Böker Urban Trapper, new models

Did you have any trouble with the bearings? With uncaged bearings they always seem to make them fly everywhere when I take the knife apart...
 
Did you have any trouble with the bearings? With uncaged bearings they always seem to make them fly everywhere when I take the knife apart...

Ah! One thing I forgot to mention, thank you. So I'm sitting there unscrewing the pivot, cupping my hand and ready to catch any of those damn teensy balls that may fall, when...out flops a caged bearing disk. So don't worry; this is NOT an IKBS system, and I should've figured as much when I didn't see the logo on the blade. But these caged bearings are just as smooth and effective, so hopefully boker will use these instead moving forward!
 


with a Delica for reference

Got it yestyerday
Very nice knife, flipper tab is just the right size and feels good in the hand
I'm liking it better than the original model I had
 
Ah! One thing I forgot to mention, thank you. So I'm sitting there unscrewing the pivot, cupping my hand and ready to catch any of those damn teensy balls that may fall, when...out flops a caged bearing disk. So don't worry; this is NOT an IKBS system, and I should've figured as much when I didn't see the logo on the blade. But these caged bearings are just as smooth and effective, so hopefully boker will use these instead moving forward!
That's one thing that I didn't really like about the original. The IKBS is glass-smooth, but it's especially hard to reassemble because the pinout area is so small. Hopefully the action on the caged bearings is as smooth though.
 
It is, it really is...I absolutely can't tell the difference between this caged system and the IKBS on my kwaiken. Utterly identical action.
 
Just got my cocobolo version today. The larger flipper tab is great, and the action is super smooth as expected, but there's a little bit of annoying lock stick and the scales finishing could have been a little nicer. There's also some flex in the handle, but that's to be expected with such thin titanium. For the price though there isn't a lot to complain about.
 
I have the original ti handle with holes and I love it! The flipper is good, it looks small but I never missed

The carbon one looks nice! But will have to grind down the flipper to the original size
 
If anyone cares I've also noticed a few minor differences between the new and old models as well. The standoff is much nicer, with a circular groove milled into it and little dots going around it that remind me of the pivot on the original model. The clip is also slimmer, so it moves around a little, but looks better for formal carry IMO. The blade shape is also slightly different, with a more pronounced swedge and less rounded spine.
 
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I think the biggest improvement is the bearing system, they now use disk bearing with balls contained on the disk like thrust bearings.

The IKBS is a manufacturing and service nightmare. For factory service, they just dump them out to a bucket of degreaser and put new ones in, no one has time to try and catch them and put them back.
How they install them? They use a wood Popsicle stick with grease on it, stick it into a bucket of balls to pick them up and put it on the knife; I'm not kidding.
 
the flip was scratchy and unpleasant.

I received my carbon few days ago. And I have this exact problem. The flipper was awful, I could not open it at all without significant wrist move. BUT after I opened it up several times, it is much smooter now. Actually, it is super smooth. I didn't oil it, I guess it have just loosen a bit and works now as it should. I love it now, it opens up very, very smoothly. Could not be better.

Then other things I like about this model:

+ Size. You can carry it and won't noticed it at all. It is very tiny and light
+ It was SHARP out of the box
+ Blade lenght. From the small knife and handle, it could not be any longer
+ Blade shape.
+ Pocket clip. It's fantastic!
+ Looks. Yeah, it look's really cool. Blade finnish is beatiful and the carbon fiber is pleasant to watch

And dont like:

- Blade play. There is definitely some play... not too bad, but very noticeable. Biggest minus in this knife.
- carbon handle is not very grippy. It is actually quite slippery. I guess G10 could be better...

It is not perfect, but I can still recommend it allthough I think that the carbon fiber is overpriced. If you need a slim and light (and cool looking knife) with good steel and very smooth flipper action, this one is for you :)
 
I've found that 90% of the time the scratchiness comes from the friction of the detent ball, not the bearings. You can fix it pretty easily by just slipping a piece of paper between the blade and the lock side liner and cleaning it out gently.
 
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