That's awesome. Great job working towards getting the word out, @SGrabs33!

 

I love it! Congratulations @SGrabs33

 

Thank you all very much!

I just got the ball rolling on everything recently so its a work in progress. There seems to be a REEL need for these locally and there really is only one shop that sells them. We currently have all California Trimmer products available and we will be adding more lines in the near future. Also, I am focused on the local area but we can have things shipped anywhere in the US if someone is interested. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions!

Check out our Instagram/Facebook if you want.

Just trying to spread the joy of REEL mowers and all of the knowledge I have learned over the years

 

Congrats! @SGrabs33

 

Congrats on the new endeavor Scott!!! Are you offering sales and service?

 

Kudos, and I wish you good luck in your venture!

 

Congrats and good luck. :thumbup:

 

Congrats!

 

Awesome! Are you going to have a shop? I would definitely come check it out.

Assuming you now have a relationship with trimmer maybe could pass on the need for a rear roller. The had a couple post on their Facebook about prototypes but guess they never followed through. I currently have my front roller zipp tied to the back to get stripes.

 

Awesome! Are you going to have a shop? I would definitely come check it out.

Assuming you now have a relationship with trimmer maybe could pass on the need for a rear roller. The had a couple post on their Facebook about prototypes but guess they never followed through. I currently have my front roller zipp tied to the back to get stripes.

Hi Cory, thanks! No shop to begin with, besides my garage, but it is definitely a goal. I've got to walk a little before I jog

Yes, I definitely have a relationship with CalTrimmer. They are great people!

I have asked them about the rear roller that you saw on their FB page. It was a while ago that they did the testing and there didnt seem to be too much demand for the product. I'm sure if they had the demand they would think about it again. Does the roller on the front not do a good job of striping for you?

 

Congrats on the new endeavor Scott!!! Are you offering sales and service?

Great question! Since this is the first true REEL mower outfit in the area I know I will need to be more hands on. Most likely I will be offering service on the REELs I sell to my customers and not accepting outside REELs. I hope to change that once I get an actual shop up and runnning. There may be a little wiggle room in there for TLF members

I am happy to accept any advice and/or suggestions for the business. As Ware said, I am really just trying to promote REEL mowers and get the word out on how great they are.

 

Does the roller on the front not do a good job of striping for you?

Not as good as it does attached to the back

With roller on front


With roller on back

 

Not as good as it does attached to the back

With roller on front


With roller on back

Striping bermuda is tough - and visibility of stripes (even with my PRG that stripes better than anything I've seen) is highly dependent on lighting conditions and the position of the sun. I'm not disputing your results, but those photos don't prove much. They were taken from two different angles, at two different times of day. It looks like there is still dew on the ground/vehicles in the first picture.

 

Not as good as it does attached to the back

With roller on front


With roller on back

Striping bermuda is tough - and visibility of stripes (even with my PRG that stripes better than anything I've seen) is highly dependent on lighting conditions and the position of the sun. I'm not disputing your results, but those photos don't prove much. They were taken from two different angles, at two different times of day. It looks like there is still dew on the ground/vehicles in the first picture.

Here are two more from a similar angle at around the same time of day. Still not the best, maybe this year I'll do half with it in the front and the other half in the back to better show the difference.

 

@Cory That's a great idea. A side by side comparison would be ideal. I agree with @Ware that there are a lot of factors that go into being able to see stripes on Bermuda.
I can definitely reach out to them to ask about availability. I don't think hey made it past prototype stage though.

 

I'm curious about this as well Scott. I have a TruCut, but held onto the 20" trimmer. My only reason for switching was the weight of the drive roller. It just wasn't heavy enough to move the mower in my zoysia. Adding an additional 15-20 lbs might make it useful again. I've been toying with the idea of fabbing something up, but this might be the ticket. @SGrabs33

 

@Spammage @Cory

I spoke with Jim @ CalTrimmer and he said that they only tried these out for a short period and never made more than a few prototypes to try out. They posted them on their Facebook page but never saw enough interest to make more than a few.

I saw a note online saying that the standard TruCut C27 weights ~216 lbs compared to the 20" CalTrimmer weight of ~145 lbs. I am surprised that the 9-Inch Deep Tread Drive Roller wasn't able to power the REEL to cut through your Zoysia. Though it does make sense that the extra 71 lbs helps in that regard.

Here are some additional pics of the prototypes if anyone is interested in seeing what they tested(note: they were all tested on the 25" commercial model):

 

That prototype looks simple enough to build.

 

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=846&p=15498#p15498

 

I spoke with Jim @ CalTrimmer and he said that they only tried these out for a short period and never made more than a few prototypes to try out. They posted them on their Facebook page but never saw enough interest to make more than a few.

With all due respect to California Trimmer, the last time they posted anything to their FB page about the prototype was July 1 2014, almost 4 years ago and only 21 post since then. As someone who makes a living selling/marketing on FB I can tell you that if you want to market your business on FB you need to post substantially more than that.

 

@Cory They know they have been lacking in the social/website area for a while. I do know that they are planning an updated website to be released soon.

Another thing that I know is that they do better than all other homeowner type reel
manufacturers is produce content that benefits owners. They have a write up or video for pretty much anything that you would want to do to their REELs! Maybe their focus is in the right place, helping owners, and not marketing 24/7. I wouldn't mind seeing them post content more regularly though

 

I agree. I love the mower, my only regret is not buying the 25".

 

I saw a note online saying that the standard TruCut C27 weights ~216 lbs compared to the 20" CalTrimmer weight of ~145 lbs. I am surprised that the 9-Inch Deep Tread Drive Roller wasn't able to power the REEL to cut through your Zoysia. Though it does make sense that the extra 71 lbs helps in that regard.

Here are some additional pics of the prototypes if anyone is interested in seeing what they tested(note: they were all tested on the 25" commercial model):

It works fine on bermuda, but this zoysia japonica has very tough blades that grow upright and will support the weight of the roller (when fully grown in). The roller hits the grass and just spins, while the mower doesn't even attempt to move. I used it to scalp and it was fine, but once it gets thick, I will have to use the TruCut. I'm in need of a new reel for the TruCut, so hopefully just adding some weight to the drive roller will last me until that project is done.

I really like the mowers and wish it would work for me. The reel-to-bedknife is much easier to set and it cuts great.

 

Hey @SGrabs33 - any suggestions where in the area I could get my Cal Trimmer sharpened? I'm moving (back) to the Triangle next week!

 

Hey SGrabs33 - any suggestions where in the area I could get my Cal Trimmer sharpened? I'm moving (back) to the Triangle next week!

Welcome back to the area! Are you certain it needs sharpening and not just some backlapping? If so, I would check out Revels Turf in Garner or one of the local golf courses.

Let me know if you have any other questions or if I can help more!