Cricket Clubs - how to avoid the high cost of grass cutting machinery

This section has now been superseded but kept in place for Google Search purposes. Please click on our NEW CRICKET MOWERS WEBSITE for the latest information.



New wicket mowers cost between £4,000 and £5,000 which means that the only people who can afford them are professional contractors. As such, these mowers clock-up a very high 'mileage' in a short space of time and are then sold on just before they will require some serious maintenance. Beware!

The Old Lawnmower Company supplies quality and fully rebuilt British lawnmowers ideally suited for regular use on sports grounds. We have reconditioned and sold many wicket mowers and square mowers that are in regular use on cricket pitches and bowling greens and, from our experience of working on and supplying classic British mowers, we are confident that one of our overhauled machines will probably perform better than the equivalent, very expensive modern mower... at a third of the price!

At the Old Lawnmower Company, we have the expertise and motivation to keep these mowers working to the same high standard as when they were first made, making them reliable, suited to the rigours of everyday use and up to the exacting standards of a Groundsman. Through superior engineering, these older lawnmowers have been made to last and give fantastic value, when compared to the cost of investing in a brand-new machine.

Each mower is completely dismantled and rebuilt and comes with a First Season's Use Warranty (Conditions apply). See our buyers guide section to find out why these are a cut above the second-hand mowers available on auction websites and elsewhere.

In addition to supplying these high quality sports ground mowers, the Old Lawnmower Company has all the spare parts available to keep them running for many years to come. With our mowers you get dependability, unlike the Ebay 'bargain' that breaks down the day before an important match.

The following is a selection of the mowers that are currently available for sale - stock is constantly changing, especially in the Spring and Summer, so please enquire if you have specific requirements.

Remember, our mowers are completely rebuilt and guaranteed, a world away from the usual 'serviced' secondhand mower.

We also buy old mowers and machinery, so contact us whether you are looking to buy, sell or restore your existing mowers (see below).

If you found this page directly through Google then after reading it, please click on WEBSITE HOME to go to our Main Website.

Lawnmowers for Sale

To request details and photographs of particular mowers within your price range, pleaseclick here and we will email them to you.

(mouseover to enlarge pictures)

Wicket Mowers

Ransomes Auto Certes

The 1970's Ransomes 18" or 20" Auto Certes with its 10-blade cylinder and shaver blade is the classic mower for cricket wicket or bowling green and its derivatives are still used on Test Wickets today. It is powered by the beautifully smooth BSA/Villiers F12 or the Briggs and Stratton engine.


Price range: £1,450 - £1,700

Ransomes Super Certes

The Super-Certes is a development of the classic Auto-Certes, retaining a high level of engineering with enhancements to the design - including the facility to add a Verti-groom attachment. This 51cm (20") model comes complete with a pair of transport wheels.


Price range: £1,500 - £1,850

Ransomes Super Bowl

The Super-Bowl is a tried and tested mower, with it's superb build quality (a hallmark of Ransomes) and it's excellent cutting performance- the mower's ten-bladed cylinder and thin profiled bottom blade means that it will cut down below 3mm, if required. The 24" mower is fitted with a reconditioned 5HP Briggs and Stratton I/C engine, which is powerful and well made.

Price range: £1,500 - £1,850

Cricket Square heavy roller mowers

Atco Royale

The Royale is very well engineered and has a 'short-wheel base' making it highly manoeuvrable in operation . The Royales that we offer are powered by a rebuilt 5HP Industrial (IC) Briggs & Stratton, which is reliable, hard-wearing and has ample power to drive the machine. Because of its design and build-quality, a rebuilt Atco Royale is a superb mower- robust, reliable and giving an excellent cut.

Price range: £1,100 - £1,350.

Webb 24 (chain driven)

The Webb 24 chain driven lawnmower, the AB1480, was the last version of this classic mower and considered by many to be the best. As well as having all the excellent features of the previous model, including the 5HP Briggs and Stratton engine, it also had strong chain transmission with clutch plates driving an uprated, heavy duty cylinder. It was made from 1984 to 1987 and was a sad loss when discontinued by Atco who by then owned Webb. Trailing seat also available.

Price range: £950 - £1,150.

Ransomes Twenty Four

The Ransomes Twenty-Four dates from the early to middle 1970s, powered by the Villiers F15 4-stroke engine. Maintaining the hallmark Ransomes build-quality, the Twenty-Four gives a superb quality of cut and rolled stripes (due to the weighty rear rollers) and is highly manoeuvrable due to its design. Villiers manufactured fine engines and although only 150cc, the F15's long stroke and heavy flywheel means that it is powerful and can easily tow a trailing seat.

Price range: £800 - £950.

Restoring your lawnmowers

Have you found it hard to interest your local garden machinery company in servicing your old wicket mower or square mower? Have you been told that they can no longer get the parts?

We do not take the common option of writing off a perfectly usable lawnmower by claiming that the parts are no longer available in the interests of selling you an expensive new machine or a worn-out nearly new one - if it is cost effective to overhaul an engine or a mower then we will always choose this option. We have an extensive range of new and tested second-hand parts to call upon for British mowers up to 50 years old and the experience to overhaul thoroughly and provide future support.

The Old Lawnmower Company is a family business specialising in the overhaul and maintenance of old cylinder lawnmowers. Our policy is to preserve, overhaul and maintain wicket mowers and square mowers, and because we are not linked to sales of new machinery (unlike the majority of garden machinery servicing companies) we give independent and objective advice on whether a lawnmower can be repaired, overhauled and serviced.

If it is possible to interest your local garden machinery company in servicing your old cylinder mower then their approach will probably be the same as it would be for a newer mower (basic maintenance such as grinding the cutting cylinder, changing oil and sparking plug). At the Old Lawnmower Company our servicing is far more thorough because we understand what is required to keep old machinery running and reliable.

Sharpening Cutting Cylinders on Lawnmowers

Many garden machinery servicing departments will tell you how important it is to always grind a cutting cylinder when a lawnmower is serviced. Of course, they have to justify their cylinder mower service and sometimes have a vested interest in selling new parts (or indeed complete mowers) by artificially wearing your cutting cylinder out!

Is it really necessary to lathe-grind a cutting cylinder every time a mower is serviced? The answer has to be a resounding No!

It is only necessary when the cylinder has been severely damaged, otherwise the removal of metal by a machine serves only to reduce the life of the cylinder and thus often the mower. In 95% of cases, the proper answer is to use a process known as back-lapping whereby the blades are sharpened carefully using carborundum in a similar way to how you sharpen a knife.

Ransomes, the oldest manufacturer of cylinder mowers, continue to recommend back-lapping as the means of sharpening the cutting cylinder in the servicing instructions of their premier wicket mower- the Super Certes.

With old lawnmowers it is often not possible to replace the cutting cylinder, once it has been worn down through grinding. With our ethos of preserving old machinery, the Old Lawnmower Company primarily uses back-lapping to sharpen cutting cylinders and bottom blades and, indeed, sells their own Blade Sharpening Kit to enable customers to carry out the process themselves, should they wish to.

The Old Lawnmower Company know from experience that a carefully back-lapped and set cutting cylinder will give superb results and, that by choosing not to machine grind a cutting cylinder, you are not compromising the quality of your cut.


WEBSITE HOME




















Cricket clubs save money on their equipment by finding us through: cricket mower , wicket mower , wicket roller , cricket square mower , cricket mower repairs , cricket mower maintenance , cricket equipment , cricket pitch , cricket field

People find us by searching for: cylinder mower , cylinder lawnmower , cylinder lawn mower , allen spares , atco spares , dennis spares , qualcast spares , ransomes spares , suffolk punch spares , webb spares , old lawnmower , pushmower , push mower , push lawnmower , sidewheel mower , light atco , dennis premier , qualcast b14 , ransomes marquis , ransomes auto certes , ransomes certes , ransomes ajax , ransomes 24 , ransomes matador , ransomes multimower , webb 14 , webb 18 , webb 21 , webb witch , webb wasp , jp , jp maxees , jp simplex , lawn care , lawncare , lawn treatment , lawn maintenance , lawnmowing , lawn mowing , lawn cutting , grass cutting , grass mowing