veganbikes

Felco C7 or Knipex 95 61 190 or Knipex95 62 160? That is the question. I am looking to cut mostly standard Bowden cables and I don't want to settle for cheap stuff.

Russ Roth

Money no object Knipex, but I've been quite happy with these
https://www.amazon.com/Tools-22-WRC7...SHYY45VK7EPG9J

Amazon is the cheapest I've found them at 35.00 and made in Japan. I've used them to cut lots of spokes and hundreds of cables and they still work perfect and cut completely cleanly.

frogman

Felco.
Had my Felco's for over 20 years now and still work great.

cpach

I prefer cutters with an opening spring, so either the Knipex 95 62 160 or the Felco C7s. Of those two specific models I've only used the C7s and they were fantastic, so that's where my recommendation goes, and I'm generally a great lover of Knipex.

dsbrantjr

+1 I have had mine for decades and they work like new.

aggiegrads

I am a tool nerd of epic proportions, and I have both. It looks like many of the opinions are from people who only have or used one or the other. The 95-61-190 DOES have an opening spring and it is hidden in the head as part of the locking mechanism. The locking mechanism on my Knipex has NEVER come undone unexpectedly, but I have had the problem with the Felcos where they open when I don’t want them to because the little tooth slipped off or got bumped.

I also like having a crimper for both ferrules and tips (Knipex) so I don’t need to grab a second tool to crimp. The crimper works for both derailleur and brake cable tips. The hex crimper puts a perfect hex crimp on brake cable ferrules so they don’t fall off while handling the cables after they are cut to length. The ferrule crimper may be a solution to a problem that you don’t have, however.

I also find that the Knipex are less likely to leave that annoying burr when coiled brake housing collapses right at the cut and you have to make an angled cut to finish the end. I actually bought a pair of small Knipex 62HRC side cutters that do this job (among others) and they work great.

it may be that my Felcos are over 40 years old; my mother bought them to cut the steel stems on artificial flowers and to cut hard floral wire. I inherited/appropriated them for bike use after they had already lived 15 years of hard use. You really can’t go wrong with either.

I find that that component grips on the Knipex are a little fat for my tastes, but that is half the point. The bulk of the grips make them a little harder to store if space is tight, or if you use a travel kit.

I will also say that if you have small hands, the Felcos are a little easier to use as they don’t open quite as wide as the Knipex. I have a hard time handling either pair one-handed if they are sitting on the bench wide open, but that is the nature of a tool with so much leverage where the cutting edge is so close to the pivot.

edit: I just looked at KC Tool to confirm the part number on the component grip model and see that the 95-61-190 is only 53USD right now. That is 40% off of the regular price.

cpach

Thanks for the correction aggiegrads. I had a coworker with some Knipex wire cutters that didn't have a spring in it, and they looked like the Knipex 190s.

veganbikes

A thank you to everyone but especially @aggiegrads who has had the extreme pleasure to use both. It sounds like I am in the same position I was beforehand. Not for lack of trying or lack of good opinions. I think the Knipex is going to win out for crimping capability but I don't know. I will let the poll take its course and see what the end results might be.