Sage 2 Farewell
Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 1:57 am
Why we lost the Sage 2 has been on my mind since the 2018 disco'ed list dropped a few days ago.
My first thoughts were that the Sage 2 was just no longer competitive on the broader market. It's a very Plain Jane S30V and Ti frame lock. There are no trick features like a hardened steel lock bar face, over-travel stop, ball bearing pivot washers, flipper, cool colored back spacers, milled solid Ti pocket clip, etc that many competitors knives offer at the same price or less. A few models from ZT, Kizer, and Massdrop jump to mind. There are likely others.
Then my thoughts drifted to Spyderco Enthusiasts. A large portion of us are steel nerds. The Spydiechef offered the basic Taichung made, slab sided Ti scales, RIL, and phosphor bronze washers formula. But the 'chef did it with a novel shape and essentially rust proof LC200N blade, and it was only a few bucks more than the Sage 2.
It also seems that most folks here on the Spyderco forum prefer almost every other lock Spyderco offers over the RIL / frame lock. The compression lock in particular seems quite popular. That brings us to the Sage 5. The 5 gave Spyderco enthusiasts the Sage in a compression lock form that's also nearly half an ounce and $50 lighter than the Sage 2. Then the Para 3 arrived. It was like the Sage 5 and the PM 2 had a child - a child that, in base S30V blade steel form, is even less expensive and still lighter in weight than the Sage 5. And the Para was born and raised in the USA on top of that. Then came the blurple S110V Para 3, and the sprints, and the exclusives. Suddenly the 3 inch long, finger choiled, distinctly Spyderco shaped blade folder was available in lots of cool new versions.
In the end, I think the poor Sage 2 got bullied in public, and his own family ignored him. Then the 2018 disco'ed list dropped and we all fought for one last moment with him. Only when he ran away from home did we step away from hanging out with his cooler Spydie siblings, and their cool friends from other brands, to pay attention to the Sage 2. By then it was too late. He was already gone.
My first thoughts were that the Sage 2 was just no longer competitive on the broader market. It's a very Plain Jane S30V and Ti frame lock. There are no trick features like a hardened steel lock bar face, over-travel stop, ball bearing pivot washers, flipper, cool colored back spacers, milled solid Ti pocket clip, etc that many competitors knives offer at the same price or less. A few models from ZT, Kizer, and Massdrop jump to mind. There are likely others.
Then my thoughts drifted to Spyderco Enthusiasts. A large portion of us are steel nerds. The Spydiechef offered the basic Taichung made, slab sided Ti scales, RIL, and phosphor bronze washers formula. But the 'chef did it with a novel shape and essentially rust proof LC200N blade, and it was only a few bucks more than the Sage 2.
It also seems that most folks here on the Spyderco forum prefer almost every other lock Spyderco offers over the RIL / frame lock. The compression lock in particular seems quite popular. That brings us to the Sage 5. The 5 gave Spyderco enthusiasts the Sage in a compression lock form that's also nearly half an ounce and $50 lighter than the Sage 2. Then the Para 3 arrived. It was like the Sage 5 and the PM 2 had a child - a child that, in base S30V blade steel form, is even less expensive and still lighter in weight than the Sage 5. And the Para was born and raised in the USA on top of that. Then came the blurple S110V Para 3, and the sprints, and the exclusives. Suddenly the 3 inch long, finger choiled, distinctly Spyderco shaped blade folder was available in lots of cool new versions.
In the end, I think the poor Sage 2 got bullied in public, and his own family ignored him. Then the 2018 disco'ed list dropped and we all fought for one last moment with him. Only when he ran away from home did we step away from hanging out with his cooler Spydie siblings, and their cool friends from other brands, to pay attention to the Sage 2. By then it was too late. He was already gone.
