Cable cutters - advice needed

Julesh said:

I'm looking for a set of cutters for brake and gear inner and outer
cables. I'm sure the Park Tool ones are wonderful but are there any
cheaper alternatives worth considering?

I got a cutter called "biketool by union" for £20 which seem to work well,
as I got a bit of a shock at the price of the park cutter!

Julesh said:

I'm looking for a set of cutters for brake and gear inner and outer
cables. I'm sure the Park Tool ones are wonderful but are there any
cheaper alternatives worth considering?

Does anyone have any experience of the £12.50 ones listed in the Mike
Dyason Catalogue?

Thanks

Julesh

I cannot speak from experience of them but I seem to recall reading on this
NG that they were very good.

Sam Salt

"Julesh" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm looking for a set of cutters for brake and gear inner and outer
cables. I'm sure the Park Tool ones are wonderful but are there any
cheaper alternatives worth considering?

Does anyone have any experience of the £12.50 ones listed in the Mike
Dyason Catalogue?

Nope but get yourself down to "Poundtime" and no doubt you
will get a set of pliars and cutters for about £1.

You may also be able to pick up vaious useful items for a pound
such as a helmet, pump, puncture repair kit, cycling shorts and top,
24 speed mountin bike, set of lights etc and as much battaries as you
can carry :O)

Quoted message said:

Thanks

Julesh

Julesh said:

I'm looking for a set of cutters for brake and gear inner and outer
cables. I'm sure the Park Tool ones are wonderful but are there any
cheaper alternatives worth considering?

Does anyone have any experience of the £12.50 ones listed in the Mike
Dyason Catalogue?

Yes. The tin label and performance of product are at one with each
other.

Buy them.

Tim

Julesh said:

I'm sure the Park Tool ones are wonderful

They're [censored]. Like many Park tools. The cable cutters are made of
thin sheet and tend to bend and twist sideways. They give a rough cut
on stranded cable, with lots of whiskering.

I dumped mine on favour of a pair of Axminster's - cheaper and better.

Andy Dingley said:

Quoted message said:

I'm sure the Park Tool ones are wonderful

They're [censored]. Like many Park tools. The cable cutters are made of
thin sheet and tend to bend and twist sideways. They give a rough cut
on stranded cable, with lots of whiskering.

I dumped mine on favour of a pair of Axminster's - cheaper and better.

I've never actually laid hands on a pair of Park cutters, but I'll
stick my neck out and say they are probably [censored]. Park are not a tool
manufacturer, not a *real* one anyway. They've just positioned
themselves as the "premier" cycle tools outfit. You'll get better
quality and better value buying the real deal though.

A home mechanic looking after one or two bikes will probably only need
a cable cutter a couple of times a year, so perhaps a cheap pair would
do. However, given that you can buy something infinitely better for
not much more, I think it makes sense to spend the extra 10 or 15 quid
and buy a tool that will genuinely last you the rest of your life.

How about these:

http://www.hd-tools.com/stores/pages/facom/P151_300/p285.htm

Facom tools are of the highest quality, and have a no bullsh*t
lifetime warranty, if they *ever* fail you, Facom will replace them.

You'll probably have a local facom dealer somewhere near you, get out
the yellow pages and ring around. If you decide to buy, then make sure
you ask for a discount off list price, the dealer will expect to give
one but won't offer if you don't ask, about 15% would be reasonable.

--

Call me "Bob"

"More oneness, less categories,
Open hearts, no strategies"

Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.

"half_pint" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"Julesh" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm looking for a set of cutters for brake and gear inner and outer
cables. I'm sure the Park Tool ones are wonderful but are there any
cheaper alternatives worth considering?

Does anyone have any experience of the £12.50 ones listed in the Mike
Dyason Catalogue?

Nope but get yourself down to "Poundtime" and no doubt you
will get a set of pliars and cutters for about £1.

Fine. Buy a set and try them out when your 5 year service interval
comes round. If they cut your cable cleanly let us know.

--
Dave...

Call me Bob said:

A home mechanic looking after one or two bikes will probably only need
a cable cutter a couple of times a year, so perhaps a cheap pair would
do.

The question with a [censored] cable cutter is will it cut a clean edge. Even
if you only use it a few times a year you still want a clean edge. Of
course, if it does but only for the first X cuts then that might be
worth considering.

Quoted message said:

However, given that you can buy something infinitely better for
not much more, I think it makes sense to spend the extra 10 or 15 quid
and buy a tool that will genuinely last you the rest of your life.

Yes. But it depends how long you have left!

Colin

Dave Kahn said:

"half_pint" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"Julesh" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone have any experience of the £12.50 ones listed in the Mike
Dyason Catalogue?

Nope but get yourself down to "Poundtime" and no doubt you
will get a set of pliars and cutters for about £1.

Fine. Buy a set and try them out when your 5 year service interval
comes round. If they cut your cable cleanly let us know.

You seem to have snipped half pint's punchline.

Colin

Call me Bob said:

Andy Dingley said:

Quoted message said:

I'm sure the Park Tool ones are wonderful

They're [censored]. Like many Park tools. The cable cutters are made of
thin sheet and tend to bend and twist sideways. They give a rough cut
on stranded cable, with lots of whiskering.

I dumped mine on favour of a pair of Axminster's - cheaper and better.

I've never actually laid hands on a pair of Park cutters, but I'll
stick my neck out and say they are probably [censored]. Park are not a tool
manufacturer, not a *real* one anyway. They've just positioned
themselves as the "premier" cycle tools outfit. You'll get better
quality and better value buying the real deal though.

A home mechanic looking after one or two bikes will probably only need
a cable cutter a couple of times a year, so perhaps a cheap pair would
do. However, given that you can buy something infinitely better for
not much more, I think it makes sense to spend the extra 10 or 15 quid
and buy a tool that will genuinely last you the rest of your life.

That's the issue :-) I spent yesterday afternoon recabling the brakes of
an old road bike that needed the unwanted nipple cutting off the new
inner, trimming the inners and outers to length and adding a cable tidy
to the end of the inners (the last these isn't easy once the cable end
starts to fray.) The job, achieved with much unpleasantness and a little
pain, due to fraying cable ends took nearly two hours but is now
complete. I do know if I don't buy a sensible tool NOW I will forget and
have to repeat the entire miserable process at some future date.

Quoted message said:

How about these:

http://www.hd-tools.com/stores/pages/facom/P151_300/p285.htm

Facom tools are of the highest quality, and have a no bullsh*t
lifetime warranty, if they *ever* fail you, Facom will replace them.

You'll probably have a local facom dealer somewhere near you, get out
the yellow pages and ring around. If you decide to buy, then make sure
you ask for a discount off list price, the dealer will expect to give
one but won't offer if you don't ask, about 15% would be reasonable.

Thanks. I'll take a look.

julesh

in message <[email hidden]>, Andy Dingley

(') said:

Julesh said:

I'm sure the Park Tool ones are wonderful

They're [censored]. Like many Park tools. The cable cutters are made of
thin sheet and tend to bend and twist sideways. They give a rough cut
on stranded cable, with lots of whiskering.

Ehh?

I have my Park Tool cable cutters in my hand now. They're forged steel,
and the blades are seven millimetres thick. Oh, and they work
exceedingly well.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; All in all you're just another nick in the ball
-- Think Droid

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Andy Dingley
([email hidden]'😉 wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Julesh said:

I'm sure the Park Tool ones are wonderful

They're [censored]. Like many Park tools. The cable cutters are made of
thin sheet and tend to bend and twist sideways. They give a rough cut
on stranded cable, with lots of whiskering.

Quoted message said:

I have my Park Tool cable cutters in my hand now. They're forged steel,
and the blades are seven millimetres thick. Oh, and they work
exceedingly well.

A good test of a cable cutter is whether it will cut the steel wire in
the bead of a bike tyre without becoming too damaged to do it again.
--
Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Andy Dingley

(') said:

Julesh said:

I'm sure the Park Tool ones are wonderful

They're [censored]. Like many Park tools. The cable cutters are made of
thin sheet and tend to bend and twist sideways. They give a rough cut
on stranded cable, with lots of whiskering.

Ehh?

I have my Park Tool cable cutters in my hand now. They're forged steel,
and the blades are seven millimetres thick. Oh, and they work
exceedingly well.

Is Andy talking about the same Park cutters?
http://www.parktool.com/tools/CN_10BIG.shtml doesn't look like thin
sheet to me either, and does look like the ones I have (at home, not
in my hand, so might not be exactly that model). Mine worked well the
few times I have used them so far.

Chris Malcolm said:

A good test of a cable cutter is whether it will cut the steel wire in
the bead of a bike tyre without becoming too damaged to do it again.

Why would you want to do that? It isn't what they're designed for, so if
they fail this particular test, you're [censored].

Simonb said:

Quoted message said:

A good test of a cable cutter is whether it will cut the steel wire in
the bead of a bike tyre without becoming too damaged to do it again.

Why would you want to do that? It isn't what they're designed for, so if
they fail this particular test, you're [censored].

Cutting steel wire is exactly what they are designed for, isn't it?

--

Call me "Bob"

"More oneness, less categories,
Open hearts, no strategies"

Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.

Call me Bob said:

Cutting steel wire is exactly what they are designed for, isn't it?

Yes, but not the same gauge as the wire in a tyre bead.

Call me Bob said:

Cutting steel wire is exactly what they are designed for, isn't it?

What's "steel" though ? What sort of temper ? Brake cable is a lot
different to tyre bead, which is even more different from a
work-hardened bead in an old tyre. For piano wire I use a pair of CK
I got 30 years ago (when CK was worth having) or a pair of pre-war
Starrett end-cutters with replaceable jaws and a current auction price
of 50quid+ if there's a piano tuner in the room.

I no longer have my Parks, so I can't measure their thickness. Maybe
they've changed them. Looking at today's site, I can only see these
http://www.parktool.com/tools/CN_10.shtml
which aren't the ones I bought. Mine no longer seem to be listed. But
the overall quality was more like these:
http://www.parktool.com/tools/BT_2.shtml
--
Smert' spamionam

"Colin Blackburn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dave Kahn said:

"half_pint" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"Julesh" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
>Does anyone have any experience of the £12.50 ones listed in the Mike
>Dyason Catalogue?

Nope but get yourself down to "Poundtime" and no doubt you
will get a set of pliars and cutters for about £1.

Fine. Buy a set and try them out when your 5 year service interval
comes round. If they cut your cable cleanly let us know.

You seem to have snipped half pint's punchline.

I best put it back then:-

You may also be able to pick up vaious useful items for a pound
such as a helmet, pump, puncture repair kit, cycling shorts and top,
24 speed mountin bike, set of lights etc and as much battaries as you
can carry :O)

Quoted message said:

Colin

"Dave Kahn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"half_pint" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"Julesh" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm looking for a set of cutters for brake and gear inner and outer
cables. I'm sure the Park Tool ones are wonderful but are there any
cheaper alternatives worth considering?

Does anyone have any experience of the £12.50 ones listed in the Mike
Dyason Catalogue?

Nope but get yourself down to "Poundtime" and no doubt you
will get a set of pliars and cutters for about £1.

Fine. Buy a set and try them out when your 5 year service interval
comes round. If they cut your cable cleanly let us know.

Well as it will be the first time they have beem used in 5 years I
would think they will cut very clean.

Anyone spending £10 + on a pair of cutters which will only get
used on a handfulof occasions is daft.

Quoted message said:

--
Dave...