Spyderco Forums

For those concerned about the plastic used to cage the ball bearing, the material is PEEK - PolyEtherEtherKeytone. It's so strong and durable that it's used to make aircraft fasteners and parts. It's really amazing stuff. Below I've inserted a couple of links to plastic manufacturer's websites explaining all the key properties of PEEK.

http://www.aetnaplastics.com/products/d/Peek

http://www.solvayplastics.com/sites/sol ... Spire.aspx

I don't think the cage would actually break, but I have seen reports of the two halves coming unglued. If it were one molded piece then there wouldn't be any doubts. Still, I don't think it would break under any kind of use, it would take dropping it on the cage or something to break it.

Officer Gigglez wrote:This lock is what is keeping me from getting a Manix. The lock just doesn't seem to be something that would last a long time. Am I right? or am I dead wrong? Anyone care to educate me?

Same general concept as a Glock, though different specific materials - same result, total junk, breaks in a day. :rolleyes: :D

With one or two exceptions that I don't think prove anything (everything breaks occasionally), the only breakage reports I have seen are people breaking the post off the cage due to improper reassembly of the knife.

JNewell wrote:Same general concept as a Glock, though different specific materials - same result, total junk, breaks in a day. :rolleyes: :D

I see what you did there! :D

Very interesting info concerning PEEK used for the cage. I noticed that there are several types including a grade for bearing applications. Thanks.

i had my manic since 2008 and put it in ideally hard use!
no play, never failed on me, i love the lock!
just my 2 cents

polyhexamethyl wrote:i had my manic since 2008 and put it in ideally hard use!
no play, never failed on me, i love the lock!
just my 2 cents

I'd love to see the condition it's in after 6 years of use.

Officer Gigglez wrote:It just seems to me that it has (more) moving parts to it, which is to say it is more complicated, and thus, more can go wrong. I really have had no experience with the lock type, and I guess I finally felt I needed to look into it.

It's all relative.

The BBL (steel ball bearing with a coil spring) is complicated compared to a liner or compression lock (steel bar that's part of the frame) but not so much compared to an Axis lock (hollow steel tube pushed by a pair of tiny omega springs that seem to break quite often).

Coil springs are much less prone to failure than other types of springs. The ball bearing lock self adjusts. BBL and CBBL locks are extremely durable.

They may not be the strongest or whatever but the liner lock is still my favorite because you can close the knife by pushing the liner with your thumb and bringing the blade over with the forefinger