Road Fan

At least before the sale to Black and Decker, Craftsman was adequate quality for the home shop where one wants consistently decent-quality tools, not the finest finish and warrantee. I am not a pro auto mechanic and I have never needed that grade of tool (maybe the Phillips screwdrivers are exceptions). Yes there are good arguments for the superiority of SnapOn, but I've used Craftsman wrenches, screwdrivers, pliers and light power tools since the 1960s with full satisfaction. Quaity may have degraded over teh past few years.

As far as clumsy, I can only say the box-ends work well in my hands.

My question isn't "what's the best I can buy," because I don't need the best. But I don't want the worst and I especially don't want to buy them over and over, ending up with a pile of junk metal bold cutters. Is the only solution to "how can I determine what's a junk cutting edge?" to "only buy Snap-On?".

pdlamb

Yeah, that's what I thought you meant, but I've never had that problem. Maybe it's because I usually come in from the outside of the fender, so the wheel rotation is throwing molten sparks up or down, not towards the fender (although since I hadn't thought of your problem as a possibility, I can't claim any brilliance for thinking it through ahead of time!).

Road Fan

I think I have the fenders about where I want them, but I'm due one more reassembly - I'm using a Problem Solvers Flute in the front (the bike has a LOT of radial clearance to fork crown and seatstay bridge), which is the equivalent of a drop bolt. It has Paul Mini-Moto brakes and the fenders need to be under the noodles, so I need to add reach front and rear. The Flute is 50 mm long, and in the front and rear only need 20 mm. So the plan is to remove the Flute from the front, cut off the excess length, and use the cutoff to attach the rear fender bracket. So I won't trim the stays until the install is final. Then to re-install her front lighting. I think I'm also going to take a tip from the Honjo install video and add washers to the fender stay ands at the frame and fork eyelets. That will also affect

So the fender stays are not finalized. Thanks for making me think back through that point.

Right now the tires are 559 x 32 mm, and I'll probably upsize them to 559 x 38, or maybe a little wider if I can get smooth-enough tires. At 53 mm wide the fenders (SKS Bluemels) fill out the lateral clearances just neatly. The bike is for road and occasional dirt riding. She likes a quiet and zippy feeling to the bike, but wants more security on non-paved roads. Did I share this is for Mrs. Road Fan's bike, a Georgena Terry?

rumrunn6

I have a small compound cable bolt cutter like this

daoswald

I couldn't find any reasonably priced tool that could snip them, and didn't want to buy a bolt cutter. Finally used my angle grinder, which I already owned, and placed a dampened (soaked overnight) paint stirring stick between the stay and the fender to prevent the heat from melting the fender.

Road Fan

I like that idea, I was trying to think about a heat sink to draw the heat away from the steel fender brackets. But I certainly don't need a $60 - $120 bolt cutter. I think I'm headed for an 8" bolt cutter.

Revoltingest

I buy all sorts of brands of tools. But for some jobs, only the best will do,
eg, only Snap-On's British Std offset box end wrenches that would work
on my 1960s Triumph 500. And for heavy machinery, the Harbor Freight
stuff is prone to failure
But I hate paying retail. For spendy tools, I buy used ones on ebay or at
flea markets. That's the way to go for 60 ton jacks, 1" drive socket sets, etc.

kingston 

If it's just for fender stays this ten dollar HF special should be good enough.

rumrunn6

always use safety glasses, cuz those cut bits get launched at quite a velocity

& oh, bye the way, the last set of fenders I installed had very thick stays. meaning not the usual thin metal rods SKS Velo 65 Mountain 29 Bicycle Fenders - Pair

something else annoying about them, their quick release allen wrench size, also used for adjusting stay length, is an unusually small size

djb

no problem. I just remember taking my time and really thinking through the fender position twice and three or four times over a few days, so I wouldnt screw up and cut the damn things too short.
I put the sks on a bike that I purposely left tons of tire/fender space, partly to avoid mud buildup issues in case I was on a lot of peanut butter mud wet roads (thankfully was not) and or for putting on wider tires (had 2in slicks for the fit, but was always thinking of the possibility of wider and with tread that would take up more room)