Kershaw/ZT SpeedSafe Failures?

Screwdriver

Screwdriver

Joined
Feb 27, 2010
Messages
1,785
I have a Whirlwind that I have had for many years and was my EDC for a few years. Opened it hundreds of times, probably 1,000+. I own a Rake that has also been opened hundreds of times, leek also. I have never had a torsion bar fail, yet all I read is people having them fail within minutes of getting a SpeedSafe knife.

Seriously, how prevalent is this, or is it another example of the internet copy machine?

I want to add that I bought my Dad a Scallion about ten years ago.....Old man sits in his chair and snaps it open like people chew their nails. Drives my Mom nuts. Still works flawlessly.
 
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Screwdriver said:
I have a Whirlwind that I have had for many years and was my EDC for a few years. Opened it hundreds of times, probably 1,000+. I own a Rake that has also been opened hundreds of times, leek also. I have never had a torsion bar fail, yet all I read is people having them fail within minutes of getting a SpeedSafe knife.

Seriously, how prevalent is this, or is it another example of the internet copy machine?

I want to add that I bought my Dad a Scallion about ten years ago.....Old man sits in his chair and snaps it open like people chew their nails. Drives my Mom nuts. Still works flawlessly.
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If I remember correctly, Kai states that their torsion bars are good for roughly 10,000 openings. I've owned several assisted Kershaws, two assisted ZT's, never had one fail on me.
 
A buddy's Cryo torsion bar broke. Then the replacement bar broke.

I've never had one fail. I had an 0303 once that had a torsion bar that would rattle around in the handle. that was easily remedied, though.
 
Anything that gets used is going to break sooner or later. Might be factory defect, might be accelerated wear due to overenthusiasm on the part of the owner. Use it until it needs repair/replacement, then call the company in to remedy it.
 
Screwdriver said:
I have a Whirlwind that I have had for many years and was my EDC for a few years. Opened it hundreds of times, probably 1,000+. I own a Rake that has also been opened hundreds of times, leek also. I have never had a torsion bar fail, yet all I read is people having them fail within minutes of getting a SpeedSafe knife.

Seriously, how prevalent is this, or is it another example of the internet copy machine?

I want to add that I bought my Dad a Scallion about ten years ago.....Old man sits in his chair and snaps it open like people chew their nails. Drives my Mom nuts. Still works flawlessly.
Click to expand...

Imho its simply a matter of people being more inclined to complain when something breaks than to praise when it doesnt. I have had many speed safe knive. Too many to count. I had a torsion bar fail once or twice. But it was always when i was opening and closing the knife repeatedly in a short amount of time.
 
K.O.D. said:
If I remember correctly, Kai states that their torsion bars are good for roughly 10,000 openings. I've owned several assisted Kershaws, two assisted ZT's, never had one fail on me.
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Me neither. I never had an Axis lock fail on me either, but I read about those all the time too. Guess it's bound to happen sooner or later . . .
 
KAI is a production company that manufactures thousands of torsion bars, so it is natural that there will be a few bars that slip through QC. I have close to 25 Speedsafe knives and one of them is yet to fail.
 
Whenever I get a speedsafe knife I always contact Kai and have them send me a replacement before I even get the knife, so that way I have a replacement ready in the unlikely event that it breaks. I'm still using the original torsion bar in all of my speedsafe knives and I have spares just in case, with no downtime on the knife since it's already here.
 
my 0770 torsion bar broke. they sent me 2 new ones to replace it free of charge. never had another brake but its nice to know i have a spare
 
redfeenix said:
KAI is a production company that manufactures literally millionsof torsion bars, so it is natural that there will be a few bars that slip through QC. I have close to 25 Speedsafe knives and one of them is yet to fail.
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Ftfy. I think people underestimate the size of KAI sometimes.
 
This whole issue is why I dislike assisted knives. I have gotten rid of all but one, the ZT0770CF.
 
I have several dozen knives with SpeedSafe. I've had a total of 2 torsion bar breaks, and both of those knives were ones that I had repeatedly opened and closed them (much much much more than could be qualified as standard use). I've also had a number of SpeedSafe knives where I've flipped them open and shut incessantly and had no problems.

So yes, it is possible to break a torsion bar. The odds, however, are vastly in your favor that you will be fine if you are using the product as intended.
 
I had an old ZT0350 (blem btw) that had a weak spring but it still fired, though lazily...

A quick email to ZT remedied the situation and they sent me two new ones. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::D:cool:

The action on my old March 2006 S60V Boa was getting kinda slow too so I just took out the spring; it's done it's share of work as I got it secondhand in well used condition and put it through it's paces. :thumbup:

Being polite and patient makes more sense than being quick to complain in situations where replacement parts or repairs are needed as you typically get better service as a result IMHO but YMMV. :D:foot:;):rolleyes:
 
Screwdriver said:
I have a Whirlwind that I have had for many years and was my EDC for a few years. Opened it hundreds of times, probably 1,000+. I own a Rake that has also been opened hundreds of times, leek also. I have never had a torsion bar fail, yet all I read is people having them fail within minutes of getting a SpeedSafe knife.

Seriously, how prevalent is this, or is it another example of the internet copy machine?

I want to add that I bought my Dad a Scallion about ten years ago.....Old man sits in his chair and snaps it open like people chew their nails. Drives my Mom nuts. Still works flawlessly.
Click to expand...

I have seen a many thousands of kershaw and ZT knives in my years, but have NEVER seen a broken torsion bar, seems strange doesn't it for such a widespread problem, LOL.
 
I keep hearing about it here on BF and Youtube from what they claim as firsthand experience, and also hear people say they have heard of them breaking/failing so they in turn have less confidence in it. I heavily prefer MANUAL so I do not have extensive experience with SpeedSafe but on the models that I do keep in rotation (Piston, Blur) over the years I have not had one fail. Worst experience I have had is lethargic deployment on my first Piston that I couldn't adjust. I'm sure (premature) torsion bar failures are rare, but like any spring on any mechanism, it can fail anytime (again, rare).
 
I've had one fail on me. A Spec Bump that I had for 7 years. I had to send it in to get the spring replaced, but they did it pretty quickly. They also sharpened it, but I wished they didn't.
 
I've had over 30 Speedsafe knives and only seen a busted torsion bar once. On my brother's Brawler. I hit up KAI and they sent me a new torsion bar, pivot assembly and pocket clip. Pretty damn cool, if you ask me.

Oh, and it fires like the dickens once again :thumbup:
 
Screwdriver said:
I have a Whirlwind that I have had for many years and was my EDC for a few years. Opened it hundreds of times, probably 1,000+. I own a Rake that has also been opened hundreds of times, leek also. I have never had a torsion bar fail, yet all I read is people having them fail within minutes of getting a SpeedSafe knife.

Seriously, how prevalent is this, or is it another example of the internet copy machine?

I want to add that I bought my Dad a Scallion about ten years ago.....Old man sits in his chair and snaps it open like people chew their nails. Drives my Mom nuts. Still works flawlessly.
Click to expand...

Had a Cryo that the torsion bar snapped , it took a year of every day use but it did. i didn't care cause if the torsion bar breaks no big deal you can still use it manually :thumbup: unlike if an omega spring on an axis lock breaks.:thumbdn:
 
My desk knife is a Kershaw Spec Bump. The torsion bar has broken and been replaced twice in 7+ years. It's just a spring and springs fatigue. Other than the surprise when it breaks it's no big deal. Kershaw fixes it and puts a crazy sharp polished edge on the blade as well.
 
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