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Ride on mowers.........


Ford Anglia
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Hello, now for my second question, (the first is in "Renovations"). We seem to need a ride on mower for our French property....at least my wife says we do, and who am I to argue?

Would I be best buying brand new? Or can I get one secondhand from a dealer, say?

Are there makes to look for, and equally, makes to avoid?

Thankyou for reading this and any replies.

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Whether you need one and how big depends on what area of lawn you have and the lie of the land. Overhanging tree branches and twiddly bits are murder with a ride on.

Husqvarna are the bees knees but Mr Bricolage own brand aren't bad - good range and choice of sizes/motors with 3 year guarantee.  Viking are another popular make.

They are available second hand but don't expect it to be cheap unless it's clapped out.

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How cheap is cheap? Would I then be better looking at a brand new one with warranty? And is Briconauts, the same as Mr Bricolage? I saw some there last year at offer prices......

We have around 2000 sq m to cut, some slight slopes, few overhanging branches, and few "twiddly bits"[:D]

We already have a 6hp self-propelled mower, but the grass takes a good 6 hrs to cut, with numerous trips to empty the heavy grass-box a pain. theis could be used for under trees, twiddly bits etc. the main aim is to get that 6 hours under control. A neighbour cut it for us last year, and she reckoned it took her 45 minutes with only two grass box empties............

 

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Get one that's at least 11.5hp with a mulcher. Don't bother with a grass box as by the end of the summer you will have a mountain of grass cuttings (unless you compost it all).

Get one with a Briggs and Stratton engine (or Honda) - I bought cheap Bricomarche Best Green which is about 5 years old, have it serviced and sharpened once or twice a year and use it on gardens up to 3000sq mtrs several times a week during the season (I do garden maintenance). It's excellent, much faster and a better cut than the small Honda ride on.

Buy new if poss - it will have a guarantee.
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[quote user="Chris Head"]

Make sure there are lots of knobs and levers so she's got somewhere to hang her handbag.

Thought about sheep? We've got three who keep 3500m beautifully cut and get three or four lovely tender lamb each year.

[/quote]

And a nice colour is quite important too.

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[quote user="Deimos"]Unlikely you would find any that collect the grass and leave it in a pile in the corner of the garden. [/quote]

They leave other things in piles in the garden though as a result of mulching the grass - but that's supposed to be good for the plants.

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[quote user="Ford Anglia"]

We have around 2000 sq m to cut, some slight slopes, few overhanging branches, and few "twiddly bits"[:D]

We already have a 6hp self-propelled mower, but the grass takes a good 6 hrs to cut, with numerous trips to empty the heavy grass-box a pain.

[/quote]

Okay, you're in the marginal range as to whether an autotractée or an autoportée is your best bet.  The cut-off between the two is generally reckoned to be 2000sqm.  But if it's taking 6 hrs to cut 2000sqm with an autotractée there's something wrong!  We have about 4000sqm grass and it takes about 4 hrs with a Mr Bricolage autotractée with a Briggs & Stratton 5.5hp engine.  Loads of twiddly bits and branches which is why we have this rather than an autoportée.  I wish we could use an autoportée, though!  Following earlier advice, I'm trying to persuade Jude that she needs one for Xmas to hang her handbag.

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Some very funny replies here, and I've not even started on the red wine yet.[:D]

Cassis, what is the difference between the two types of mower you mention, please?[8-)]

The 6 hours I quoted was from start to finish, done it all myself, one visit in April this year, when it had not been cut for 6-7 weeks.[blink]

It seems to be the grass box that defines the time for cutting. If it's needing emptied more frequently, that is.

I'm unsure about mulching.........doesn't that encourage moss growth, or something?

Also, I can get rid of the cuttings, we do compost, and the local farmer's cows eat some of it.

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For what it's worth...

I used to regularly cut somebody's grass, probably a rather bigger area than you mention, with both an autoporté (ride on) and autotracté (powered walk-behind). The ride-on would take one to one and a half hours, the walk-behind an hour longer. It was mostly quite rough grass, with a lot of trees, shrubs etc, so no emptying of grass boxes, mulching was quite acceptable. The ride-on was somewhat knackered, hence I often used the walk-behind for the whole job.

Our own ride-on is a small one, we have quite a small area, and is a good make (MTD, which makes own-brand mowers for some big stores) and although it has the supposedly inferior Tecumseh engine has proved perfectly reliable and gives far better results and quicker performance than friend's larger ride-on mentioned above.

I would say, from our experience, get a known make, and, most importantly, from a specialist supplier where you know you can get service, spare parts etc. A worn-out machine that keeps shedding belts and breaking things (that you cannot replace easily) is a total waste of time - you're better off with your autotracté. Of course, you may find that your specialist supplier has reconditioned machines from a good maker and that could be a good option, but don't expect second hand (or occasion as they call it) to be a lot cheaper in France than new.

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Will's done the bit about autoportée (ride-on) and autotractée (self driven, walk behind).

I totally agree regarding getting a decent make.  I include Mr Bricolage among those (they have excellent after-sales service - not something to be taken for granted).

Tecumseh engines - our tiller machine has one, no problems to date.

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I bought a Bricomarche own brand Bestgreen autoportee ride on in spring '99. It's actually an American Yard Products/Electrolux machine re-branded with a Briggs and Stratton engine. I change the oil regularly and for the last few years have taken the deck off, power hosed it and re-painted it each winter- if I hadn't it would have rusted through by now. It is still going strong after 8 seasons and looks to have plenty of life in it - I cut just under 2000m2 in between 45 mins and 1hr 15mins depending on how long I've left it. Some twiddly bits and overhanging trees - its an old orchard. Spares are readily available on e-bay from the US - when I broke the casing on one of the deck bearings I had a replacement from the US for under £30 within a week.  Moral for me is to get a re-badge for which spares are easily available. My old hand mower would have taken at least 3 hours and probably more to cut this amount of grass - life's too short.

 

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Sad to say, I have to admit to knowing a bit about big boys toys in the garden department, due to having bought 3 in the 6 years of being here.

The first is a Westwood (brought over from the UK) with a belt driven grass collector on the back.  This is a brilliant machine with a really comfy seat, but as somebody previously pointed out you are lumbered with a great big pile of dumped rotting smelly grass.  This also serves to pick up all your hedge clippings and mown up small branches. It's not much good for cutting the grass without the collector as it leaves long lines of cut grass which turns the grass underneath it brown.

Second one is a Jonsered side eject with a mulching kit but has a crap seat with a low back rest.  Side eject is great for shooting the verge grass, in the lane, across the ditch into the fields.  In the garden if you lift the plastic deflector up high it enables the grass clippings to be sprayed around so as not to notice it much but when the wind blows against you you end up getting covered in grass.

Third machine is a Honda (nice high back rest to the seat) with mulching, grass collector and rear eject which is great for an area of no mans land adjoining my garden where I can cut in reverse and spray it like a snow blower through my fence.  The collector bin on the back has a fancy buzzer to warn you when it is full.  This buzzer you barely hear over the sound of the engine and if you wear ear defenders to keep your MP3 player plugged into your ears so you can listen to whatever music you fancy  whilst cutting the grass you can't hear the buzzer and you can't feel the sides of the collector to tell if it is full because the blades are so powerfull it pumps up the sides with air.  Hard life isn't it?

So......you need a machine to pick up the first cut of the year because you have loads of grass and you need a mulcher for the rest of the summer.  Most importantly you need one with a nice high back rest to the seat.

If the person with the sheep can teach one of them to drive a ride-on I'll buy it or do a swop with one of my fleet as I seem to be the Nobby Dentressangle (or whatever his name is) of the garden tractor world.

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Ours is only a holiday home at present, which means that the grass is often VERY long when it gets cut, hence the amount of time taken, with frequent emptyings of grass bag[:(]

I'd never have thought of how comfy, or otherwise, the seat was.........but then, I'm hoping wife will continue to do most of the cutting.[;-)] However, given the number of dings on HER car, perhaps that's not such a good idea..............

I think I'll start by having a look at the neighbour lady's mower when I next go, as hers did the job OK.

 

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We have a 20 hp american rideon (Yardman or something anyway it is green), a twin cylinder B&S engine, with mulcher.  Cuts thru 4000 sq m in about 1.5 hrs.  What people have failed to mention is the essential accessory - a cup, or bottle, holder.  Get an engine that has pressurized oil feed and a oil filter - we have had ours for some 8 years with no problems.  Spares are easy.  If your mower does not come with a tacho then fit one since this will help to ensure you remember to service your engine - ours has an oil change every 25 hrs and oil/filter evry 50 hrs.
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  • 4 weeks later...

How fortunate that Ford Anglia has started this thread. Toughts of whether to buy a self propelled mower or a ride-on and I think this has all tipped it in the ride-ons favour.

Trying to find prices and Mr Bricolage seems a little reluctant to show prices etc. (in the UK at the moment).

We will only have 1900 m2 to cut but as someone said 'life is too short'. What sort of price will we have to pay at Mr Bricolage to get a decent machine to cut this?

Paul

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It depends when you plan to buy it, Paul.  You've missed the autumn lawnmower sale at Mr B but I think they have a spring one as well.  If you buy out of sale time you pay a lot more - I think it's always best to wait for sale time if you can.

For an idea of prices, they start at just under 1,000€ but I would not call those 'decent machines'.  But there again, for 1900m2 you don't need anything fancy so a cheapie would probably do.

There are plenty of places where you can check prices online, like Castorama.

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