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they dont work..
I have some and they work fine.
Mine have been going strong for 6 years
Yes they do, mine have worked faultlessly for some years. Is it possibly user error?
A good set of sharp pliers also suffice.
Love mine too.
Just bought some, but as the Park's site indicates, cutters not always get a perfect cut, and to use file to sand cut end down, or something. Certainly better than any other bodge method i've tried.
Mine are superb and I know a great many LBS spanner monkeys who will only use Park cutters.
Operator error, perhaps? 😉
Got a ten year old set here. Still cutting fine.
10 - 15years on mine. If you get a little crushing when you cut the housing, pock some old inner through before and this acts to stop it. If you think any jaw type cutter will give a perfect end result that you need do absolutely no post cut finishing, I think you may be disappointed. I've heard Dremel type tools give good results.
Mine work fine.
Perhaps you're a bit weak wristed..
Bought mine just before moving out of my parents so that makes them 10ish years old. Still perfect.
I'm sure they do work
TBH though, I'd never buy generic tools from Park, the quality is mediocre with a mid-range price point
If you really want good rope cutters, try Felco
I have two sets of Park cable cutters and they are of different types - one is much more substantial than the other.
So maybe you have a weedy pair?
I'd never buy generic tools from Park,
Agreed, but for specialist bike tools I can't really see why I would buy from anyone else.
[i]but as the Park's site indicates, cutters not always get a perfect cut[/i]
So why pay £30 then? When you can get some that cut like that for £15?
Agreed, but for specialist bike tools I can't really see why I would buy from anyone else.
absolutely - cable cutters aren't specialist cycle tools though, they're just standard rope cutters
I've a halfords top cutter (~12" handle version) slices through inners and outers like butter, probaly overkill but I've not used normal piers/cutters since buying them.
I have to say I think Park are overpriced and over-rated.
Campag way better for BB thread chasers etc.
Real men use a rotary tool.
I use an axe, works for me.
Is this some kind of reverse marketing ploy?
Post a negative comment so that loads of people are forced to step in. Clever.
well im gona try go to a hardware shop and look there instead because the ones i have worked fine and now ive just bought some new cables they are bending and tearing my new ones to bits so ill get something that will defo cut them cables, ****ing bikes piss me off
Couldn't cut clarkes outer cable with mine. No matter how hard you squeezed it just won't cut it. Go through shiumano stuff no probs though.
Wimps.
I can cut them with my teeth.
Never owned some so cant comment, but I'm yet to find anything that will chop cable outer tidily. I usually dress them with an angle grinder.
yeh well its not ya top make cable im using i just bought it from my lbs cheap, it looks the same as what i had so i don't see why it wont cut through the bugger
They work fine most of the time but they do come with a good (lifetime?) warranty if they don't. My current set are a warranty replacement for my first because the clasp that holds them together broke.
Ive got some that cut like scissor blades (ie. shearing rather than cutting edges meeting) and they have been cr@p since I was given them 15yrs ago, never worked and they languish in my tool box untouched. Wont even cut inners cleanly.
These, the CN2
[img] 
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I always use some no-name side cutting pliers
ie like this
[img] 
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which cut inner and outers cleanly first time every time.
Eh - I have had mine for about 6 years now and still going strong - The only think is the grip/handle glue does give way so had to re0glue them on but apart form that they are fab 🙂
As above just warranty them - PT have a fab warranty replacement !
Rolson ones from eBay for me.
You guys that are having trouble using their Park [or any other cable cutters]
You have taken up any play that's occurred in the pivot via the nut - haven't you?
i know many a great shop mechanic that swears AT park cutters ... worst of a bad bunch imho
Felco are amaizing but are or were - 60-80 quid a pair ....
shimano make good disposable ones - 8 - 12 months half hourly use day in day out
for home use i have a pair of bnq paralel linkage sidecutters - slices like butter 😀 - and you can sharpen them easy unlike the rope cutters which when sharpened have too big a gap and leave you cursing at your cables !
My Park cutters have been faultless
Bad workman, tools, etc...
Felco C7 - knocks all other wire cutters into a cocked hat!
8 years and still good.
Mine are about 6 years old and are great love using them cut clean every time.
Thumbs down for Park cutters here - mine have been duff since I got given them.
If I'd bought them myself they'd have gone back.
I don't like the Park Cutters either, for some reason I must have wimmens hands as it seems you need to have the hands of a neanderthal to open and grip them quickly and easily!
When I worked with bikes nearly full time, I bought a set of Japanese cutters they are much smaller neater and have never let me down.
Felco here too. Top stuff
uplink- no play in mine, they havent worked from new.
mike p-not sure how you can blame a workman, cant quite see how its possible to use them incorrectly? Shearing rather than parallel/side cutting is an inferior way to try cut something, which is why I am seemingly capable of using cheap pliers correctly using the same technique (push two handles together with one hand?) to cleanly cut cables.
jeff +1, I didnt pay for mine so have no receipt or investment to defend or beef against, they just dont work (my pair at any rate).
10+ years on a set here. Never had an issue.
If you are struggling then a good swing of a nice sharp axe seems a suitable way of completing the task and easing the apparant frustration.
I found that for getting a clean cut on inner cables you get really good results if you heat up the cable with a lighter first. Even blunt pliers work then.
can anyone link me for a cheap decent pair that will do the job?
Mine worked OK for the first couple of bikes but went blunt ridiculously fast. Still cuts the cable, just frays the **** out of them. The cable-end crimper is nice though. Very poor, wouldn't have been worth £10.
So now I use these:
Though I only paid £4. Far better than Park, cuts just as well on day one, still going strong after 10 times the use that knackered the Parks, and a fraction of the price. You can buy these labelled up as bike-specific if you insist.
never buy park tools cable cutters
You're suggesting we should steal them? Rent them? Borrow them? ❓
I think I bought these after the last thread on here.
I agree. They suck. A good pair of electrician's pliers or side cutters work better and then you can use them for diy etc. Not worth the money imho.
Andituk, that's the very ones, cheers! Surprisingly hard to find by ebay search since they don't say "cable" 😳
Seriously folks, get those ones, they're the best cutters I've used and they cost, what, 1/5th as much as the adequate-at-best Park ones.
mine doing fine still no idea how many cables but lots
Mine are great, no issues at all.
In fact they're so good I use to trim wayward nostril hairs.
Nine years of daily use in the shop & still going strong, including cutting spokes out of wheels.
i've had mine for 10 years and they've never given me any trouble.
the blades on park cutters are hardened steel so if yours arent cutting properly then you've done something to duff them up...
check this link on how to use your cutters correctly
http://www.parktool.com/product/professional-cable-and-housing-cutter-cn-10
my parks cable cutters work just fine 😉
95% of Park stuff is overpriced in my view, especially for "Home mechanics"...
Obviously some still believe that High prices = High function, but a cable cutter, Allen key or rubber mallet is seldom improve by a nifty blue handle, Park logo and a 300% markup...
cookea, I'll assume from that you don't use decent quality tools then?
I've had more than my share of 'Laser' et al tools over the years, then went on to the likes of Snap On, Park etc. & the difference if noticable, in terms of quality, how the fit fasteners (when using Allen keys, spanners) & the life span.
Im using some of the cheap market £5 a go ones.After at least 300 stainless steel spokes it still produces a reasonably clean cut on cables 😕
cookea, I'll assume from that you don't use decent quality tools then?
From that comment I assume you believe anything other than Park kit is shite... I doubt there's much that would change your mind then...
I would say most of my tools are of a "decent" quality, very few of them are Park tools, as I simply do not recognise any real value in their products like I said heavy branding and a markup don't make their kit function any better, not that it's Bad, simply doesn't justify the price tag, I buy kit that's fit for the job and sensibly priced...
I found Park's fancy doodle Spoke key relatively crap in terms of ergonomics (Kind of matters when building wheels) and finish compared with my prefered cheaper "Spokey" big red plastic effort which is far easier and comfier to use, the carbon steel insert held spokes much better... but it wasn't blue so it must be shite...
look at it this way:
[url= http://www.fatbirds.co.uk/detail.asp/sku=mad-QKPH1/Park_Tool_PH1_P_handled_wrench_set ]This[/url] Vs [url= http://www.tradesmanschoice.com/catalog/Bondhus/BTX80M_S.html ]This[/url]or even [url= http://www.uktools.com/product_info.php?products_id=50527 ]This[/url]
Seriously go on tell me that Park Hex key set can go something the others can't for ~double the money...
From that comment I assume you believe anything other than Park kit is shite... I doubt there's much that would change your mind then...
Not at all, some of the Park stuff is very highly priced & alternatives can be found, but good quality tools are more expensive than cheap ones for a reason.
Park aren't the only people who make good quality cycle tools, Cyclo, Pedro, VAR, Campag all do very good bike specifc stuff & for more general tools I tend to use Snap On, Facom or Mac. My personal prefernce being Snap On for much of it, nothing to do with brand snobbery, i just prefer they way the tools feel, the build quality & the warranty should anything go wrong.
Seriously go on tell me that Park Hex key set can go something the others can't for ~double the money...
Them Bondhus allen keys are some of the best too.
Lifetime warranty, they say you they're gorilla proof.
Mind you I snapped a 15 year old 4mm Bondhus allen key, not sure if they have a lifetime warranty back then though.