitting on the bike and relatively out of the way from something accidentally hitting it. You can choose to mount it almost anywhere though as long as it is higher than the head and you can maintain a constant downward travel with the tubing.
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After getting everything installed, I found that I had not done a good job of keeping the tubing going downhill, and the oil simply got to those points and stopped, never reaching the head, so I had to adjust things a little the next day, but it seems to be working now.
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I wish I had taken a picture of the head all assembled before I installed it, sorry. Also, my apologies for not taking better "installation" pictures in general, but I hope this at least gives you an idea of what you could expect it to look like and how it generally installs if you decide to buy one for your bike. The loobman is pretty inexpensive, I paid $29 delivered to my home. The only parts that are really "special" are the head that delivers the oil to the rear sprocket and the holder for the bottle, everything else is pretty much just tubing and wire ties and a plastic bottle. It seems to be working as specified. I'll try to give you an update after I've had it on for a while and let you know what I think about it's ease of use, effectiveness and durability.

burkbuilds
Posts: 350
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:29 pm
Location: Rome, Georgia

Re: Loobman Chain oiler

Postby burkbuilds » Tue Mar 23, 2010 10:53 pm

It's been a couple of weeks since I put the loobman on my bike and her's my take on it so far. I'm pleased with the device. It's simple, just squeeze the bottle of oil a couple of times before taking off for a ride and gravity does the rest. I'm getting a lot less "sling off" on my rear tire than before and the chain seems to be getting good lubrication. I started out using the heavy gear lube 90/140 that I'd been using before, but I think I may try a lighter oil just to see how it does. Yesterday I rode 2 hours in a steady light rain between Chattanooga and Atlanta and I was glad that I could easily give my chain an extra shot of oil about half way down when I stopped at a rest area before heading on into Atlanta. So far so good, I'll keep you updated if it all falls apart or something. :)

burkbuilds
Posts: 350
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:29 pm
Location: Rome, Georgia

Re: Loobman Chain oiler

Postby burkbuilds » Wed Mar 23, 2011 5:38 pm

Update on the Loobman Chain Oiler.

I just noticed that it has been a year to date from my last post about this product, so it seems like a long enough time to give a good assessment.

I gotta say, I am very pleased with this product. It works well, it is easy to use, it is durable and inexpensive. I now have over 32,000 miles on the OEM Chain and it is still in good condition, the sprockets are not visibly worn and the chain seldom needs any adjustments. I was not expecting my chain to last anywhere near this long and I certainly did not think it would be in good shape with this many miles on it. I've got to credit the loobman for the longevity of the chain. I've seldom heard of anyone getting this many miles out of a chain and have it still be in good shape. I ride year round in all types of weather so the chain gets exposed to the elements and since I installed the loobman I have only done about three cleanings. Before I installed it, I was cleaning it and oiling the chain manually pretty much every weekend or at least every other weekend. I get very little sling off of the oil with the loobman, which is nice. I just use pretty much whatever is handy for oil, either motor oil or differential 80w-90w oil. The thick stuff really takes a while to work down through the tubing to the chain, so I usually mix it with 10w-40 to get it to flow better.

My last bike I only got about 11,000 miles out of the oem chain, so I am very pleased with the results here. :D

GeorgiaRider
Posts: 168
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2010 5:51 am
Location: NW Georgia

Re: Loobman Chain oiler

Postby GeorgiaRider » Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:18 am

Thanks for the update BurkBuilds. 21K on my original chain now. I clean and lube every 400 miles and try to avoid rainy weather. Did you really put on a 40-tooth front sprocket? I've read where some go to a 17-tooth front sprocket. I'm thinking of this when it's time for a new chain. They say it will not suffer on low end acceleration and of course rpms drop, so this will help gas mileage and engine life. Your thoughts?

Thanks.
GeorgiaRider
2006 Vulcan 500

Kuryakyan Foot Peg Extenders and Pegs
Memphis Shades Alley Cat Windshield
Saddlemen Large Slant Saddlebags
Powersports Mini-Tachometer
Kawasaki Luggage Rack
Kuryakyan Iso-Grips
Airhawk cushion
Marlin's Clock

burkbuilds
Posts: 350
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:29 pm
Location: Rome, Georgia

Re: Loobman Chain oiler

Postby burkbuilds » Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:26 pm

No, I put on a 40 tooth rear sprocket and a 17 tooth front sprocket. I ride rain or shine pretty much every day, like yesterday when I went from Chattanooga to Atlanta in a downpour. I gave the chain oiler a couple of squeezes before I left and hit it again near the conclusion of my ride. I don't have any visible rust on the chain.

FerdyRatTara
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2018 1:43 am

Re: Loobman Chain oiler

Postby FerdyRatTara » Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:22 pm

^+1

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