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
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