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Felly Magic

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I know nothing about these, though I've just been on a couple. I knew Berlin had double deckers because an old one turned up at the RM50 celebrations some years ago.

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They are big tri axle things and they have (unsurprisingly) MAN badges on the front. In true continental style the seats are dissapointing but they ride very well, no bangs and crashes more noticeably virtually no vibration at all even when idling in gear. That's virtually unheard of on any bus over here (in England I mean, I'm still in Berlin as I write this). Overall I'm impressed. They also have upper deck windscreen wipers though they weren't being used on the one I went on in the rain.

 

This is an earlier generation now being used on sightseeing tours with a quality* open top convertion covered with a big tarpaulin.

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Realistically most modern buses with 6-cyl engines will be vibration free as that engine type is inherently perfectly balanced. 4-cyl engines in Darts and our new generation of eco-buses are not.

 

At the end of the day those MEN are just very well designed and screwed together - like the Citaros that we get. AD seem to get their plastic mouldings from the wheely-bin factory.

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This is pretty remarkable:

 

32290123597_ebb212b379_c.jpgYes, it's an OMNI by paul green, on Flickr

 

I see on other places it's possibly for sale.

Good god. I haven't seen one of those in mobile condition for YONKS.

By some miracle Empress Coaches have managed to keep that Omni going all these years and I'm sure it's the only one left in passenger-carrying service, although there may be one or two knocking around as mobile (or more likely static) caravans. I'm sure Empress had two of them but the other one went a long time ago.

I've driven an Omni with a 2.5 LR diesel.

 

Fucking useless.

 

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Just having a 6 cylinder engine isn't enough to make a bus vibration free. It's only the last ten years or so that four cylinder engines have become more common in buses but most vibrate particularly when idling in gear. These things were virtually silent (and no they weren't stop/start. Those hybrid stop/start things in London make it VERY clear when they restart). Like you say, I think they're just well built.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Stole a bus this morning after a breakdown yesterday... first Javelin I've driven since I passed my test in January 2008!d9ba9775d457afb2efdb34d39335c0df.jpg

 

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You have my most sincere sympathies. UVG bodied Javelin, is there anything worse out there??

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You have my most sincere sympathies. UVG bodied Javelin, is there anything worse out there??

No comment, I absolutely adore Javelins. Drove really nicely, C-series too so plenty guts about it.

It's not a looker, is it?

They never were... the WS Vanguard series weren't particularly pretty either but they were at least functional.

 

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Isn't that an SCC Cutlass built after Caetano took over UVG? Hopefully a bit better made than the UVG originals whose windscreens had a habit of falling out. I actually don't think it looks too bad as basic bum shifters go.

Possibly. It absolutely reeked of damp and felt really cramped even for a 70-seater.

 

Anyway, it was a loaner; back in my preferred chariot now.539648379cd1559cbb2f87a883df96e7.jpg

 

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72 seats, Volvo engine, no retarder, no speed limiter and Leyland drum brakes... it's not bad ;)

 

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I'd tend to prefer a retarder if relying on those brakes...hope they're better than the ones on the Leopard that I very nearly embedded in the roundabout at the Aberdeen side of Kintore one afternoon after finding out what it would do down the hill.

 

She a proper bus with real gears I take it, or an auto?

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No comment, I absolutely adore Javelins. Drove really nicely, C-series too so plenty guts about it.

I have to say I’ve driven several Javelins and only two were any good at all - most were gutless pieces of shite. We had 3 of the UVG-bodied things at Tanat Valley, from a drivers perspective they were cramped and slow.

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Yutongs are actually not bad at all, well liked in the industry; early TC12s ran Cummins engines but moved onto DAF after the first batch, TC9s all run Cummins. Dealer support is allegedly first rate through Pelican.

 

King Long was the original Chinese attack on the market but spares availability was virtually nil... later examples were much better but by that time the damage was done.

 

Latest round of PSV imports from China are from LDV - admittedly in up to 17 seat conversions - and Higer, who have been doing pretty well in a joint venture with Scania (the 'Touring') and more recently in ROI with the integral Cummins-powered Super 9.

 

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Shows as 6700cc is this the way the industry is going like 1.0 turbo cars with 120 bhp?

 

Lists it as an automatic are there still manuals in coaches?

 

 

Yes, smaller engines with bigger turbos. There probably is a manual option available in some coaches but very rare to see one now. Most are either proper automatics or robotised manuals like the ZF iShit. 

 

Give me a B10M with a 6-speed manual any day.

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Shows as 6700cc is this the way the industry is going like 1.0 turbo cars with 120 bhp?

 

Lists it as an automatic are there still manuals in coaches?

6700cc is the latest 6-cylinder variant of the long standing Cummins B-series; power is in the 285bhp range IIRC, we had the same ISB6/ZF auto in our old Temsa MD9 and it went like a stabbed rat.

 

I believe VDL still offer a proper manual in their Futura 2 but from memory they've only sold one in the UK.

 

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Tut, tut. Putting my old H&S hat on, the COSHH regs require you to be 'clean shaven' if you're going to wear a dust mask as well as having been 'fit tested'.

 

Just saying !!!

You have to die of something.

 

If it helps any I'm here in the workshop myself too, on an office chair (doing locker doors on the offside now) using air tools without ear defenders AND the bus is parked over an unmarked, unbarriered pit.

 

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