kershaw speed safe.

L

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Mar 2, 2011
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does the torsion bar on a speed safe knife ever get weak, or does it just all of the sudden break?
 
i've used one of mine for over a year every single day, and it's still as snappy as when i bought it... can't speak to the LONG term, but it seems to hold up very well

Speed safe has me spoiled...i don't like any other AO i've tried even CLOSE to as much.

When properly tuned, it's the AO equivalent of a switchblade... push a button and speed safe does the rest
 
I've had Speedsafe torsion bars wear out, but we're talking constant usage over a period of 3+ years. I have a 5 year old Whirlwind that gets only semi-regular carry time that opens as fast as it did the day I bought it. As long as parts are still made for the knife, Kershaw will send you a new one when you need it.
 
I've found that when they break they simply snap - they seem to go from perfectly normal to broken in one opening flat, without much prior indication that anything is amiss. Also, I seem to recall discovering broken torsion bars when I went to close the knife rather than when opening it.

I've had to replace torsion bars in a Cyclone, a Blur, and a Leek at least once each. I find they last me less than a year in all cases, sometimes as little as a few months. With the Cyclone, I removed the torsion bar altogether and it works beautifully as a manual-only knife, although you can't really do that with the Leek.
 
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in my experience you can tell when they are going to break. they tend to feel weaker when closing and then they finally give out.
 
I have had one break and had a used Chive that had a weak spring. Kershaw is happy to send you spares, 2 or 3 at a time.
 
im honestly surprised someone had 3 breakages. ive carried 2 speedsafe kershaws edc since '04ish and they both are ridiculously snappy still.
i love speedsafe! i prefer flippers in general but the thwack that speedsafe makes puts a smile on my face. i hope kershaw doesnt go the ikbs direction, seems they close on you too easily and dont open 100% of the time like a speedsafe will. plus it seems to add a lot to production costs. they appeared to have got the speedsafe manufacturing down pat cause they offer it on even $30 models.. i think the cheapest bearing flipper they have is the turbulence.

anyway i also used to really enjoy the camillus heat series in case anyone thinks im a strictly kershaw fanboy. too bad they were made in taiwan and discontinued. always wanted their titanium handled a/o but it was always overpriced where i saw them.
 
jaynick said:
im honestly surprised someone had 3 breakages. ive carried 2 speedsafe kershaws edc since '04ish and they both are ridiculously snappy still.
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I've had 1 broken Cyclone bar, 2 broken Blur bars, and 3 broken Leek bars (2 in the standard stainless leek, one in the G10/s30v leek). Don't get me wrong - I'll never get rid of my Cyclone and I love my Leek, but I'm always surprised when folks post about how they've never had a broken torsion bar. I've mostly moved away from A/O knives because I'm tired of having to replace broken springs/torsion bars...
 
They break allllllll the time, I mean all the time. It was posted on this site, it must be true.
 
Thomas W said:
They break allllllll the time, I mean all the time. It was posted on this site, it must be true.
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Hey, Thomas, I don't suppose you could get us some data on how many replacement torsion bars you folks ship out in the run of a year, could you? It would be interesting to see some accurate data on just how many of them have to be replaced.
 
Mine broke on a zt 0300 but it was after a few years and after being opened and closed a few hundred thousand times. Just call the Kershaw customer service number if the spring breaks and they will send a new one for free. Kershaw has the best customer service for sure.
 
Dorito Monk said:
Hey, Thomas, I don't suppose you could get us some data on how many replacement torsion bars you folks ship out in the run of a year, could you? It would be interesting to see some accurate data on just how many of them have to be replaced.
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Problem with that is Kershaw is just do damn awesome with their customer service that they'll send out more than one torsion bar to have as a back up. Maybe some better data would be how many requests/returns Kershaw gets relating to torsion bars.

Great idea Monk!
 
Never had one break. But... I have a number of knives and don't carry the same one every day for years.
 
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