Full disclosure - I have too many cable cutters: Knipex (2 pair), Felco, and Pedro’s. The Knipex are model 91 65 190, the Pedros are the Felco knock-offs, and my Felco C7s are over 40 years old that my mother passed down to me. She used them to cut steel wire stems from thousands of artificial flowers. All of them are excellent for cutting brake wire, derailleur wire, and derailleur housing. Where I notice the difference is in cutting brake housing. The Pedro’s are most likely to cause the dreaded “fold-over” of the coiled housing. The Felco and Knipex are less likely to have that happen, but it still does more often than I would like. The Felco and Knipex cutters are much better than the Pedro’s at making a “clean-up” cut after the coil folds over.

My favorite pair is the Knipex because it is one less tool I have to pick up and put away due to the built-in cable tip crimper. It makes a perfect crimp in both derailleur and brake end tips. Only animals crimp cable tips with diagonal cutters, which leaves annoying sharp edges. The hex crimper for brass brake housing ferrules also works well, but I rarely see round ferrules anymore - most have small flutes which negates the need for crimping.

in Schweinhund ‘s defense, I also have three different pairs of the Knipex Cobolt compact bolt cutters, and they are some of my favorite tools. They really are amazing. I have cut spokes, fencing, nails, screws, steel pallet banding, and they will still make a perfect notched cut at the edge of a single sheet of paper. I tried them for cutting brake cable and housing this morning, and they really do work. I cut about 20 pieces of cable and housing, and even short pieces of cable (less than an inch long) cut clean and did not fray. What really surprised me is that they are less likely to cause the fold-over in brake housing described above than either my Felcos or my Knipex cable cutters. My guess is that the performance is due to the high hardness (64 HRC) that these are heat treated to.