Park Tools

Before my concussion about the only Park tool I had was a stand that had something like a 50 lb steel plate on the bottom of it. This worked extremely well but was a real bugger to move around. Other Park Tools I had tried were not very good such as Allan wrenches that weren't made of very good steel and would wear out rapidly.

But since I have recovered I have been buying replacement tools and most of them have been Park Tools and they are pretty good now. The repair stand no longer has the killer weight on the bottom but a couple of wide spread legs that allow the stand to be made out of light aluminum pipes and easy to move around without a bike. You can get either the professional head to hold the bike or the amateur head for people that don't work a lot on bikes and hence don't need to pay the premium for the head.

Tools like the Park cable cutters are superior to Pedro because they cut the outer cables cleanly and straight while the Pedro tried to cut at an angle commensurate with the winding of the steel outer cable.

I was using my Park chain breaker the other day and it broke the pin off. But not on the outside as it is supposed to do and for which they supply replacement pins, but down inside of the handle. This had to be from a manufacturing error and I don't suppose that it was their quality control since the pins on these things are made from very highly hardened steel and so unless they have a break observable on the surface no one could guess at a interior imperfection (crystallization of the steel). And the way that the replaceable pins are designed you couldn't overtighten it unless you were Magilla Gorilla.

Anyway I applied to Park Tool to have the handle replaced since the steel is so hard you can't drill a hole in it for an easy out. Park now has "limited" lifetime warranty on their tools and they require pictures of the failure. I filled out the forms and sent the pictures so I'll have to see how they treat this. The Park chain breaker is the most expensive on the market I believe so hopefully they will respond faster than it would take to buy a new one.

On 22/08/2020 17:21, Tom Kunich wrote:

Tools like the Park cable cutters are superior to Pedro because they cut the outer cables cleanly and straight while the Pedro tried to cut at an angle commensurate with the winding of the steel outer cable.

I recently bought a cheap rotary tool (Dremel clone) for ~20 GBP, for
non bike stuff, but the results cutting outer cables were perfect.

On Saturday, August 22, 2020 at 11:05:40 AM UTC-7, Sock Puppet wrote:
On 22/08/2020 17:21, Tom Kunich wrote:

Tools like the Park cable cutters are superior to Pedro because they cut the outer cables cleanly and straight while the Pedro tried to cut at an angle commensurate with the winding of the steel outer cable.
I recently bought a cheap rotary tool (Dremel clone) for ~20 GBP, for
non bike stuff, but the results cutting outer cables were perfect.
I don't know how to respond to that. Using power tools to work on bikes has never been my practice.

On 8/24/2020 9:57 AM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Saturday, August 22, 2020 at 11:05:40 AM UTC-7, Sock Puppet wrote:
On 22/08/2020 17:21, Tom Kunich wrote:

Tools like the Park cable cutters are superior to Pedro because they cut the outer cables cleanly and straight while the Pedro tried to cut at an angle commensurate with the winding of the steel outer cable.
I recently bought a cheap rotary tool (Dremel clone) for ~20 GBP, for
non bike stuff, but the results cutting outer cables were perfect.
I don't know how to respond to that. Using power tools to work on bikes has never been my practice.



Suit yourself but exceptional cases are out there.

http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/fire4.jpg
http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/fire5.jpg

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Monday, August 24, 2020 at 8:29:42 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 8/24/2020 9:57 AM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Saturday, August 22, 2020 at 11:05:40 AM UTC-7, Sock Puppet wrote:
On 22/08/2020 17:21, Tom Kunich wrote:

Tools like the Park cable cutters are superior to Pedro because they cut the outer cables cleanly and straight while the Pedro tried to cut at an angle commensurate with the winding of the steel outer cable.
I recently bought a cheap rotary tool (Dremel clone) for ~20 GBP, for
non bike stuff, but the results cutting outer cables were perfect.
I don't know how to respond to that. Using power tools to work on bikes has never been my practice.

Suit yourself but exceptional cases are out there.

http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/fire4.jpg
http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/fire5.jpg

In order to use those sorts of tools is it mandatory to have a ring through your nose and be covered in tatoos?

On 8/24/2020 12:58 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Monday, August 24, 2020 at 8:29:42 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 8/24/2020 9:57 AM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Saturday, August 22, 2020 at 11:05:40 AM UTC-7, Sock Puppet wrote:
On 22/08/2020 17:21, Tom Kunich wrote:

Tools like the Park cable cutters are superior to Pedro because they cut the outer cables cleanly and straight while the Pedro tried to cut at an angle commensurate with the winding of the steel outer cable.
I recently bought a cheap rotary tool (Dremel clone) for ~20 GBP, for
non bike stuff, but the results cutting outer cables were perfect.
I don't know how to respond to that. Using power tools to work on bikes has never been my practice.

Suit yourself but exceptional cases are out there.

http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/fire4.jpg
http://www.yellowjersey.org/photosfromthepast/fire5.jpg

In order to use those sorts of tools is it mandatory to have a ring through your nose and be covered in tatoos?


When you have completed those, we'll consider issuing you
appropriate credentials.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Tom Kunich wrote:
On Saturday, August 22, 2020 at 11:05:40 AM UTC-7, Sock Puppet wrote:
On 22/08/2020 17:21, Tom Kunich wrote:

Tools like the Park cable cutters are superior to Pedro because they
cut the outer cables cleanly and straight while the Pedro tried to cut
at an angle commensurate with the winding of the steel outer cable.
I recently bought a cheap rotary tool (Dremel clone) for ~20 GBP, for
non bike stuff, but the results cutting outer cables were perfect.
I don't know how to respond to that. Using power tools to work on bikes
has never been my practice.


You should try it. A Dremel and an abrasive cutoff disk give marvellous
clean cuts on cables and housing.

On 8/24/2020 2:26 PM, Ralph Barone wrote:
Tom Kunich wrote:
On Saturday, August 22, 2020 at 11:05:40 AM UTC-7, Sock Puppet wrote:
On 22/08/2020 17:21, Tom Kunich wrote:

Tools like the Park cable cutters are superior to Pedro because they
cut the outer cables cleanly and straight while the Pedro tried to cut
at an angle commensurate with the winding of the steel outer cable.
I recently bought a cheap rotary tool (Dremel clone) for ~20 GBP, for
non bike stuff, but the results cutting outer cables were perfect.
I don't know how to respond to that. Using power tools to work on bikes
has never been my practice.


You should try it. A Dremel and an abrasive cutoff disk give marvellous
clean cuts on cables and housing.


We like Felco cutters for wire and gear casing but if you
look closely at factory setups they're clearly using a
cutoff disc.

We're frequently in odd spaces at odd angles. Factory is
slicing hundreds of alike sections with a gauge or stop
block or whatever.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Mon, 24 Aug 2020 16:13:18 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

On 8/24/2020 2:26 PM, Ralph Barone wrote:
Tom Kunich wrote:
On Saturday, August 22, 2020 at 11:05:40 AM UTC-7, Sock Puppet wrote:
On 22/08/2020 17:21, Tom Kunich wrote:

Tools like the Park cable cutters are superior to Pedro because they
cut the outer cables cleanly and straight while the Pedro tried to cut
at an angle commensurate with the winding of the steel outer cable.
I recently bought a cheap rotary tool (Dremel clone) for ~20 GBP, for
non bike stuff, but the results cutting outer cables were perfect.
I don't know how to respond to that. Using power tools to work on bikes
has never been my practice.


You should try it. A Dremel and an abrasive cutoff disk give marvellous
clean cuts on cables and housing.


We like Felco cutters for wire and gear casing but if you
look closely at factory setups they're clearly using a
cutoff disc.

We're frequently in odd spaces at odd angles. Factory is
slicing hundreds of alike sections with a gauge or stop
block or whatever.

Although granted this may seem like being too particular but I do
examine the cut end of the cable as a dull "cutter" may bend some of
the casing toward the center and I find that can impair the easy entry
of the inner cable and I have found more then one "self installed"
cable to have this problem.
--

Cheers,

John B.

On 8/24/2020 6:32 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Mon, 24 Aug 2020 16:13:18 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

On 8/24/2020 2:26 PM, Ralph Barone wrote:
Tom Kunich wrote:
On Saturday, August 22, 2020 at 11:05:40 AM UTC-7, Sock Puppet wrote:
On 22/08/2020 17:21, Tom Kunich wrote:

Tools like the Park cable cutters are superior to Pedro because they
cut the outer cables cleanly and straight while the Pedro tried to cut
at an angle commensurate with the winding of the steel outer cable.
I recently bought a cheap rotary tool (Dremel clone) for ~20 GBP, for
non bike stuff, but the results cutting outer cables were perfect.
I don't know how to respond to that. Using power tools to work on bikes
has never been my practice.


You should try it. A Dremel and an abrasive cutoff disk give marvellous
clean cuts on cables and housing.


We like Felco cutters for wire and gear casing but if you
look closely at factory setups they're clearly using a
cutoff disc.

We're frequently in odd spaces at odd angles. Factory is
slicing hundreds of alike sections with a gauge or stop
block or whatever.

Although granted this may seem like being too particular but I do
examine the cut end of the cable as a dull "cutter" may bend some of
the casing toward the center and I find that can impair the easy entry
of the inner cable and I have found more then one "self installed"
cable to have this problem.

Since it takes a minute to open the Dremel case and plug it in, I
usually cut housing with a cable cutter then grind square with the bench
grinder. It's ready immediately and three feet away. With lined cable
housing, I then poke in a scribe tool to open the end of the
heat-softened liner.


--
- Frank Krygowski