Swapping out stock bearings on an iMamba

Interesting info from all. Thank you guys at AB for your involvement and awesome knives.

ArnoBernardKnives ArnoBernardKnives Out of curiosity, might there ever be an area on your site or any of the dealers, to buy parts (washers, bearings, stand-offs, screws, etc)?

Thanks
 
cutchu said:
Interesting info from all. Thank you guys at AB for your involvement and awesome knives.

ArnoBernardKnives ArnoBernardKnives Out of curiosity, might there ever be an area on your site or any of the dealers, to buy parts (washers, bearings, stand-offs, screws, etc)?

Thanks
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Hi Phil, Thank you very much. Yes, we will send extra parts to our dealers so it will save you a lot on shipping.
 
pholder said:
Yes, caged. Also they improved the detent. For the for the flipper , it flips with more authority
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Do you happen to know when they made these changes? I'm considering the secondary market, and that would be good to know.
 
I just checked my email to them, my serial number is 23-301, meaning my knife is the 301st knife made in 23. Mine has caged bearings. So if you pursue one on the second market anything after 301 is sure to have caged. Hope this helps, Troy
 
Tsujigiri said:
Do you happen to know when they made these changes? I'm considering the secondary market, and that would be good to know.
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I have purchased several iMambas over the years. This is the first year, that I know of, that the option was offered to be able to chose between bearings or washers.

All of my iMambas have been on open bearings. I recently ordered my first iMamba with PB washers and received it last week.
 
cutchu said:
I have purchased several iMambas over the years. This is the first year, that I know of, that the option was offered to be able to chose between bearings or washers.

All of my iMambas have been on open bearings. I recently ordered my first iMamba with PB washers and received it last week.
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Have to ask, do you notice any difference between the two, detent stiffer, action . Thank you, have two on loose bearing with the conversion kit arriving Thursday, just wondering before I put them in . Thanks
 
pholder said:
I just checked my email to them, my serial number is 23-301, meaning my knife is the 301st knife made in 23. Mine has caged bearings. So if you pursue one on the second market anything after 301 is sure to have caged. Hope this helps, Troy
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That does help! Honestly, it sounds like even the early revisions are quite a knife, although it's cool to see that they do incremental tweaks to ensure that the customers get the best product possible. It does remind me of the Chris Reeve model, and it's something you don't see too often.

cutchu said:
I have purchased several iMambas over the years. This is the first year, that I know of, that the option was offered to be able to chose between bearings or washers.

All of my iMambas have been on open bearings. I recently ordered my first iMamba with PB washers and received it last week.
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Good to know, that seems pretty recent then. My other question would be as woodysone asked, do you know when they increased the detent? I've heard that as the main complaint for these, that they're light for a lot of people's tastes in flippers. Then again, it looks like the tab is designed so that you can push perpendicular into the handle, which I remember was the way to reliably open flippers back before ball bearings and nicely tuned actions.
 
Tsujigiri said:
That does help! Honestly, it sounds like even the early revisions are quite a knife, although it's cool to see that they do incremental tweaks to ensure that the customers get the best product possible. It does remind me of the Chris Reeve model, and it's something you don't see too often.



Good to know, that seems pretty recent then. My other question would be as woodysone asked, do you know when they increased the detent? I've heard that as the main complaint for these, that they're light for a lot of people's tastes in flippers. Then again, it looks like the tab is designed so that you can push perpendicular into the handle, which I remember was the way to reliably open flippers back before ball bearings and nicely tuned actions.
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I've ordered mine and asked Ruan (the public-interface brother) to tune it to a light feel on washers. I very much dislike heavy detents as in many flippers; the detent vibe is a recent, unfamiliar thing in knives (for me). I remember my old Al Mars and such – just smoothness. The Bernards tune each knife, their attention to detail is wonderful in this mass produced throw away world. A flipper detent is tuned differently to a non-flipper, and a bearing version also differently to a washer type. And of course if you order directly, you can always ask for a particular vibe. Lovely people to deal with.

A good example of another South African knife, which is amazing for the price, however I just hate opening it, is the Honey Badger. It's on bearings, flipper tab, 'spydie hole', and a distinct detent to overcome. If it just opened like a Delica I'd love it as the design is quite brilliant. And of course if it wasn't made in you know where.
 
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Well I’m sure glad that I had parts in hands before opening my iMamba up for cleaning, 26 small loose bearings are exposed by doing so. The races for them look to be stainless machined into the scales and cut into the blade.
Simple and precise machining that reminds me of Chris Reeves.😉
Replacing the bearings with the washers was simple, adjusting the pivot dialed in the action, not as fast as the bearings but much better with pocket lint and sand. I’m not going to replace the bearings in my other one but it’s more dressy .🤗
 
woodysone said:
Well I’m sure glad that I had parts in hands before opening my iMamba up for cleaning, 26 small loose bearings are exposed by doing so. The races for them look to be stainless machined into the scales and cut into the blade.
Simple and precise machining that reminds me of Chris Reeves.😉
Replacing the bearings with the washers was simple, adjusting the pivot dialed in the action, not as fast as the bearings but much better with pocket lint and sand. I’m not going to replace the bearings in my other one but it’s more dressy .🤗
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I feel like the washers made feel more Sebenza like. Mine had a weak detent, so I think if I have Coleman grind the flipper tab off, it’s going to be a great Sebenza like knife.
 
I ordered my iMamba with pb washers but they kindly added a set of caged bearings in the box it came in.
I swabbed them recently and the knife runs so much better on bearings. It feels like it was made for bearings tbh.
So, to answer your question, yes you can.
 
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Jacques Mi said:
I ordered my iMamba with pb washers but they kindly added a set of caged bearings in the box it came in.
I swabbed them recently and the knife runs so much better on bearings. It feels like it was made for bearings tbh.
So, to answer your question, yes you can.
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Flipper or non flip? I like the non flip on washers much better
 
On bearings the flipper tab is irrelevant. The thumb flick is more intuitive and works close 100% of the time.

On washers the action is definitely stiffer and therefore the thumb flick is more prone to failure. At least for as long as the break in period takes

I can change mine back to washers today and let you know what I think.
 
Jacques Mi said:
This is not the actual pb washers but the spacers that is also used for this knife. Notice that they are marked with F and B. I like details like this, it shows how much thought AB put into the knive.
View attachment 2514041
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I just got my fist Imamba on washers. Wasn’t too smooth at first. Opened it up used some CRK fluoro grease and now it’s 🔥🔥🔥. Thanks for sharing this pic. I hadn’t noticed that!

Edit: skiffs are better for this non flipper!
 
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