eyemkeith

HI all.

I'm looking to start doing my own basic maintenance on my bike, so I'm looking around at tools. Park, of course, is the first thing you see when you look for bike tools. But I've come across several recommendations for certain tools by Pedro's, which has a far cooler name, if nothing else. Just wondering if anyone has preferences and what you fine people can tell me about this Pedro's.

I've decided to slowly build up my toolkit with each job I want to do on my bike. First up is swapping my cantis for V-brakes. I'm looking to get a cable cutter and a set of Allen wrenches. For both, I'm looking at Pedro's. I'm open to any and all suggestions, though.

Thanks, all!

sdmc530

I have some of both, both are fine really for home use. I like to support Park for the simple reasons they are a local company in MN and their CS and video library is amazing. they do a really good job of education not just working on more and more sales. good people at park

Moe Zhoost

I've use Park, Pedro's, and a few other brands at the local co-op and found them pretty much all the same. In my home shop, I use XLC cutters, which have never let me down even after cutting dozens of spokes (not sure they were designed for this, but they work great). XLC is a German company, but I'm not sure where the tools are made. As far as Allen wrenches go, you can't go wrong with Bondhus. I believe they make the ones that Park markets under their name.

TakingMyTime

Both brands will serve you well. I have several of both. I also think you are doing the right thing by buying tools as you need them. Buying a large pre-configured kit is not always a good way to go. You'll get a lot of opinions from members as to what they prefer. Some may have a killer set of cone wrenches or a cable cutter that has lasted 40 years. Just buy quality and well branded tools, and for the home mechanic you really can't go wrong. About the only thing I stay away from are some of the more "exotic" tools that you might only need once or twice. In those cases I let the LBS handle it.

2cam16

I too have used both Pedro's and Park. Pretty much the same quality,IMO. Although the Pedro's tire lever is more robust than Park's.

HillRider

I've also used both and found Park's to be better made than Pedro's for the ones I've owned. As noted, Park supports the industry and customers with a huge range of tutorials and videos and has a great warranty. My cable cutter is the Shimano TL-CT12 and it has been great.

Another vote for buy what you need when you need it.

dsbrantjr

I'm one of those guys who has had my FELCO cable cutters for 40 years and they work like new; I'd spend the money again if I had to.

3alarmer 

...I've used both, as well as one or two other brands of cable cutter. The Pedro's cable cutter is a better design than the old Park. If you don't abuse it by cutting stuff other than cable and housing, a Pedro's cutter should last you quite a while. Allen wrenches are all over the map in terms of quality and design, but the Park ones are OK. If you get something different, make sure that what you buy has a long enough hex portion to allow for occasional dressing of the business end on a grinder (which shortens it a little every time you do it...not that often). There are many metric Allen wrench sets out there, and some of them appear to be Tiffany quality. If you are into that sort of thing.

FastJake

I've used the bike-specific cable cutters before, but didn't think they did any better of a job then my nice Channellock side cutters, so I never bought a pair.

+1 for Bondhus Allen wrenches. They're great.

2old

As above some of both and very happy with them. However really prefer Hozan for some.

veganbikes

I would buy the absolute highest quality tools you can. For Allen keys I really like my two sets of Silca ones but have considered Wera and PB Swiss as well. For cable cutters I am currently using the Jagwire Pro Housing cutter which services fine for cables as well though I want to get their cable cutter/crimper. However I am considering picking up a Felco C3 cutter or Klein Cable Shears so I can build up a small box at work for the occasions I need it.

Both Pedro's and Park make fine tools and certainly for bike specific stuff they are a good go to for non-bike specific stuff I might look elsewhere for some of it.

aggiegrads

Edit: It sounds like some have found this useful, so I will clarify that the arrow ( → )is my opinion of increasing quality. It also generally denotes increasing price. The list is somewhat USA centric on the lower end, as I don’t have a ton of experience with XLC, Cyclus, etc.

Hex keys:
Pedro’s → Park → Bondhus → Wera, PB Swiss, Wiha, Beta

Cable Cutters:
Pedro’s → Park → Knipex, Felco

Tire Irons:
Park → My own hands → Pedro’s → Schwalbe

General Bike Specific tools:
Birzman, Ice toolz → Feedback → Pedro’s → Park → Hozan, Var → EVT, Abbey

Ratchets, Wrenches, Sockets: Too many to list, but in general:
China → Taiwan → USA, Germany

Pliers:
Harbor Freight, Walmart → Crescent, Irwin, Channel Lock → Klein → Knipex

Russ Roth

Aggiegrads has a great layout IMO. Personally I've always been completely unimpressed by pedros compared to Park.
For affordable cable cutters check out https://www.amazon.com/Cal-Hawk-Tool...382402&sr=8-10 which doesn't look any different in form or function from the Pedros and I have both pairs to compare.
Park is the typical goto company for a good reason, easy to get ahold of and good quality. But for a lot of things that aren't bike specific I look elsewhere for better quality all together. So my hex wrenches are Bondhus, ratchets, wrenches, and sockets are wright,screwdrivers are western forge,

billnuke1 

Kinda biased...

Made by bike riders for bike riders...I think that was Park Tool...Always bought Craftsman, too... Picked up other brands here and there...never saw a reason to change to them...same with the Park Tools...

Russ Roth

Need to double up the wrenches and waste less space.

billnuke1 

No wasted space...there are up to two single and one double pro stand in use at one time, making each of the three work areas more accessible from each work stand...
There are a lot of doubles there...I also changed the order on the left area to go from low to high...found myself have to reach for the smaller, more used wrenches...

branko_76 

For cables and housing, you need good cutters..

These give you a nice clean cut on your brake and derailleur cables, they work much, much better than standard "side cutters"...

https://www.felco.com/us_en/our-prod.../felco-c7.html

MudPie

One thing I like about Park is they sell replacement part for their goods. I recently bought a replacement pin for a chain tool and I need to get a replacement head for my floor pump. Everything works fine on the pump except the head doesn't fully seal and sometimes doesn't automatically switch between Presta and Shrader, and the replacement head cost $3.

masi61

I have been rebuilding my Dura Ace pedals which use a 20mm cone wrench. I have a new Park Tools 20 mm cone wrench and must say, I am disappointed in the sloppy fit. It is out of tolerance such that the 2 flats start to try to cam out once you tighten the delicate nut. I just ordered a Shimano 20 mm cone wrench (at 3x the cost of the Park Tools one). It is like 1/2 of a hex head wrench so in my estimation there should be 4 points of engagement on the 20mm nut, not just 2.

There are some tool tool makers on eBay who make purpose made bike tools who sell them at reasonable prices. One person I believe is in Minnesota, another in Poland. I bought a pressfit BB tool for my Hope BB (from Hope)and it is very nice. Wheels Manufacturing also makes some very high quality purpose built bike tools.

Ghazmh

I have some of both brands in my toolbox. I’ve noticed Park has professional versions and home mechanic versions of some task specific tools like bearing presses. I haven’t noticed if Pedro’s has the same.

eyemkeith

I am never disappointed in the amount of good, solid, information the humans of this forum provide, no matter what my question. It really is so cool. Bicycle people rock. Thanks to everyone.

I wasn't aware that Park was so highly regarded, not just because it's a big company, but because it tries to be supportive of the community generally. That's a big takeaway here. I'm going with Pedro's clipper's though, because I found them on sale. Same for the color-coded Bondhus wrenches I found.

Big thanks to everyone who took their time. I'll let you know how my brake job went if/when I actually accomplish it with these brand new toys.

Phil_gretz

You probably should edit this post to provide a key on what the "->" notation means. I take it to mean that the lesser is first, and then as each list proceeds rightward, you move to the greater. But in mathematics notation, the ">" symbol means "greater than", so the post could be misleading to some.

RGMN

This.

When I fread aggiegrads post I got the the second line and thought if anyone thinks a Pedro's or Park cable cutter is better than a Felco doesn't know what they are talking about. I quit reading it and moved on to the next post. Rereading it to I see what aggiegrads was trying to say but it is confusing to those of use math on a daily basis.

aggiegrads

I fixed it. Let me know if it is better now.

zacster

Maybe a Felco is the best around, but I have the Park version and it is fine for home use. I have mostly bought Park tools for bike specific things and they always work. For things like hex wrenches though I don’t pay the premium for the blue. I don’t need Park tools to assemble IKEA furniture.