Al Mar Shrike Owners - a few questions, please

[sharkattacksw]

Recently, the Al Mar Shrike has really grabbed my attention. I like the shape of the handle and the blade. However, I've never been a huge fan of liner locks. That's mainly due to the blade retention, or lack thereof. Particularly when compared to the lockbacks that I have. I really like the fact that the blades snap back into the handle and the possibility of them opening in my pocket is almost non-existent. Not so with some liner and frame locks. I know it doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen.

So, my questions are about the blade retemtion of the Shrike. How is it? Can it be adjusted, i.e. made tighter? How is the overall quality of the knife? Do you find it managable to use as an EDC piece? I believe it's about the same dimensions as Spyderco's Endura, right? How's the lockup? Any blade play? Does it lock up early on the ramp?

This is a pretty expensive knife (for me), so I want to be sure of everything before I go ahead and get one.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions you can offer.

Cheers,
S

 

[cali]

Shrike is noticeably smaller that Endura. Quality is great, the worst thing in the knife is a pocket clip - big, clumsy, high-ride and uncomfortable, so I replaced it with Benchmade arrow-clip mounted in tip-up position. The blade is light, so possibility to open it by inertia is low enough to carry it safely.
Overall, good project, very good quality, but it's far from being perfect and I think I would not buy it again for that price.

 

[CARRERA50]

The liner lock on my Shrike locks up on a par with my Microtech LCC--totally rock solid. There is no blade play whatsoever,
the VG10 was RAZOR sharp right out of the box, fantastic knife overall. The only negative for me is the smooth G10
scales; not quite grippy enough for me. As for the big ugly pocket clip, well, I remove all the damn things anyway.

 

[Kyui Su Kim]

I have never had any issues with my Al Mar. The Shrike locks up nice and solid and does not seem to have an issue with any accidental openings. My only real "issue" is that it is a bit bulky.