OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Reel Lawn Mowers, Atco & Villiers etc. RoVer Kensington 17L just purchased

Hi,

Well, I had a Scott Bonnar 45 17" that had been totally rebuilt to NEW by MowerPartsOz, I had purchased it fot $3,000 from a guy who won it in a hotel raffle and had never used.

I love the SB45 but I wanted to go to the cylinder reel mower cartridge system for ease of switching between reel cut, de-thatching and scarifying without go through the lengthy process of removing cylinder reel and bedknife, then installing scarifying reel, then switch back to cylinder reel and having to reset.

Anyway, I stumbled across a RoVer Kensington 17L that uses the cartridge system.

The RoVer Kensington 17L is actually a rebadged Allett Kensington 17, I rang Allett in Victoria and Jack confirmed this and buying in Australia just with the standard 6 blade cutting reel will set you back $4900 with Honda motor.

RoVer came with standard 6 blade reel but the real clincher were:
1. Exceptional condition for it's 7 years old
2. 10 Blade cartridge (new are $1068)
3. De-thatching cartridge (new are $618)

so it had $1700 worth of an additional 2 cartridges.

I paid $1100 for everything but the catch was the mower was in Mildura, 800Km round trip from Adelaide, SA.

I decided to go Saturday week ago when it was upto 43c near Mildura and was pleasantly surprised about it's condition, VERY GOOD but just needing a cleanup, few adjustments and tweaking.

Anyway, I used the RoVer the other day and found it performed as my NEW SB45 17" so bit the bullett and listed on Marketplace for $3750, I had installed brand new Stainless Steel handlebars, beter SB decals and solid brass fittings.

I guy came out this morning, loved my SB45 17" and just handed me a $1000 cash deposit, I said I'm not sure if I REALLY WANT to sell it. Anyway we shook on $3750 without him haggling.

I'm going to purchase the Allett 17" scarifying cartridge for about $560 shipped.

Anyway, some may think I'M CRAZY, I hope I made the right decision, money wasn't a factor, getting a cartridge system was.

Cheerz

Hi,

Some things I just love about the Allett/RoVer Kensington 17":

1. Backlapping - simply remove the cutting reel cartridge and place on the bench
2. HOC - the height of cut adjusting screws have a click, maybe 20 per 360* so it's very easy to adjust each side equally
3. Catcher - being a heavy gauge plastic, any bump pops out and it's lighter than the heavy steel of the SB45
4. Drive belts - thought I'd prefer the SB45 chains but the RoVer belts require no lubrication
5. Twin Drive - being a twin drive system, all the controls are on the handle
6. Grass comb - if the grass comb just behind the front roller is adjusted correctly, it makes the grass standup

I think it just shows that cylinder mower over the last 40 years has evolved and the SB45 is still pretty well a 50+ year old design.

Cheerz