Is one better than the other?

I don't have any Pedro's tools, but I do have a bunch of Park stuff. Some of it is pretty good, some not so good.

I've got the older Park Cable cutter. Cuts housing and cables cleanly. I use them at least once a year and had them for over 5 years. No complains here.

I've also tried the Dremel cut wheels to cut housing and I prefer the Park Tool. Faster and easier.

No experience with Pedro Tools but I heard they are very good.

get shimano or felco cable cutters.

+1 on the older park. The Park CN-4 is a good tool. the newer CN-10, in my experience, does not cut housing as well as the older model.

If you can get your hands on one the really old Suntour cable cutter circa early-mid 80's does a great job and holds up like a champ. It does not look like much but the steel it is made from works like the energizer bunny...it keeps cutting and cutting and cutting.

The shimano cable cutters are nice but are expensive/hard to find.

No clue about other brands.

-j

Shimano.

I had heard good things about the Park cable cutter, so that's what I got. I guess I have the CN-10. I'm not terribly happy with it. It's good for inner cables and derailleur housing, but for the brake housing, I always have to pry a loose end away from the center and grind it off with my Dremel. That's not normal, is it?

it is with the CN-10.

Try taking an old cable and insert it into the housing and cut through both at the same time...this will help keep the housing from getting crushed when cutting it.

I had the same problem with the CN-10 that I borrowed from a friend...the CN-4 I have works really well though.

-j

I love my Pedros 4th hand, but that's the only Pedro's tool I have. The CN-10 works for me, but I always put some old cable in there and still follow it with an ice pike and a file, so maybe I just don't know how good things are supposed to be. Couldn't find the justification to spend the $50-60 to try the shimano tool.

+1 on Shimano. They cut Index shifting required linear bundled wires type housing too.

I have a park low end oldie (their new ones that
we use at the SBK coop are better), a Pedro's,
and a Hozan -- don't ask why, just believe that
I do. The Pedro's is a remarkable tool for the money,
and it appears to be an exact knockoff of the
much more expensive Felco (which I know makes
a high quality product from having used their
garden pruners for many years.)

Who actually makes them? Don't know.
Are the cutting jaws hardened as well? Don't know.

They do work remarkably well so far, although
i gotta tell you if you can afford them or find
a discounted source, the Hozan cutters are a
thing of beauty. If price is a consideration,
go for the Pedro's. Park Tool continues to
disappoint me -- which is indeed unfortunate
because over the years they used to put out
some great products.

Mike Larmer

pretty standard to have some pig tail action with brake housing. snip off the pig tail and buzz the end on my grinder. i like my felco c7. the pedros and park cutters are coming out of taiwan

I have the pedro's cable/housing cutter. Wanted the park, but REI only had the Pedros model when I went in.

So far I've re-cabled about 15 bikes with it and it's still running strong.

Thanks for the tip. I'll try that!

+10 Shimano cable cutter.

If you want to save $$, just pick up a Spin Doctor on sale at Performance or Nashbar branded cutter (its the same one). Not as good as the Shimano, but decent.

I started out with the Nashbar one myself, and eventually moved up to the Shimano. I am not a professional mechanic, but I work on bikes every week. Depends on your budget and the amount you are going to use it. Good tools (like the Shimano) will last a really long time.

This has been very helpful. Thanks to all. It's not going to see much use, but I do have a few bikes that I work on and I change the cables and housings on all of them about once a year. I've been using a bench grinder to cut the housings, but the heat generated melts the plastic lining, which tends to gum up the opening. It's hard to ream it out, especially with longer runs. Just thought it would be nice to have the right tool for the job.

I've had a Park CN-4 for about 20 years and for the 6 or so bikes I work on every year it looks like it will last several lifetimes. It does an excellent job on brake and shift inner wires and on shift housing.

It's not wonderful on spiral wound brake housing but I don't think any cable cutter really would be. For these I prefer a set of side cutter pliers where I work one jaw between two adjacent coils and then snip. I then follow up with a flat file to remove any burrs and use a thick needle (a sharpened spoke stub works well too) to reform and round out the inner lining. This takes longer to describe than to do.

I bought the Pedro. FTW!

A bike shop on Ebay sells them new for about $24 including shipping, so I really couldn't pass that up. Cuts everything just fine.

I told my wife's Siamese that if he doesn't shape up, I'm going to use it to cut his nuts off. Too late, according to my wife.