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This is some sort of a new Sprint Run from Spyderco, made in Taichung
Designed by Dutch custom knife maker Jerry Brouwer, after his Flanker model





Wasn't really on my list but after watching a couple of videos I changed my mind

I like the size, the proportions, the ergonomics, blade shape kind of a spearpoint reminds me of Centofante Memory

It has a thin grind, slim handle

Speaking of size, here's some comparisons






And with the Dragonfly, no, not Spyderco's :D



It's well executed, scale margins are a bit rounded, the action is nice, has the cutout for the thumb, the blade is centered, OK steel

Lock is solid and disengaging is pleasant, no stick because it has a steel insert and access is easy, the tension is not high, will talk about that later

It has an internal stop pin, jimping on the spine



It's a pleasure to hold it in your hands and use it

Now, some areas of concern

- the price, it's expensive, but what's cheap nowadays from Spyderco :D

- the pocketclip

Here the design just stopped and died suddenly of violent death: The Great Spyderco Hourglass Pocket-clip Plague :D

Basically Spyderco dumped a hourglass pocket clip on it

The clip is rather big for this knife

And worse, it keeps the knife few centimeters outside the pocket

That should be OK where you guys live out there in the Wild-West, where you parade your AR15s, 454 Casulls, Glocks 18s and AK47s in supermarkets and McDonalds to exercise your open-carry rights

But not here in the Old Europe, here if they see you with a SAK women with start shouting and fainting, children will scream running around and they will call the Army with Piranha APCs...
Shooting journalists and driving cars into people should probably be OK though :D

As is I simply prefer not to clip it and drop it entirely inside my pocket

Most of the guys, after or even before buying it, start looking for a clip replacement, check out the posts and the videos, if this is not raising any questions with Spyderco then I don't know what will...

So after spending this amount of Euros I have to start looking for alternatives

Why didn't Spyderco at least put their wire clip, they have it available on some of their models

Is there an excess of houglass clips being produced that have to be put on every model?

And why Boker is able to do a cheap crappy pocket clip that doesn't take half of the knife outside the pocket and Spyderco isn't...





- lanyard hole - it's small because there is not much space around, enough to annoy you when trying to add a paracord thru, so why bother adding it :D ?!

Is it that expensive or complicated to add a lanyard pin or something

This is an expensive model, so after reaching 200EUR mark would another 20 make that much of a difference in order to get it right?

The pocket clip/lanyard hole placement is really bad

Seems like Spyderco is doing the knife and at the end is just going thru the motions: OK, now first let's drill a lanyard hole in the scales and then dump a clip on it way below that, job done!

- what's the story with the lockbar, why is that cutout so long and deep

The lockbar ends up being scary thin in that area

And it bends, it's a bit concave...



How is this going to be over time, will it bend further? I guess time will tell..

Is this why the clip was positioned like this, not to touch the lockbar and add furher pressure on it?

I guess if it goes to Cold Steel for the famous tests :D to hang weights on it the lockbar might just break

Steel insert also acts as overtravel stop, since the lockbar tension is not that high and the cutout being so scary thin this is a protection against somebody with Godzilla fingers pushing too hard to alter integrity of the lock, you have to appreciate Spyderco's care to cover possible issues with the design

Nitpicking aside it's still is a refined pleasant very compact EDC piece, who wants to spend this amount and then extra to add a new pocket clip will probably not be dissapointed

Also don't push it too hard, that lockbar cutout is thin, for some youtube reviews videos and some paper cutting should be OK

After all this is a small refined EDC knife, just don't go bushcrafting with it :D

Such an aggressive review, I love it. Americans carrying 454 Casull's and Glock 18's into McDonald's was pretty funny! :D

I plan on getting this knife and I already bought a deep carry clip for it bc that clip placement is no bueno

Gsg9 wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 8:51 am

This is some sort of a new Sprint Run from Spyderco, made in Taichung

Not a sprint run. It's regular production.

Nice review!

Nice review. I do like the design of this knife. The size and particularly the blade shape are very appealing to me. I am with you that the price on their Taiwan models still always surprises me as I am used to the hand tool world where high quality tools out of Taiwan are considerably cheaper than their USA and European counterparts and are of equal quality in many cases.

I also agree on the clip placement. The fact thay there are so many people who basically buy a lynch clip for every para 3 should be a sign that people are trending more toward deep carry. I keep my knives stock so I live with the clip placement, but I would definitely prefer a deep carry clip, especially on smaller knives like this. A deep carry wire clip would have been great. My suspicion is that there are more people who pass on Spyderco knives because of the clip placement than people who would pass due to a lack of a lanyard hole if a deep carry clip was priorized.

I also just don't like titanium in general, which is obviously just a personal preference. I would have rather seen a walker liner lock like on the Military and then G10 on both sides.

I do really like the looks, size, and blade shape of this knife though. Had it have been just a regular old G10 model with a liner, comp, or back lock I probably would have grabbed one. I hope to see more small knives with this blade shape in the future. Some small drop points would be welcome as well.

Thanks for taking the time to post you thoughts. How does it cut?

I don’t know why everyone assumes Spyderco accidentally makes the knife ride high in the pocket. Some people want a pocket knife to be readily accessible. It’s easier to make a knife deep carry with an aftermarket clip than it is to do the reverse. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pocket clip that undoes deep carry. I don’t even know what to call a clip like that.

If every knife was made with a deep carry clip, people would complain about that too.

Gsg9 wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 8:51 am

That should be OK where you guys live out there in the Wild-West, where you parade your AR15s, 454 Casulls, Glocks 18s and AK47s in supermarkets and McDonalds to exercise your open-carry rights

But not here in the Old Europe, here if they see you with a SAK women with start shouting and fainting, children will scream running around and they will call the Army with Piranha APCs...
Shooting journalists and driving cars into people should probably be OK though :D

So, which way of life would you prefer?

Mine is in the mail. Can't wait. I will be adding a lynch clip because the hourglass placement is a bit strange to me. I am a little concerned with that lockbar milling being so deep, but like your review said, it's not meant to baton trees. My experience when the milling is excessive is that the lockbar feels spongey. Hope it's not...

Thanks for the honest review!

I sure like this knife too bad it's in S30v, was hoping for XHP when this knife was first announced.

Liquid Cobra wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 10:19 am

Thanks for taking the time to post you thoughts. How does it cut?

I don’t know why everyone assumes Spyderco accidentally makes the knife ride high in the pocket. Some people want a pocket knife to be readily accessible. It’s easier to make a knife deep carry with an aftermarket clip than it is to do the reverse. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pocket clip that undoes deep carry. I don’t even know what to call a clip like that.

If every knife was made with a deep carry clip, people would complain about that too.

+1

The obsession with deep carry on this forum baffles me

Spydergirl88 wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:09 am

Such an aggressive review, I love it. Americans carrying 454 Casull's and Glock 18's into McDonald's was pretty funny! :D

I like Rugers.

Liquid Cobra wrote: I don’t know why everyone assumes Spyderco accidentally makes the knife ride high in the pocket. Some people want a pocket knife to be readily accessible. It’s easier to make a knife deep carry with an aftermarket clip than it is to do the reverse. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pocket clip that undoes deep carry. I don’t even know what to call a clip like that.

If every knife was made with a deep carry clip, people would complain about that too.

Interesting opinion piece, OP. Preferences in firearms aside, I have to agree with Liquid Cobra. Just because a knife is made with the kind of clip and carry orientation (high or low) that displeases you does not mean it is flawed, or a bad design or somehow a serious failing by the designer or maker. A decision on what kind of clip and where it will be placed on the knife had to be made. Some people like it. Some people don’t. It’s not the end of the world.

To be fair he never said it was the end of the world or even that it was a deal breaker. I also noted that he didn’t review at all the knife in hand or cutting with it, which are actually its strong points. Kinda like getting in a Ferrari and reviewing it only sitting in the driveway.

Wanting deep carry isn’t the same as NOT wanting excessively high carry. I love this knife, and personally asked Sal at the Amsterdam meet to make it when Jerry brought his custom. However the knife is going to be in your pocket 100 times longer than it’s going to be cutting. The D’Allara (original) feels custom-fixed-blade good in hand, but carries huge, so Spyderco opted not to keep the contours on the second go around. I, like others, feel like the clip placement results in excessively high carry. I’m not even a fan of the wire clip, and have no interest in whether or not anyone can see the knife. I carry delicas and natives regularly, and think their clip is spot on: easily accessible but not prone to jab you when sitting. Long story short, the clip placement gripe is a fair one, especially on a knife that doesn’t go for bells and whistles, just basic features done very well.

tvenuto wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 11:12 am

To be fair he never said it was the end of the world or even that it was a deal breaker. I also noted that he didn’t review at all the knife in hand or cutting with it, which are actually its strong points. Kinda like getting in a Ferrari and reviewing it only sitting in the driveway.

Wanting deep carry isn’t the same as NOT wanting excessively high carry. ... I, like others, feel like the clip placement results in excessively high carry. ... Long story short, the clip placement gripe is a fair one, especially on a knife that doesn’t go for bells and whistles, just basic features done very well.

I missed your criticism that the OP didn’t actually review the knife in use. A serious omission.

I also agree that criticizing the design for excessively high carry is valid. My comments were more directed at the “end of the world” complaints and cries of foul, bad design, and why doesn’t Spyderco produce what I want.

I wonder if a poll focused on Brouwer owners clip preferences, and another on potential buyers preferences would be useful.

waiting for an ebay 20% deal on this one since an extra clip is necessary (for me at least)

I just got mine yesterday and I echo the OPs comments. Great size and shape but the lanyard hole Imo is unnecessary. I don’t mind non-deep carry clips and on some knives I prefer the standard height (pm2 is near perfect) but this one makes me nervous as a full 1/3 of the knife is exposed. Not only do I care if people notice me carrying a knife, I care about it falling out of my pocket or otherwise feeling awkward when clipped. I was lucky enough to buy mine with a discount for only $140 so even with a lynch deep carry clip I’m still below the full price.

The thing I really don’t understand is why people say they won’t buy it because of s30v, how and when did s30 become a bad steel?

Well I’ll be honest here. I said I wasn’t going to buy one solely because of the steel. I guess Since my main carry blade is M4 I just don’t care for how other steels preform. Nope not after those pictures. I’ll be buying one soon now. That just looks like a knife I can drop in my pocket and be a replacement for the old worn sak farmer that’s been riding back up for all these years. It just looks like it’s a very comfortable knife in hand. I could care less about the clip I’ll probably use it with out anyway.

Looks like it has a green scale on it too,my favorite color.

Is this a sprint run? I never remember seeing the original. Oh btw, S30v is a great steel!

linuxology wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 7:36 pm

Is this a sprint run? I never remember seeing the original. Oh btw, S30v is a great steel!

No, it is a regular production model I believe.

I was looking through the catalog and it hit me. I would love to see this design done as a value folder next to the Cat and Chicago with a walker liner lock, green G10 on both sides, DLC BD1, and a wire clip with an emphasis on deeper carry. What a great little knife that would be! Not to mention it would likely be a third of the price. I REALLY love this design and the little kephart style drop point blade, but im just not into titanium R.I.L. knives.