Budget Delica?

G

Grover_Cephas

Joined
Apr 7, 2002
Messages
721
I posted this in another thread, and wanted to see what y'all thought of it:

*****

I actually have a strange request for a future Delica...

_Downgrade_ the steel. Not on all of the FRN Delicas, but on a "budget" Delica (or maybe a whole new "budget" model with similar dimensions)

The FRN and SS Delicae hit their price points by compromising on different things. I find FRN perfectly acceptable, and I find AUS-6 perfectly acceptable. You guys over in Golden seem to agree. The two together would make for a low-cost knife that's still head and shoulders above anything else near that price point.

I like having a premier steel in _my_ knives, but lots of people just can't justify the additional cost.

Right now, both Delicas retail around $68 (under $50.00 from most Internet dealers). If you could hit around the $50 MSRP mark (same range as the Dragonfly and Cricket--under $35 online), all of my friends would be getting Spydies for their birthdays

I think a low-cost Delica could be the world's best utility knife for non-knife-people.

But then, I don't have access to the kind of market data you guys do
*****

Any thoughts?
 
it is easy to find a FRN VG 10 for around 40 bucks.I reall dont think it would be worth saving at the most ten bucks.That would mean another item number and that number would be better used for a new design IMHO
 
For many, many people, that ten bucks means a lot. I, for one, can't afford to spend forty bucks on a friend or cow-orker's birthday, but I can just about stretch to thirty.

If you own an assortment of Spyderco and Benchmade custom collaborations, then the difference in price may seem nonexistant. But if you're in that large market share that considers $40 to be a significant amount of money, the picture looks a little different.

I've been buying knives for friends for years now (the ones who thought I was nuts before can't live without their EDC's now :D ), and I've had to choose between small Spydies (Crickets and clearance Navigators) and companies with lesser production values and heat treatments (Kershaw, Gerber).

And a Spyderco-quality mid-sized work knife at that price point could introduce a huge new market to really high quality knives.

This ain't a knife-nut product, but I think it could be a big success with the general public.
 
yes that sounds promising. The general public doesn't know much about blade steels. A $40 knife seems way expensive for a 3" blade and plastic handle. In CAN Delicas sell for at the cheapest almost $70. The general public sees that and sees lesser name knives going for $20-30. Both have plastic handles and both are made of steel. Why choose the Delica?

However, if you pair up steel such as AUS8 with FRN and drop the price down a bit...say $10 and you're bringing the Delica down into more competitive territory and a much larger market. This also acts as a ladder since ppl who pick up these new Delicas might realize Spydies are different quality and start to "buy up" the line...moving on to other models and higher models with higher price ranges.

With lower prices more "non-knife" stores might also want to stock them. Who know, maybe one day being sold beside Buck/Gerber/Victorinox in these places. Envision Spydies in every wallmart you go to :)
 
Delica "knock-offs" & "resembles" can be had by a dealer for $3. He then sells them anywhere from $10-$30. Pretty good mark-up. Making a "cheaper" Delica with a MSRP of $50 would not be liekly to entice the average dealer to give up their great margins on the copies.

sal
 
IMHO >>>
I dont know if I agree.
First off I am not too sure AUS 6 is a good enough steel. I think it is the equilevent of 440C... I am ok with 440 C but it is not as tough a steel as some of the others. AND if it is more like 440 A then forget it I wouldn't touch it !!
The general public doesn't know "squat" about knives. They will buy a Frost knife for 20 bucks and brag about it. "Made in Pakistan" drives me nuts !!!
NOW I know I sound like a snob....Honest I'm not.!!!
BUT... when you lower quality of steel and try to price the knife cheaper ...you end up becoming a "Frost" knife in the publics eye.
I remember Spydercos being sold in 1978 at a Denver fishing and hunting show. They had this guy in a booth selling them. I thought they were nuts charging what they charged and that sharpener , how could white stones sharpen a knife ?
WELL I was wrong wasnt I !!
Now my family and I all own Spydercos.( we also own Benchmade, Kershsaw, CRKT, Gerber, Buck, and others I don't remember them all.)
BUT we all own AND use at least one spyderco.
It is the quality of steel that makes the knife.
I dont know if i am saying this right.
I want knives with good steel.. AUS 8 ATS 34 VG 10 etc.
I got a Uncle Henry that is "surgical steel" I wanted this knife, it is a stockman, has jigg bone, looks like stagg, reminds me of my Dads knives
AND it dulls cutting my sandwich .. the knife sits in my dresser drawer. I get so angry when I think of it. One day I am going to build my own stockman out of ATS 34 or better.
MAYBE that would be a good knife for Spyderco to make. A jigged bone stagg handled stockman with a hole in it...HINT HINT
OH well I talked enough
Jack
 
I think the problem with a "budget Delica" is that it would probably kill off sales of the standard Delica.
 
It seems to me that although be cheaper and appealing to a different group it would be going back instead of forward for Spyderco as a company
 
Seems as though this has already been tried.Can anyone say "BRK Native":barf:
 
Jeff you get a gold star for the day:)
 
The Delica is OK the way it is IMO. Downgrading it will make us unhappy and for a non knife person (who wouldn't notice the difference anyway), just get a 3$ knockoff. After (and if) he / she will use the knife and begin to feel the need for a better one, then it's time to introduce the Delica.
 
I am unclear why "knockoffs" are such a major force. Maybe in the states there are more...

I'm sure normal stores and not flea market vendors and convenience/smoke/tourist stores do not sell knockoff knives. So basically in theory ppl would rather buy knickoffs than the real thing?

In that case there are no knives more copied than the Swiss Army knives of Victorinox. Yet a model like the Classic is a HUGE seller. There are plenty of kockoffs that offer more tools for even cheaper yet Victorinox has a huge following. If Spyderco establishes it's name to the general public brand loyalty gets built no?

The issue is not merely if ppl will choose the lower Delica over a knockoff but if the ppl that DO choose it will buy more/tell others about it/etc

Or is this just naive thinking? :confused:
 
...What...Do you want to see "Made in Pakistan" stamped on the blade of a Delica?...That's about the only way to make it cheaper (in price) than it already is.:eek:.
 
The Delica is just fine in it's present state.
The delica has undergone many changes over the years. All of them for the better. Making it "cheaper" would kill it.

Now if you want to talk making a "better" version, say S30V and Ti handles............:cool:

Paul
 
Well, _most_ of you are completely misunderstanding my point :D

The BRK Native was outsourced to another company and made with low quality standards.

Pakistani knives are built by near-slave-labor out of worse-than-crap materials.

Three-dollar knockoffs are a long way away from _any_ Spyderco.

AUS-6 from CRKT may be utter crap, but I've heard generally good reviews of Spyderco's AUS-6 from _knife_people_. I'm certain it's good enough for the general public (and Sal obviously thinks it's "good enough"--it's used in one of Spyderco's best-selling models).

I'm not suggesting that Spyderco lower its quality standards, nor outsource a product to Camillus or Pakistan.

I'm just suggesting a knife made with materials and workmanship that are already Spyderco standards that I think could reach the (in my experience) very large market of "people who want more than cheap knockoffs but are still budget-conscious".

It wouldn't even have to be a Delica. Just a three-inch, FRN-handled, saber-ground, AUS-6 knife in plain or half-serrated. Two SKUs to branch out into a new market. Two SKUs that aren't for "knife people". C'mon; Spyderco has nine different keychain knives, ferchirissakes ;)

_BUT_, I'm sitting here in my armchair making suggestions based on my little corner of this world. I know that around me I see a large number of people who _want_ to buy quality, but still have to watch prices. But I'm sure Sal has a better perspective on the worldwide market for his knives than I do :D
 
I can see your point.I think the best way to get the lower end spydies to everyone would be for spyderco to work out a deal with Walmart or even Kmart to carry a limited choise of spydercos.
These stores do not have a large profit margin and should be able to sell them at close to internet prices.
PE FRN Dragon fly @ 28.97
PE FRN Delica @ 33.97
PE and CE Endura at 43.97
This would give the customer a chiose between 4 differant knives in a wide size range at good prices.
 
Sal,
I think Spyderco should introduce a Delica in S30V and high hollow ground at the present MSRP (read I can then get that Delica at around $40). :D :D

Grover_Cephas,
Look at it from anor point of view - if you get your friend the VG10 Delica, tell them it's for 2 birthdays/christmases/ocassions instead of one!;) :p
 
Exactly as Sal said, the budget Delica wouldn’t compete in price with cheap knock-offs because average people will not consider difference.
I’m not well versed in situation on American market. However speaking with retailers here quite extensively I usually hear something like: “How expensive it should be? Wow, I can sell similarly looking cheap Far-East made knife in half (or even quarter) of this price, much faster and earning at least some times more for each my invested dollar”.

IMO SPYDERCO’s should remain SPYDERCO’s and not trying to catch up cheapies in price.
 
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