OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Reel-Type Mowers SB Supercut throttle arrangement

Hello All,

Just wondering if anyone is able to let me know how the throttle lever/cable were set up on the original Scott Bonnar Supercuts with a four-stroke Villiers 12/2.

That is,

What point on the handlebars was the throttle-lever located?

Was it a Villiers brand type lever or other?

How was the cable fixed to the machine on it's way down to the carby?

Attention to detail is everything

Cheers,

Craig

Hello Craig

These are important questions of detail for a restorer.
It is so frustrating that so little information is available.

The Supercut was made in so many variants! For example, they were made as small
as 14" and these were powered by a Mark 3 Midget!

The earliest machines did use a Villiers throttle control and Bowden cable,
I don't know how the Mark 12s were set up. Mod BB may be able to help.

Thanks for keeping us informed.
-----------------------------------
JACK

Hi Craig,

I actually have the exact machine you are mentioning so I shall dig out some shots of it as its a pretty original one owner unit.

Cheers,
BB

Hey Guys, thanks for the response, I think the throttle lever position is generally on the top of the machine's handle-bar(if that's what it's called). It just seemed a little bit sloppy and un-Scott Bonnar like to have the cable running along the handle where you are gripping it as you operate the machine? Really keen to know how they fixed throttle cables to machines before the invention of plastic cable ties too???

Cheers,

Craig

This is about as good as it gets.

Cheers,
BB

so duct tape was before cable ties ?? nice looking machines those though .

Heheheh, maybe before the duct-tape era there was a period of using twine made from the overhanging vines in the jungle as the Supercut evolved?

Cheers,

Craig

Hi All,

I would suggest that they would have originally been secured part way down the handle with either a metal tie or clip such as those below.




Cheers,

Sir Chook

Hello Sir Chook and Contributors

I think that's right for the sixties and beyond: a tie or a spring clip.
I think that must be right. What frustrates me is an early brochure that shows an
eyelet arrangement:-

Hi All,

I've edited this post as I've had a close look at the original photos that I took and now have worked out (it was quite a while ago) that that thing that looks like duct tape was in fact a part made of white nylon type molded tubing which has the cable passing underneath it. I recall it was crazed / sun affected (consistant with the machines age) and was about to break so I cut it off and initially replaced it with tape but I worked out that the tape wasn't required so I took the tape off again. As such the cable sits in a good way totally unrestrained to this current day.

The only other thing ever changed on mine was the original fuel tank due to the original tap failing and a Kirby HK25 tank was fitted by the original owner and I've since changed the tank back to a Villiers unit, but as it came from a C12 motor it was orange (as it still is) while all the Villiers engines supplied were painted over the Villiers base protection colour coat with Scott Bonnar Green of the day to match the rest of the mower.

This mower has got good provenance and is basically a one owner unit and I've made no mods to it apart from retrofitting the original style tank back on to it.

The metal eyelet fitted on that much earlier one pictured in that old hand painted advertisement would've been deleted for the more modern and cheaper plastic fitting used on the later Supercuts, which both mine are.

Hope that this clears up this matter.

Cheers,
BB

Update !

I've just checked my other spare parts machine that's an identical unit to the one in the photograph apart from its poorer condition and that one has two lots of witness marks just below the halfway mark down the handle but those are consistent with the optional toolbox being fitted and as such there are no other tell tale signs whatsoever of any metallic parts fitted around the tube. It still has the original Villiers throttle control and cable fitted.

Cheers,
BB