revtothelimit - motorbike forum

We have a few sections of very lumpy ground that needs regular mowing, but a normal mower that runs on wheels is a nightmare to use, so l'm looking at Flymos (or equivalent).

A half decent original Flymo Contraactor which will actually float properly "can" be found on ebay for a reasonable price (ie under about a ton), but they're generally somewhere more than £100 worth of fuel to get to...

So - is there a decent modern equivalent that anyone knows of? The ultra-cheap modern "Flymo" equivalents all have built in grass collectors and look like they're so under-powered they'll collapse on the floor as soon as they pick anything up. That was the beauty of the old Flymos - they didn't collect so they didn't lose the ability to float.

Rockburner wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 8:49 am We have a few sections of very lumpy ground that needs regular mowing, but a normal mower that runs on wheels is a nightmare to use, so l'm looking at Flymos (or equivalent).

A half decent original Flymo Contraactor which will actually float properly "can" be found on ebay for a reasonable price (ie under about a ton), but they're generally somewhere more than £100 worth of fuel to get to...

So - is there a decent modern equivalent that anyone knows of? The ultra-cheap modern "Flymo" equivalents all have built in grass collectors and look like they're so under-powered they'll collapse on the floor as soon as they pick anything up. That was the beauty of the old Flymos - they didn't collect so they didn't lose the ability to float.

Flymos do collect something. A thick ring of grass paste on the underside of the hood.

I inherited a petrol one at the previous house. I knew he didn't need one in the place he moved to but I found out why he'd left it and not sold it when I tried to start it. It went in a skip.

My rotary Bosch jobs deal with our lumpy ground and you don't have to use the collector box but, currently, I'm just whisking over the grassy bits with a strimmer (Stihl, battery) so they haven't been used at all this year.

Count Steer wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 9:06 am

Rockburner wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 8:49 am We have a few sections of very lumpy ground that needs regular mowing, but a normal mower that runs on wheels is a nightmare to use, so l'm looking at Flymos (or equivalent).

A half decent original Flymo Contraactor which will actually float properly "can" be found on ebay for a reasonable price (ie under about a ton), but they're generally somewhere more than £100 worth of fuel to get to...

So - is there a decent modern equivalent that anyone knows of? The ultra-cheap modern "Flymo" equivalents all have built in grass collectors and look like they're so under-powered they'll collapse on the floor as soon as they pick anything up. That was the beauty of the old Flymos - they didn't collect so they didn't lose the ability to float.

Flymos do collect something. A thick ring of grass paste on the underside of the hood.

I inherited a petrol one at the previous house. I knew he didn't need one in the place he moved to but I found out why he'd left it and not sold it when I tried to start it. It went in a skip.

My rotary Bosch jobs deal with our lumpy ground and you don't have to use the collector box but, currently, I'm just whisking over the grassy bits with a strimmer (Stihl, battery) so they haven't been used at all this year.

I'm currently using a strimmer (Ryobi/battery) and it takes fecking ages and exhausts every battery I have to do just one area (there's 3 that need doing). using a flymo with a much larger operative area would speed things up immensely. Additionally these area are very lumpy - pulling a mower over them is fecking awkward, and one area is half very steep banking (steep enough it's hard to climb up): using a wheeled mower (even lowering it by rope) is not an option.

The ring of grass around the edge is just something that needs cleaning out (the strimmers do the same thing)

Rockburner wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 9:18 am

Count Steer wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 9:06 am

Rockburner wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 8:49 am We have a few sections of very lumpy ground that needs regular mowing, but a normal mower that runs on wheels is a nightmare to use, so l'm looking at Flymos (or equivalent).

A half decent original Flymo Contraactor which will actually float properly "can" be found on ebay for a reasonable price (ie under about a ton), but they're generally somewhere more than £100 worth of fuel to get to...

So - is there a decent modern equivalent that anyone knows of? The ultra-cheap modern "Flymo" equivalents all have built in grass collectors and look like they're so under-powered they'll collapse on the floor as soon as they pick anything up. That was the beauty of the old Flymos - they didn't collect so they didn't lose the ability to float.

Flymos do collect something. A thick ring of grass paste on the underside of the hood.

I inherited a petrol one at the previous house. I knew he didn't need one in the place he moved to but I found out why he'd left it and not sold it when I tried to start it. It went in a skip.

My rotary Bosch jobs deal with our lumpy ground and you don't have to use the collector box but, currently, I'm just whisking over the grassy bits with a strimmer (Stihl, battery) so they haven't been used at all this year.

I'm currently using a strimmer (Ryobi/battery) and it takes fecking ages and exhausts every battery I have to do just one area (there's 3 that need doing). using a flymo with a much larger operative area would speed things up immensely. Additionally these area are very lumpy - pulling a mower over them is fecking awkward, and one area is half very steep banking (steep enough it's hard to climb up): using a wheeled mower (even lowering it by rope) is not an option.

The ring of grass around the edge is just something that needs cleaning out (the strimmers do the same thing)

Sounds like a petrol Flymo is the answer then.

I worked on a 'Roads and Verges' team on a large estate (actually Esholt sewage works ) one year and we did the banks by one stretch of road with the 'Flymo-on-rope' trick.

(It was a bit more than roads and verges - we mowed the meadows around the filter beds with a big ride-on jobby, used a hooge International Harvester with side flail, did scything and all sorts. Marv job for the whole of one summer. Learned a lot - inc how to sharpen a scythe and a chainsaw. ).

Would one be terribly out of bounds to suggest that you think of levelling the ground rather than tying to find a way to accommodate it?

Buy some goats

MrLongbeard wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 10:27 am Would one be terribly out of bounds to suggest that you think of levelling the ground rather than tying to find a way to accommodate it?

One part that we cut is actually the field next door that is left fallow permanently (well, the part that borders our land is left fallow). We cut it (with permission) so that we don't have 4 foot high grass atop a 3 foot high bank right next to the house!

The other area is the road verge!

Get a petrol rotary, set the blade as low as you can, it’ll scalp the high spots off for you with the debris hopefully settling in the divots!

Might be worth attracting the attention of our resident guru on these matters @wull

Silly Car wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 1:33 pm Get a petrol rotary, set the blade as low as you can, it’ll scalp the high spots off for you with the debris hopefully settling in the divots!

I did try that a couple of years ago .... Neither the Mountfield nor myself appreciated it!

Count Steer wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 1:49 pm Might be worth attracting the attention of our resident guru on these matters @wull

FFS the man is overloaded fixing lawn machinery,then indulging in recreational pregnancies.

Rockburner wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 1:50 pm

Silly Car wrote: Thu Jun 12, 2025 1:33 pm Get a petrol rotary, set the blade as low as you can, it’ll scalp the high spots off for you with the debris hopefully settling in the divots!

I did try that a couple of years ago .... Neither the Mountfield nor myself appreciated it!

Works for me, and the cheap Chinese Briggs and Stratton is still going strong despite the abuse

Just seen this, nothing I can really add to it other than it purely depends on how wide the uneven parts of the ground are. Mower width and blade size help towards uneven ground, that’s generally what we look at with multi deck mowers but with regards to domestic sized lawns and undulations it wouldn’t be applicable.

Best bet would be to either level the ground the best you can or cut what you can with a regular mower and strim the uneven areas that the mower doesn’t seem to cut well.

There's no excuse for a lumpy lawn....

Well .... err - ... this happened :



Not quite the model I was looking for, but when it turns up 5 minutes away for £20....

If nothing else it's an object for tinkering with.



first thing was to take the handles off to make it easier to get on the bench


It's obviously been reated roughly by someone....


Tecum-who?


Plug doesn't look too bad.


Seen worse...


carb is a simple one.


pull-spinner is in good knick.




it's structurally ok


Carb is only about 5 bits....


Light at the end of the tunnel??


Simple cut-out switch - no dead-man's-handle on this thing....


The jet looks a lot better after some BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT


Cleaning the air-filter in petrol.... (shaky photo due to the fumes..)


worth it.


And reassembled for first retry attempt.



It DOES run.

Reluctantly....

It'll fire up on full choke, then you can take the choke off and it'll run a bit, then slow down and struggle.
Possible issues:
Fuel : I used some pre-mix I had sitting around for the Puch (same ratio, 25:1): but it's been sitting in the can for a couple of years now, so may well be very much past it's best. I'll empty it out and try again with fresh stuff as the next step. (need to go get some more E5).

Resistance: it's possible that the blade/fans are dragging on something, so I'll be looking into that. Or maybe a bearing.

Internals: it HAS compression, but not a huge amount, so I initially thought the rings may be ok - but a full engine strip will reveal more - so that may well be the course of action to take.

So - not perfect, but it's a contender.

I'm also tempted to strip off the plastic casings around the engine, mainly just to take some weight off (every little helps), but not sure how important it is in managing the airflow into the fan. I get the feeling it's just cosmetic.

Bugger pull-starters...
Take the top cover off, use a hole saw to install a hole in the cover above the nut on the starter spinny doodad, use a cordless impact with an impact socket on said nut.. Voila, electric start

Very timely bump to this thread as my petrol mower is proving temperamental…

Starting procedure is press priming button 4/5 times, yank 2 or 3 times on rope, chugs away and cuts lawns with ease, only stopping the engine to empty the collection box.

Last time, worked as above but on emptying the box the second time, it wouldn’t start. Re primed it and it ran for a few seconds before stalling. Checked and topped up oil and petrol, primed and it ran for a few seconds and stalled.

It is a POS B&Q rotary which I claimed from my dad’s garage when we were clearing his house. Any pointers on what to look for? Filter is dry and it get the same result without it in. I’m guessing fuel delivery but what / where to look?

ZRX61 wrote: Fri Aug 01, 2025 4:26 pm Bugger pull-starters...
Take the top cover off, use a hole saw to install a hole in the cover above the nut on the starter spinny doodad, use a cordless impact with an impact socket on said nut.. Voila, electric start

I count it as part of my weekly exercise...

Silly Car wrote: Fri Aug 01, 2025 6:10 pm Very timely bump to this thread as my petrol mower is proving temperamental…

Starting procedure is press priming button 4/5 times, yank 2 or 3 times on rope, chugs away and cuts lawns with ease, only stopping the engine to empty the collection box.

Last time, worked as above but on emptying the box the second time, it wouldn’t start. Re primed it and it ran for a few seconds before stalling. Checked and topped up oil and petrol, primed and it ran for a few seconds and stalled.

It is a POS B&Q rotary which I claimed from my dad’s garage when we were clearing his house. Any pointers on what to look for? Filter is dry and it get the same result without it in. I’m guessing fuel delivery but what / where to look?

Have a look at the spark plug. If its black and horrible - change it. But more likely bad fuel has got the better of the carb and/or fuel pipes. Typical Chinese stuff has a drain screw on the float bowl at 45 degrees and a similar one to remove the float bowl on the base; and you will probably need to pinch off the supply pipe unless you completely drain the tank. Having got that far you may as well remove the carburettor and blow all the jets clear. I use a double ended tyre inflator rather than bothering with a big compressor.

Rockburner wrote: Fri Aug 01, 2025 9:48 am Well .... err - ... this happened :

Those Flymo Pilots are good over rough ground, I have three.

I also leave the top plastic cover off and run them on 40:1.

The carbs do crud up easily but are easy to clean.