Who can remember back at the turn of the century when single drum vibratory rollers weren’t going to be able to be used as they didn’t meet the HAUC standard?
Well, here we are in 2024 some 24 years later and single drum vibratory rollers are still be used by tarmac’ers up and down the country every day doing driveways and small patching jobs. Unlike excavators where there are approximately 12 manufacturers competing to sell mini-diggers, in the UK there are only 3 manufacturers of pedestrian rollers to buy from, Vibroll, Bomag and Mecalac. For those of you that didn’t realise, Mecalac which is French, used to be Terex which in turn used to be Benford and until fairly recently was the same roller that they produced 30 years ago with hand start Lister Petter on it, the only real difference was they change to an electric start Hatz. Effectively you have the choice between a German, French or British roller.
Bomag hasn’t changed a lot either over the years. It’s a mammoth beast, it looks like its engineered out of left over Tiger tanks from WW2 and, according to customers that we have supplied rollers to, is like trying to steer one as well. It has the word Bomag on the side of it so for those discerning customers who love that word will think it’s the best thing since sliced bread, even though they have never tried anything else. We recently sold a new Vibroll roller to a customer who bought a new Bomag last year because we couldn’t supply one in time. He has just part-exchanged it against a new Vibroll as his gangs wouldn’t use it as it was so unwieldly and was parked up in the corner of his yard with under 20 hours of use!!! If you know any history buffs who like WW2 German tanks point them in our direction as we have a nice shiny 2023 roller which might ‘light their fire’.
The new Mecalac roller is a new design and has moved away from the 30-year-old design of its predecessor. They have kept to the Hatz engine and it has a radical new look to it and looks more up to date, however according to certain users its more of a ‘frilly knickers but no substance’ roller with lots of customers stating that it is gutless, especially on a slope.
That brings us to the Vibroll VM71 pedestrian roller. Evolved from the Stothert & Pitt roller from yesteryear, the Vibroll VM71 roller is powered by a Yanmar LV engine, the most popular air-cooled single cylinder diesel engine on the planet. It’s a fully hydraulic drive and vibration system, not a dry clutch plate or centrifugal clutch in sight, and its balance and manoeuvrability make it a firm operators favourite. With a plastic water tank, no rusty water or blockages, and the lowest arm/hand vibration figures for a roller more and more customers are switching to a British owned and British manufactured pedestrian roller.
If you’re in the market for a well-made, operator friendly, cost-effective solution for your pedestrian roller requirement why not ring Mike or Laura and have a chat about the Vibroll VM roller. Its available in a powerpack format as well so a 30lpm hydraulic breaker can be run from it as well alleviating the need for a separate breaker and powerpack if your repairing pot holes. Talking about pot holes, has anybody noticed the state of our roads recently? I think if you compared them to farm tracks you are doing a great dis-service to farm tracks……………….
