We bought our first petrol Flymo in 1975. It never caused any problems mechanically. After about 15 years I had to dispose of it. I had repaired the platform several times. The motor was still fine. It was simple and light and did a super job. I was mowing about a quarter acre at the time.

We have had four wheeled rotary mowers since then, all fairly cheap and worked fine. Last year I bought a Toro mulcher type, the most expensive one by far. The reason for purchase was that both my wife and I are passed our best, and the power drive - push the bar forward - was appealing. It has caused us more problems than anything we have had before, regardless of whether we have used it on bag or mulch.

I have always stored my machinery very carefully over winter. I was used to putting in new petrol and the mower starting within a couple of pulls. The Toro didn't. It was clear that it was 'stuck' somewhere concerning the cable into the engine. I shot a good deal of WD 40 where I thought the problem was, but it made no difference. A few days later, I took it back to the supplier. To my embarrassment, it had then freed-off and started. No doubt the WD40 had worked in the meantime.

With fairly short, dry grass it cuts fine, but, whether on bag or mulch, with slightly long or damp grass, it doesn't want to know. Even when everything is dry and short, there can be times when it just sounds underpowered. We hardly have any grass nowadays. Most converted to shrubbery and bark chip paths.

The last time I used it - just before we finished - it sounded to be running out of fuel or the underpowered noise. I topped it up tonight. It started fine and ran for 10 yards and then died. Further attempts resulted in start/stop. It sounds like fuel starvation. It goes back to the supplier tomorrow.

The question - after letting off steam - is whether there is (and I'm sure there isn't) a light and simple hover petrol mower of the type I had 40 years ago? I have a another genuine Flymo hover, bigger than our original, but it is simply too heavy and cumbersome to cart around.

On 18/08/2016 19:45, Mervington wrote:
We bought our first petrol Flymo in 1975. It never caused any
problems mechanically. After about 15 years I had to dispose of it. I
had repaired the platform several times. The motor was still fine.
It was simple and light and did a super job. I was mowing about a
quarter acre at the time.

We have had four wheeled rotary mowers since then, all fairly cheap and
worked fine. Last year I bought a Toro mulcher type, the most
expensive one by far. The reason for purchase was that both my wife
and I are passed our best, and the power drive - push the bar forward -
was appealing. It has caused us more problems than anything we have had
before, regardless of whether we have used it on bag or mulch.

snip

The question - after letting off steam - is whether there is (and I'm
sure there isn't) a light and simple hover petrol mower of the type I
had 40 years ago? I have a another genuine Flymo hover, bigger than
our original, but it is simply too heavy and cumbersome to cart around.


I had a big Flymo years ago that had the usual hover deck but also had a
pair of quite large wheels. The handle went down to the wheels then two
shafts went forward to either side of the 4 stroke B&S engine. We mowed
a quarter acre or more with that for years, in fact it still worked well
when I sold it and bought a ride on.

The big wheels made it really light to push, both whilst mowing and when
moving between grassed areas over gravel.

Do Flymo make them still?

Mike

I think they still make a fairly big one - between £400-£500 plus another £120 for the wheels! Our main grass is at the bottom of a narrow, steep path. Too narrow for wheels, and too steep/long to carry heavy mowers!