I always amaze myself at my stupidity because I have not picked up a Leatherman yet. Not sure why I have not except that stupidity thing I just mentioned.

My touring is mostly going from state park to state park. I usually make a small fire just to have one.

I find that I'm immediately prejudiced against any product that needs a flashy video ( a helicopter? REALLY? ) to market it.

Somehow I've managed to survive for decades with nothing more than an old Swiss Army Knife, recently replaced with a lock-blade version.

Very few bicycle tourists need to chop wood. Not many choose to chop wood. If you have a penchant to make fires, this might be reasonable to carry.

You can't be prepared for everything and people tend to carry more crap than they should. This seems to a very likely candidate for the "leave at home" pile.

It is an interesting design/idea.

"Hold off attacking me so I can get out my odd knife from the bottom of my pannier." (You are much more likely to be run over by a truck than being "attacked" unless you are riding in a place you really should have avoided.)

Interesting, and probably fun to play around with a little as you planed on doing. I don't think it would replace a regular 4-5" fixed blade as a standard camp carry knife. I'm not sure why everyone is so down on just having fun and trying it out. I'm sure it'll keep you entertained for a while.

Also for a few others talking about the video, it definitely seemed to me that this guy is simply doing a knife review. This "flashy video" isn't the company trying to sell the product. It's just a guy with a youtube channel who likes to review outdoor gear.

The attackers in this area are very gentleman-like and go by a code of "Always make sure your potential victim is ready". That allows me to change out of my unstable bike shoes, get my new knife thing, throwing stars, etc. and even get in some stretches. Who can ask for more?



Exactly. I got one and I'll play with it and see where it ranks.

As far as being prepared for everything I fight that all the time. I backpacked/hunted before I toured/bikepacked. I on-purpose bought a smaller backpack than I wanted so it would force me to make decisions. As time goes on I'll try a new piece of gear when a nifty one walks by or something has to be replaced due to damage, age, etc (like grandma!).

As I mentioned above in a post this knife thing will probably just go to my hunting cabin and stay there. Heck I may just use it when cutting up taters or I'll see how it holds up when throwing it at a tree or something. I suck at getting a regular knife to stick. Why would I need that skill you may ask? I'll answer.... "I won't." But it's fun to mess around with.

Certainly. I could as well but I find a bit of fun into selectively trying out new things.

I have one of the below which I keep in my truck. It has things I use in case of emergency such as pulling over to help an accident (a few times a year), or "whatever". If I like this knife thing I'll probably get one to slip into a pouch or something.

http://www.maxpedition.com/store/pc/...39k_detail.jpg

For that purpose it does look like a well designed and light weight tool.

Making cooking fires: tell you a little secret. All you need for a cooking fire are the tiny twigs, shavings, chips and etc. which industrious people have left for you at every ordinary campsite. No need for any tool at all. You arrange some stones into a little chimney about 3" ID and put your twigs in there. Works like a charm.

many places Its not long between end of the rainy season and Fire Season .. then building open fires are made Illegal .

other than say a prepared campground where the welded up a steel fire box, to build it in.

I love my Opinel and it is a great knife for preparing food, cutting steaks, sharpening small sticks, etc but it lacks some heft and cannot be used for heavier duty jobs like splitting wood.

I am also a bit of a knife fiend...

I carry a Leatherman PST1 and one of several folding knives on a daily basis, when I am travelling and in the bush I carry my Leatherman Surge and one of my fixed blade knives like a Mora or my Fallkniven F1 which is a serious piece of work.

My everyday carry... I prefer the Opinel to the Buck knife and have a Leatherman frame lock that I carry quite often.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/rando...knivesedc1.JPG

F1... designed for the Swedish military as a survival knife.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/rando...lknivenF1a.JPG

Leatherman Surge... the case also carries a Fisher pen and a small flashlight. I could probably build a house with this multi tool and the blade interchange allows you to use the diamond file separately to sharpen the main blades / points. It does weigh a full pound with all the extra bits and bit driver.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/rando...eunpacked1.JPG

One of the best knives ever made is the Swedish Mora... it is light, strong, and holds a wicked edge. I got my first one from my grandfather when I was 8 or 9 and have given one of these to each of my daughters and my nephews and nieces.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/rando...apdx1sepia.JPG

This is a truly versatile blade. I got this from one of our Negrito instructors when I was going through jungle training in the Philippines over 40 years ago. It is made from a truck leaf spring, and can cut 4" bamboo, skin a monkey, or trim your finger nails. A heck of a lot better survival tool than our standard issue Ka-Bars.

Come to think of it, I can't think of the last time I had to skin any monkeys while on tour:)

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...5ea23acecb.jpg

Agreed. However if I'm at a campsite I like to build one just a bit larger just to stare at and contemplate the secrets of life.

Yes. Those are what we have in the state parks.

All fine tools! A few of those I have on my list to acquire over a period of time.

I have a commercial version of that, very useful.

I have a ka-bar, one of the leather handle ones. I carry it because my Grandfather had one while overseas fighting. There are certainly better knifes but if I need a fixed blade I'll always use it, and remember him each time I'm using it as a pry bar or a digging tool.

The Surge will also use longer saw blades as it has a standard Bosch mount although you can't fold it up... carrying a longer saw blade adds almost no weight and can be very useful.

As it is, it has a wood and a metal hacksawblade that do store in the tool and in the case.

The new model Surge is even better as it has replaceable wire / cable cutters and the cable cutters work exceptionally well on brake and shifter cables.

I built my own but the Swiss Army Volcano stove is really nice...

http://www.solarseller.com/3f702cd80.jpg

I think the leatherman is another consumer candy thing. It makes sense if you regularly use all the tools, and have stuff that you carry (incredible!) that takes all those tools. Carry tools that fit something on your bike or other essential gear, otherwise you are carrying security blanket, what-if, tools.

I carry only a 3 inch long Spyderco with a delrin handle. I carry one of those postage stamp sized can openers (but I wouldn't if I didn't eat canned food now and again). The spyderco knife will cut a can open in a pinch. Most Bushcraft is nonsense. it's fun, and I admire the skills, but it has little practical use. Most cycling is far from wilderness; in a world of portable phones, survival situations are pretty rare, even dying people are getting their calls out; and in those set-up situations like Naked and Afraid, most of the survival skills amount to starving it out for 21 days. You have to bring more stuff than a knife and a fire starter, and when you do there is less and less for any of those things to do.

I tour with an Opinel No.6, a vintage picnic corkscrew and a plastic Light My Fire spork (Light My Fire - Spork Original). With ring-pull cans and screw-top wine bottles I could probably survive without the corkscrew but like to treat myself to the occasional chateau bottled wine.


Joseph Opinel 1872-1960, a true survivor.

I agree it does work like a charm. I did use this technique on one of my tours when I was out of fuel. What's not so charming is scrubbing the soot off your pot.

That's how I see it. It looks wonderful for preparing hides for tanning. I could really see owning this blade if I had a large number of hides to work on.

I use my Leatherman PST 1 every day, it is a nice light carry with a good selection of tools.... it was the original Leatherman.

The Surge is a heavy duty tool which has also seen a lot of use and abuse... I am working off site today so will carry that.

Well as I said, it doesn't have to be wrong for anyone else. However the fact you use it every day, like say the kitchen sink, does not recommend it to me. Your pic above shows a lot of stuff like Robertson bits (?), even regular screw driver bits have little place on my bike. Looks like a security blanket tool to me. A 2 inch hacksaw blade? If I needed a hack saw, I would just throw in a real blade, I could grind one end into a knife. As I say my basic rule it that if it doesn't torque something on my bike I don't carry it. I can't think of anything I use needle noses for on my bike. My only leatherman is the one with the scissors instead of the pliers. But I don't carry it either.