Good cable cutter for bicycle gear cables

[Mr Fizzion]

Can someone recommend a good one please. I.e. preferably one that you've used rather than just googled for. :-)

Thanks

Mr F.

[dom]

Having used so many so called steel wire cutters that aren't, and having used other cutting tools from Knipex and found them to be excellent - I'd suggest giving them a try:

Screwfix are happy to take stuff back - and I do whenever a tool doesn't deliver results as promised.

I also used to have a pair of Lindstrom side cutters at work - excellent - but I wasn't paying for them.

[Clive George]

My Park Tools one works.

cheers, clive

[dennis]

Angle grinder, yes I have. How much do you want to cut?

[Graeme]

In message , Mr Fizzion writes

Back in the days when I used to cut Bowden cables for bicycles and, later, Lambrettas, I found the best way to get a good, clean cut was to hold the cable in the cutting jaws of a good, solid pair of pliers, then whack the jaws (not handles) with a fairly heavy hammer.

[stevelup]

like butter so I'm sure it will do a cracking job on steel wire. It's probably overkill for 1mm or so bike cables though!

Steve

[Harry Bloomfield]

Mr Fizzion was thinking very hard :

I would use an angle grinder, just gently tickling the wire so it causes minimum distortion and unravelling.

[newshound]

like butter so I'm sure it will do a cracking job on steel wire. It's probably overkill for 1mm or so bike cables though!

Steve

yes but threaded bar is just mild steel, the cable is a cold-drawn and therefore heavily work hardened carbon steel. Altogether a different beast. Even the best cutters and angle grinders will tend to unravel a bit. If you are going to want to thread it through something then one technique is to heat locally to red heat (those super cigarette lighter type mini gas torches are fine), allow to cool then reheat and apply electrical solder (with extra flux if you have it to hand). Now you have a short length of softened wire which will be easy to cut, and the strands are anchored together. You can clean up and chamfer the cut with a file.

[robgraham]

Having read the replies so far, I don't really understand what the problem is. You are only going to cut the cable once it is fed through the outer and associated guides, and fitted into the gear/brake cable clamp - and once there it is never going to be taken out until it is replaced, so any distortion or unravelling is irrelevant and is taken up in the aluminium end cover that you clamp on with a pair of pointed nose pliers.

I can't remember exactly what I used from my workshop but it was just a bog standard cutter of wire of some sort - probably a different one each time I do the task, and with 5 bikes to maintain cable replacement is not infrequent.

This I suspect is a case of expecting there to be a specific tool when a little bit of thought will show you that the quality of the cut is uncritical.

Rob Rob

[Clive George]

TBH that's overkill. Decent cutters don't unravel the wire - but they don't have straight jaws, they've got a sort of square shape. But yes, I wouldn't cut before threading.

(And any decent bike cable is stainless these days)

cheers, clive

[newshound]

Well one scenario I have actually had was either a failed outer or a failed changerwith spares available except for the inner cable. So I needed to be able to clip the crimp and re-thread it. You need a clean cut but may not have the best tools to hand. The softening trick will work on stainless cable too although you probably need a more aggressive flux before soldering, Not sure if soft solders work.

[Andy Dingley]

Almost any cutter, so long as it's a bypass shear, not a pair of diagonal or end-cutting nippers.

favourite is an Axminster own-brand one with blue handles, but they stopped selling them a few years ago. In particular it's much better than the more expensive Park one I also had, which was thin enough steel to be distinctly bendy - this caused it to sometimes leave whiskers. Not the first or last Park tool I was disappointed by.

There's no need to use an abrasive disk or angle grinder. However this is the best way to cut outer cables, for either brake or gear. You get a much smoother end.

Gore-tex gear cable sleeves (like Ride-on) are expensive, but worth it. And of course, read all of Sheldon's website.

[Stephen Howard]

I use these..

cutting spring steel rods. They work equally well on brake cable.

Regards,

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Decent side cutters capable of cutting piano wire.

[The Medway Handyman]

Not these by any chance? I have a pair & find them very good.

Axminster are weird, they stop stocking stuff, then start stocking it again.

[Clint Sharp]

In message , " [e-mail]" writes

I've used some wire strippers in the past that incorporate shears and they're much cheaper than Lindstroms (you definitely wouldn't have used them if you were paying for them lol.) I'll take a look for them later and post a link but ISTR they came from Farnell and cost about 6 quid.

[Pete C]

Angle grinder with slitting disc, or a dremel with cut off wheel.

A bit of glue lined/glued on heatshrink should keep the strands together during and after cutting.

cheers, Pete.

[Mark]

Link?

[Owain]

Depends on how often the containers arrive from China, probably

Owain

[RW]

Angle Grinder or Gas Axe