I use a lot of tools manufactured by Park Took Company, and these folks make a cable cutter. But honestly, the Campagnolo of cable cutters is not made by Park, but by Felco.

Is Felco's tool any better than the others? I don't know. But if you're like me and you engage in tool snobbery, then Felco's your choice in this category.

Felco makes side pulls for a lot of different applications. It makes it for cables and casing (that's what we're talking about here) and it makes the same sort of tool for gardening. So if you're a champion bike racer and you've got champion roses in the back yard, you've probably got two sets of Felco side pulls.

Don't use standard wire cutters for cutting brake and derailleur cables and casing. Uses side pulls, and by this I mean a tool in which -- like scissors -- the two cutting surfaces don't "meet" each other, but slide past each other. If you try to cut your cables and casing with wire cutters you'll just make a sloppy mess of it.

Serious mechanics are very picky about what they'll use their side-pulls for. Some will have a set only for cables. They'll cut casing with another set. Me, I'm not quite that bad. I'll use my side pulls for cables and casing. But not for anything else.