OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Cylinder To rover 45 or not to rover 45???

Hi guys, sorry if I've posted this in the wrong forum but this is my first post. I've been surfing through quite a few posts over the last few weeks as I'm in the market for an upgrade on my mower. I currently have an old school cheap Parklands entry level mower from my inlaws a few years back as a new house warming gift. Its a basic mower as we only had a 400m block to worry about.
As life has moved on so has our house and we now live on a 1/4 acre block. As such the lawn has increased from about 100m to over 450m rendering my old tiny mower inadequate to keep up.
Originally the lawns were all but invisible under a mat of clover and bindii, but after a solid 18 months of lots of TLC we have a nice mat of couch covering 95% now. So I've decided its time to upgrade the mower. Having little to no knowledge of mowers (apart from Honda's are good) I was just going to go out and grab a standard Honda or Victa and go from there. However a mate has planted the seed of upgrading to a cylinder mower (he suggested if I got my hands on a red one I wouldn't regret it!) given how much time I've already put into the lawn - would produce a much better result.

So I'm wanting to put it out there for some advice - ideally I'd be looking for a 17" if not 20" unit. I have looked at a rover 45, beautiful machine only 10-12 years old apparently (was offered 12 months warranty too), which had 10 blades and ran perfectly. I'm starting to wonder if I missed a golden opportunity with that one as I let it slip. I couldn't justify having the 10 blades as I wouldn't do it justice for my use. I'm still trying to do some research to compare the rover 45 to a SB and so on, but keep getting confused with them all.

What unit would be suggested / ideal for a 1st timer to break into the cylinder mower scene which is relatively straight forward to use, has parts readily available, will convince a wife that buying a 2nd hand unit is not that risky, and work forever with the correct TLC?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.

Hi Oakie, and a warm welcome to the forum. It's nice to have you aboard, as we all like to learn new things and tinker here.
This forum will be fine for our discussion. As you can guess by my avatar that I am a Scott Bonnar aficionado, which is my preference as far as cylinder mowers go.
Scott Bonnar was taken over by Rover Mowers Ltd in 1980, and in some quarters it is said that the build quality suffered slightly...Rover themselves were eventually taken over by MTD and the Rover 45 was discontinued.
Rover didn't manufacture the 20" Model 45.

So with that in mind, if you are deciding on a 20" machine, a Scott Bonnar is the only way to go.
The 17" model 45 with a 6 blade reel is perfect for couch grasses and would easily handle the mowing area you have. My machine is a Series 2 (twin rail) 6 blade Model 45 and I have owned it since new. I replaced the original Briggs engine some years ago with a Honda G100 4 stroke and it performs perfectly and has given me many hours of mowing pleasure.
They are an easy machine to maintain, parts are still easy to come by (with the exception of the actual chassis itself, chain case cover etc.) and after market catchers often come up on the auction sites, if one is needed.
For the lady of the house, a second hand Scott Bonnar Model 45 Series 1 (solid deck) carefully maintained in good serviceable condition, will, in my opinion, last a lifetime. My machine is 38 years old and is still going strong!

Once again, Oakie, to OutdoorKing, and I hope this has been of help.

Thanks for the heads up there DeeJay. Your information will help greatly. So in summing up the Scott Bonnar 45 series is an older build compared to the Rover 45 - pretty much the same design but built before Rover took SB over and made a few tweaks etc, and one's red versus green?
Does the Rover 45 come with a single deck or just the twin rail?
I have looked about and there's not many SB 45 17" as Rover 45's, generally is there much of a price difference between the two when comparing 17" units at all? Any tips on where's a good site to look?
Many thanks again,
Oakie.

Hi Oakie,
Yes mate, your summing up is correct, Scott Bonnar introduced the Model 45 in 1968 and was a solid engine deck which continued in production until 1976 when the design changed to the Series 2 which was the first of the twin rail deck design. After the take over by Rover Mowers in 1980 the company was known as Rover-Scott Bonnar and they produced the Model 45 in Brisbane QLD...(The Thebarton factory in SA closed down) and the colour was a sort of lime green solid colour rather than the original green hammertone) and eventually the SB name was dropped and it became the Rover 45 available in red or green colour schemes.

The Rover was always a twin rail machine.

The Rover will usually be more expensive to purchase as it is perceived to be a newer machine....however the solid deck earlier mower is more desirable (and collectable) as it has the Scott Bonnar heritage.

Re: Purchasing, eBay and Gumtree can be a good source...just Google Scott Bonnar.... but it is a case of 'caveat emptor' (buyer beware)....just do your homework and ask plenty of questions, read the SB threads here, and view the machine if possible before handing over the cash.
Good luck and good hunting,