- Thread starter Cato
- Start date
Those were the days, can't best a bit of VIZ!.
For me it has to be my "lawnmower", I used to cut the half acre "garden" at first with cheap secondhand briggs engined sit and rides which lasted a few months on average before gasping their last, then with a old 1950's massey harris pony tractor first with a finger mower then later a topper after some incidents because of uneven ground, but it had lots of issues, including some unsolvable ones around pto cardan angles which kept causing mechanical mayhem, didnt have a rollcage etc and was tbh a bit dangerous on the slopes.
Then finally I persuaded my wife we had to invest *something* because keeping the pony and trying to solve issues took up so much of my time and she agreed to me buying a kubota industrial front deck mower that was sold for parts only but was still expensive, a really old awd zero turn FZ2100 with a d1105 diesel. After a few weeks fettling and fluids and fixing other peoples botches and pump rebuilds etc, its been in constant use for 5 years now every summer, and has had zero issues apart from new blades because they had wore out, its more stable on the slopes, got a roll over cage and only takes a hour to whizz round as opposed to the pony taking a day + fettle time.
So there, not very rock and roll to be excited by a diesel ride on lawn mower, but I wasted so much time messing round with crap briggs ride on's and the pony when I just needed a tired industrial grade mower.
I have a bike bench I bought years ago, but it was too small, it was on ebay with a picture of a harley dresser on it for really really cheap money but didnt check dimensions stupidly, and it was on arrival that I discovered they made mini bikes faked up to be harley lookalikes. So it was narrow but this made it easy to get to things without getting in the way and I widened the outriggers to make it stable, but it was also too short, but I welded on some supports for the on ramp to keep it level and moved the wheel clamp forward so that it can take big stuff. At the time at that house my bikeshed had weird internal walls and its narrowness suited the narrow room where I worked on them.
I built one later at this place out of heavy joist timbers anchored the slab and osb top skinned with conveyer belt, and fitted one of those overcentre front wheel clamps and lots of fixings and eyes for straps through bolted through the heavy timbers. I know wood for a bike bench but you could set a bomb off on it and it wouldnt notice. Instead of fitting a ramp or having some teeter topple arrangement on the top, I just unbolt the front wheel stop off the hydraulic bench behind it and lift the bike level with that, then wheel it forwards onto the permanent bench without drama. The idea being that the longer term projects would be on the wooden bench, and quick tinkers on the hydraulic. Of course now I need MORE permanent benches because both are tied up with long term project bikes currently and I'm back doing stuff to my runabout xl just on stands on the floor. Or I need less projects. Or to finish some. I think thats why I like the kubota so much, because it might just let me do that.
Then finally I persuaded my wife we had to invest *something* because keeping the pony and trying to solve issues took up so much of my time and she agreed to me buying a kubota industrial front deck mower that was sold for parts only but was still expensive, a really old awd zero turn FZ2100 with a d1105 diesel. After a few weeks fettling and fluids and fixing other peoples botches and pump rebuilds etc, its been in constant use for 5 years now every summer, and has had zero issues apart from new blades because they had wore out, its more stable on the slopes, got a roll over cage and only takes a hour to whizz round as opposed to the pony taking a day + fettle time.
So there, not very rock and roll to be excited by a diesel ride on lawn mower, but I wasted so much time messing round with crap briggs ride on's and the pony when I just needed a tired industrial grade mower.
I have a bike bench I bought years ago, but it was too small, it was on ebay with a picture of a harley dresser on it for really really cheap money but didnt check dimensions stupidly, and it was on arrival that I discovered they made mini bikes faked up to be harley lookalikes. So it was narrow but this made it easy to get to things without getting in the way and I widened the outriggers to make it stable, but it was also too short, but I welded on some supports for the on ramp to keep it level and moved the wheel clamp forward so that it can take big stuff. At the time at that house my bikeshed had weird internal walls and its narrowness suited the narrow room where I worked on them.
I built one later at this place out of heavy joist timbers anchored the slab and osb top skinned with conveyer belt, and fitted one of those overcentre front wheel clamps and lots of fixings and eyes for straps through bolted through the heavy timbers. I know wood for a bike bench but you could set a bomb off on it and it wouldnt notice. Instead of fitting a ramp or having some teeter topple arrangement on the top, I just unbolt the front wheel stop off the hydraulic bench behind it and lift the bike level with that, then wheel it forwards onto the permanent bench without drama. The idea being that the longer term projects would be on the wooden bench, and quick tinkers on the hydraulic. Of course now I need MORE permanent benches because both are tied up with long term project bikes currently and I'm back doing stuff to my runabout xl just on stands on the floor. Or I need less projects. Or to finish some. I think thats why I like the kubota so much, because it might just let me do that.
I think most of the understanding my kids have of real english culture is from a 2022 viz annual (the coppers torch) and feeding them monty python and red dwarf episodes growing up.
And I'm sure its just normal to wake up your son for school by running into their room, and shouting "I demand a shrubbery" then running out as they shout "ni ni ni".
Mick Annick
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We made the mistake of calling our eldest son Roger, he’s 40 and still hasn’t forgiven us…
ajlelectronics
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- Gloucester, England
As long as he didnt go into tv, he should get over it in a few more years
Mick Annick
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- Burgundy, France (450 miles SE of Somerset)
Did you get him confirmed?
No, but he knows a good shrubbery when he sees one!
brightspark
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- yarm stockton on tees
before viz there was ozz that was better but got banned
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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The story of Dr Martin Boot gets me every time!
Greeves246
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Is he a cabin boy?
Olderisbetter
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Dewalt cordless chain saw, ideal for pruning and rough cutting timbers
Screwdriver
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Urban myth sadly:
"No, there was never a character named Seaman Staines in the Captain Pugwash cartoon. This is a well-known urban myth. The crew of Captain Pugwash's ship, the Black Pig, included characters named Master Mate, Tom the Cabin Boy, and Pirates Barnabas and Willy. The myth about risqué names like Seaman Staines, Master Bates, and Roger the Cabin Boy likely originated from 1970s student magazines and was spread by comedians and media, despite being false. Creator John Ryan successfully sued newspapers like The Guardian and Sunday Correspondent in 1991 for publishing these claims, as they inaccurately suggested the show was taken off air due to inappropriate names. The myth persists, but no evidence supports the existence of these characters in the original series."
Thank Grok for making the world just a little bit less funny....
"No, there was never a character named Seaman Staines in the Captain Pugwash cartoon. This is a well-known urban myth. The crew of Captain Pugwash's ship, the Black Pig, included characters named Master Mate, Tom the Cabin Boy, and Pirates Barnabas and Willy. The myth about risqué names like Seaman Staines, Master Bates, and Roger the Cabin Boy likely originated from 1970s student magazines and was spread by comedians and media, despite being false. Creator John Ryan successfully sued newspapers like The Guardian and Sunday Correspondent in 1991 for publishing these claims, as they inaccurately suggested the show was taken off air due to inappropriate names. The myth persists, but no evidence supports the existence of these characters in the original series."
Thank Grok for making the world just a little bit less funny....
marlinspike
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Re Viz: Whenever we are up in the north east at some point during the drive 'getting off at the billy mill roundabout' will get a mention.
ajlelectronics
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Whereas us more refined and learned types will refer to the "Basingstoke roundabout".
addjunkie
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- Northumberland. Reet oot in the sticks
It was removed in 2016…All part of the Coast Road improvement scheme…….
Its now an amber gambler just before a splurge!
