GP800 - The TUTORO Chain Oiler

The TUTORO arrived in two days, neatly packed and looking like a first rate piece of kit (as always, click on the pictures for a larger version).

It's a very simple affair, but the package includes plenty of cable ties, small rubber blocks to go behind the reservoir, a couple of sticky pads and a syringe to make filling the reservoir easier. The instructions are clear and well written in proper English.

After removing the passenger footrest bracket, the trim panel and of course the chainguard I could get a good idea of how to mount the device. I had originally planned to mount the reservoir behind the number plate but quickly realised that there were two flaws with that plan. Firstly, although it would have been a neat solution, refilling the reservoir would have been tricky even with a syringe and secondly, the delivery tube would have had to drop vertically then curve up again significantly to run it forward before dropping down towards the swinging arm.

The obvious place was on the silver trim panel that runs down to the rear indicator and number plate mount and simply unscrewing this panel allowed the cable ties to be run behind it. It looks quite good but I may look to find an even neater solution.

From here the delivery tube ducks behind the panel and runs forward under the fuel tank. There is an inner rear mudguard and the pipe tucks behind that before looping round the swinging arm pivot. It drops below the swinging arm and is cable tied to the chainguard bracket to route it backwards towards the rear sprocket.

I wondered about whether it was better to drop the oil onto the top of the chain running forwards to the gearbox sprocket or on the lower (inner) edge of the chain and settled for the latter - my reasoning is that the greater diameter of the rear sprocket should help to squeeze the oil out and spread it more efficiently around the chain.

The cable ties make it easy to position the delivery tube and the final narrow outlet has a slight curve to it. By simply rotating the delivery tube before tightening the cable ties you can ensure that the drops of oil fall exactly where you want them.

Filling the reservoir was simplicity itself. The instructions say that you need to prime the delivery tube first and that this might take some time. If fact it would have taken about a week even with the "tap" fully open! I removed the delivery tube from the reservoir and primed it directly with the syringe then reconnected it to the reservoir. I've used chainsaw oil as it's designed to resist flinging off (£6 for a litre in B & Q) but it's thin enough not to "clag up" the chain.

Once it was all set up, I opened up the tap two full turns and watched for the drip. Exactly as described, a small droplet formed on the end of the delivery tube and dropped perfectly onto the chain.

For now, I've adjusted it to deliver a drop every 10 seconds and I will see how that lasts on my journey to work (about 35 mins). As it's a fully manual system, my plan is to judge the delivery so that the TUTORO empties itself in one journey. Then if I forget to turn it off (quite likely !) it will not continue to drip over the car park floor (or tyre) once I get to work. Of course if that means a labourious re-priming of the delivery tube each time, I may just have to get into the habit of turning it off as part of my locking up routine.

Before refitting the chainguard, I readjusted the chain and set it back to the correct "factory" deflection as I may have to accept that Piaggio do know what they are doing there - having reduced the slack I found that the chain was even noisier after a trip to Milton Keynes.

Here's the final look with the chainguard refitted. It looks pretty neat and apart from the reservoir, the only visible sign is just at the leading edge of the chainguard. I'm very pleased so far, fitting was straightforward, settign up easy (once I had primed the tube) and it appears to do exactly what it is supposed to do - for under £15