cable cutters

i need some cable cutters – dont want to spend over the top money.

also would like them to crimp if possible.

reccomendations?

knipex wire cutters. £14,99
perfect for bike brake/gear inners and outers.

You read my mind Ashley,I was going to write the same post when I got home from work but you beat me to it,thanks ton great help cheers 🙂

If your after something for gear/brake cables, there really is a world of difference between the proper ones and standard electrical cutters.

Do you have any suggestions MSP?

Park To ls – had mine ages and still tip top.

I bought these X-Tools Cable Cutters from CRC.

Well worth the investment, I was fed up struggling with side cutters and snips. These cut cable outers, inners and brake hose just fine.

I have some pedros ones, can’t remember how much they cost.

these superstar ones are probably the best your gonna get for less than £15. Ive had a set for 5+years with no ittues.

Screwfix for £5ish, have cut lots of inners and outers very well

knipex for me.

propper workshop quality – not that soft garbage park churn out.

Buy a lighter, heat the cable where you want to cut it for about 20 seconds. Gives a nice clean cut even with my cheapo pliers.

if you want to be really posh – felco’s 😉

I’m currently using some Draper one’s, I think they were about £15.

Well here’s the rub…

You want commercial cutters like knipex to cut the cable inner and outer.

But to finish the inner cable end cap with a crimp at 40nm you need Park or similar as commercial wire cutters don’t have crimping function.

In my workshop we cut with knipex and crimp with park.

For home use my parks are going well after plenty of use over about 10 years. Fairly happy with that.

New park and ‘old’ park cutters not same quality….

was about to say – at the risk of sounding old – they dont make em like they used to …. even the shimano cutters have changed.

they really do seem softer – or stainless cables we are fitting as standard these days are much tougher ….. its likely the latter.

back in 19 0atcake when park were regarded as good we were probably fitting ptfe coated steel cables ……

What about effective portable i.e reasonably light and small effective cable cutters? I’ve snapped a gear cable on a ride before, replaced it but been unable to snip it at the end. Which one’s would people recommend to carry in a saddle bag?

a zip tie.

coil up left overs – zip tie in place . cut when you get home.

i think i can say ive never snapped a gear cable on a ride … but if i was doing a long ride some preemptive maintainance would be undertaken – ime cables make shifting rotten long before they snap.

A zip tie to tidy up the end until you get home.

Which one’s would people recommend to carry in a saddle bag?

Small roll of tape or zip ties to get it out of the way. Those both have other uses, whereas any cutter that will do a decent job is a single purpose item and more like a waste of space if you carry it around while riding.

I quite like my pedros cable cutters, but the lack of a crimping function on them is a real annoyance to me, so I’m considering swapping to a set from park.

i use a pair of self blunted on the bench grinder end cutters i inherited in a tool box from an elderly relitive for crimping end caps ( i already had a nice set of irwin end cutters and had no need for another set of sharp cutters)

Had Shimano which I thought I’d lost so bought some Park ones (then found the shimano ones!)

I think the Shimano cuts better, but the park requires a bit less force. The handles / grip on the newer Park feel rubbish. Both crimp, neither particularly cheap.

As mentioned above, the Park cutters are good crimpers, but shit cutters- alright til they blunt, which happens very fast.

No idea who made my “wire rope cutters” but they were £7 off ebay and ridiculously better than my Parks.

I bought the Halfords Bikehut ones, they work fine.

My 18yo Shimano ones do the job very well.
Works out at around £1.67 per year at present.

I recently bought these to replace a fairly old set of similarly priced ones

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/x-tools-cable-cutter-pro/rp-prod10187

They seem fine so far, as a domestic type user they should do me for years to come. Oh and as above zip tie for trail side repair and regular pliers for cable crimps.