I have experience with BRC, VAR, Cobra, Silva, Park and Campagnolo frame building tools. I think the BRC tool is okay as long as it's not used too much. Probably best for a bike shop where they're not really removing much material other than paint. I found the VAR tools stoutly made and reasonably accurate. I lump Silva, Cobra and Campagnolo together. The first two are clones of Campagnolo and their cutters are interchangeable. I don't see any significant difference in the performance of three. The Park tools are a great value and have more comfortable handles and their accuracy is fine but not quite as good as the lumped three. I also found that the Park cutters don't hold up quite as well. Park delivers a lot of tool for the money but for long time durability and accuracy the Silva, Cobra and Campagnolo tools are still the best. Curt Goodrich Bicycles 607 NE 22nd Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55418 612.788.6812
>
> Funny, my old BRC headtube mill was a POS right out of the box. The shaft
was so wobbly that the facer touched on only two teeth. It wasn't mine
actually, it belonged to a shop where I was service manager. I should have
sent it back, but we received a VAR unit from "HQ" and I just started using
that.
> I have no experience with the new Park stuff. While that stuff may be
better than Campy, in my experience none of the other brands are. Obviously
Cobra is comparble. In fact I once saw a super cool all-in-one BB tap/facer
from Cobra. It had nitride coated taps that you ran in first, then there
were concentric nitride coated facers that came down around the taps and cut
the shell edge. Very $lick. Probably a real blessing if you prep frames
all day long. Anyway, Campy/Cobra are the only BB facers that I know of
that pilot directly off the thread, which seem to make for a more accurate
facing job. For certain, using the VAR unit with the cylindrical guides
(intended for English) on an Ital shell is a very bad idea. You can end up
with a parallel-sided shell totally off axis from the threads. Tust me, I
had a 68mm Italian bike to show for it (once I got the Campy tool on there
and squared things up).
> So, in my experience with VAR, BRC, and Campy/Cobra, I think the later
gives a bit more precision. As to performance under serious use, like in a
frame shop rather than a bike shop, I have no idea which stays sharp
longest, etc. I've never used any brand new tool long enough for it to need
resharpening, and anything previously used could have just been screwed up
by the guy before me.
> Tom Dalton
> Brandon Ives <monkeylad@mac.com> wrote:On Tuesday, October 29, 2002, at
05:09 PM, John Pergolizzi wrote:
> > Then use the Campy tool to press um in. NOT wood and the vise.
> > NOT the
> > ball peen hammer. NOT the Var .Not the Cobra. NOT the Nashbar. NOT
> > the
> > home made. THE CAMPY.
>
> Uh, if you're using the Cobra you are using the Campagnolo tools.
> Cobra made the frame tools for Campy last I heard. I also don't quite
> understand the whole Campagnolo tool obsession, some of them are good
> some are not. None of the frame tools are on par with the new Park
> tools. The Campagnolo tool kit is cool and maybe 20+ years ago it was
> THE tool kit, but today it's just not of the accuracy or quality of
> many of the kits available. My old Bicycle Research headset mill is
> just as good as the Campy and half the price.
> ciao,
> Brandon"monkeyman"Ives
> SB, CA
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
> HotJobs - Search new jobs daily now
>
> _______________________________________________
>
---------------------------------------------
Introducing NetZero Long Distance
1st month Free!
Sign up today at: http://www.netzerolongdistance.com