Shaman sprint run?

Frustrated? Yes, I am. End of the world? No.

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I thought I was pretty quick but that's 4 failures if I include the knife works preorder I kept missing too.
 
If you want proof that Spyderco can't always predict the success of a model, just look at the Sprints that sell poorly. Or other models for that matter.
Spyderco won't do an exact re-run of a Sprint but they could make it with different colored scales.
I agree that social media has super charged dealer marketing. I don't see that changing.
I like seeing Spyderco have success selling to collectors who want the same knife in different configurations. Spyderco has proven a willingness and interest in experimenting more than other knife companies; lots of innovation and quirky stuff. It's a knife company run by knife enthusiasts.
 
This pattern seems to be emerging as these are getting delivered to dealers:

- no matter how quick on the draw, no one who has been commenting on here has been able to successfully complete a purchase from any of the dealers. I can't comment on the same on Spyderco's own Forum as I have stopped trolling that one (not a member there).

- more and more of these are immediately showing up on eBay, specially as of a few days ago since the dealers have been getting their very limited supplies.

I am therefore going to speculate that if the dealers are getting a handful to a dozen of these, maybe something as little as 1 or 2 go up for sale and the rest are grabbed internally, whether through nepotism or reserved for those dealers' VIP members. If people are going to sully their reputation by clearing $100ish on a hot-potato knife like this situation, so be it but I'm not going to be a part of this charade. I don't mind paying $100, $200 or more on a sought after knife which I missed out on (cue Nathan Carothers knives in here) but I refuse to do that in such cases when people swoop in for a quick profit (some call these types flippers / scalpers).
 
Casinostocks said:
This pattern seems to be emerging as these are getting delivered to dealers:

- no matter how quick on the draw, no one who has been commenting on here has been able to successfully complete a purchase from any of the dealers. I can't comment on the same on Spyderco's own Forum as I have stopped trolling that one (not a member there).

- more and more of these are immediately showing up on eBay, specially as of a few days ago since the dealers have been getting their very limited supplies.

I am therefore going to speculate that if the dealers are getting a handful to a dozen of these, maybe something as little as 1 or 2 go up for sale and the rest are grabbed internally, whether through nepotism or reserved for those dealers' VIP members. If people are going to sully their reputation by clearing $100ish on a hot-potato knife like this situation, so be it but I'm not going to be a part of this charade. I don't mind paying $100, $200 or more on a sought after knife which I missed out on (cue Nathan Carothers knives in here) but I refuse to do that in such cases when people swoop in for a quick profit (some call these types flippers / scalpers).
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Same story over on the Spydie home forum. :mad: I do wonder if some of the dealer's employees are to blame, but I sure hope not, that would be pretty uncool. :thumbsdown: I won't be party to flippers/scalpers either, they're cancer to enthusiast communities. :poop: Folks need to learn to exercise (exorcise? ;)) self-control, and not cave to the flippers.
 
mb> said:
You don’t have to guess on this. It’s a Sprint, 1200 pieces.

I haven’t engaged in the recent angst driven criticisms because there are a lot of opinions to be had. And that’s all they are.

But to equate a successful knife company (and I’ll highlight we’re talking knife company here, not a soulless corporation that makes knives - there is a difference) making a product where demand far exceeds supply...to equate that relatively rare (for the knife industry) situation with promoting scalping...that is just a real stretch and I believe unfair to these good folks.

I get the frustration. I really do. Let’s not let emotion and FOMO get this blown so out of touch with reality though.
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Well said. Great company owned by a great family with high quality products. Spyderco is willing to do so many outside the box projects for its customers.

I just think the run is spread too thin so dealers and employees keep most of what comes in. I'd be lying if I said I would turn one down in that instance!
 
Sprints have always been a bit crazy, but this one is on a whole new level.

BellaBlades said:
Well said. Great company owned by a great family with high quality products. Spyderco is willing to do so many outside the box projects for its customers.
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Indeed, we are admittedly a bit spoiled in that regard.
 
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Lots of sprint runs don't sell well. I think the issue here is that when the Shaman came out, a lot of people (myself included) thought "nice knife, but what it really needs is a micarta handle and a really tough steel." When it was announced that that's exactly what we'd be getting a lot of people already felt invested, and that's why it's so frustrating to not be able to get one after they finally come out.

It's understandable for Spyderco to test the waters with a sprint run, but given the solid base of demand for this model before they even announced it, they could have chosen to just go all in and make it regular production. Hopefully that lesson will be learnt and they'll make it readily available in black or green canvas micarta handles shortly.

FWIW, I hope they take the lesson more generally that there is a lot of appetite for folders built to cut in really tough modern steels (3V, 4V, CruWear). I already pretty much have all the Spydercos I need from current and past models. The only things that will pry open my wallet at this stage would be a Military, PM3 LT or Police LT in one of those steels.
 
Does anyone know WHY a sprint run is just 1200 pieces? Why not 1500 or 2000?

If Spyderco increases the size of a sprint run for all sprint runs, the ratio of successful sprint runs to failed sprint runs shouldn't really change, and thus relative net profits and losses shouldn't really change either. What am I missing?
 
Brummie said:
Lots of sprint runs don't sell well. I think the issue here is that when the Shaman came out, a lot of people (myself included) thought "nice knife, but what it really needs is a micarta handle and a really tough steel." When it was announced that that's exactly what we'd be getting a lot of people already felt invested, and that's why it's so frustrating to not be able to get one after they finally come out.

It's understandable for Spyderco to test the waters with a sprint run, but given the solid base of demand for this model before they even announced it, they could have chosen to just go all in and make it regular production. Hopefully that lesson will be learnt and they'll make it readily available in black or green canvas micarta handles shortly.

FWIW, I hope they take the lesson more generally that there is a lot of appetite for folders built to cut in really tough modern steels (3V, 4V, CruWear). I already pretty much have all the Spydercos I need from current and past models. The only things that will pry open my wallet at this stage would be a Military, PM3 LT or Police LT in one of those steels.
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Bingo. I feel like Sal asked us on the forums what we’d like to see as a Shaman sprint run and a lot of us said micarta handles with a cruwear blade. So when Sal announced that was happening we felt emotionally invested in the knife but now that it’s becoming apparent how few they made, it’s confusing.

Why ask us what we want if we can’t buy it? It’d be like me asking my boys what they want for dinner, making what they both asked for but then saying “Oh, I didn’t make enough for both of you.”
 
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731Chopper said:
Bingo. I feel like Sal asked us on the forums what we’d like to see as a Shaman sprint run and a lot of us said micarta handles with a cruwear blade. So when Sal announced that was happening we felt emotionally invested in the knife but now that it’s becoming apparent how few they made, it’s confusing.
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Plus, when there's already a lot of excitement built up, I guess that will bring more scalpers out of the woodwork, making it even worse for your average crucarta-loving man in the street.

Casinostocks said:
You see, some good came outta this FUBAR. There's a lot of bonding and bro'ing is going on in here as misery luvs company :p
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Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.
 
Who could anticipate that the evil spirits engendered by this Shaman run were going to call for an exorcism?

90


"The power of Sal compels you!"

(They'll make more, fellas. Trust me. Actually, trust Sal.)
 
So before I get Stoned to Death in here after reading all the above, please understand. My buddy in Cali visits a lot of Gun and knife shops. Since I live in Hawaii, if I have my eye on something I always let him know to purchase it if he sees it somewhere when he’s gun/knife shopping. Luckily our interests on knives don’t align, lol. So he was able to snag one of these Shaman Micarta Cruwear for me from a Mom & Pop store. Of the 20+ knives I’ve asked him to look for, this is only the second one that he was able to snag.

All of you who made it in the KC preorder in the first 2 hours should be ok. I was told my KC preorder was made at 1.5 hours into the 2 hour window. They just filled my order today.

F3736CC8-1ABF-4BAB-82D3-C33884E7917F.jpeg
 
"Havoc" said:
So before I get Stoned to Death in here after reading all the above, please understand. My buddy in Cali visits a lot of Gun and knife shops. Since I live in Hawaii, if I have my eye on something I always let him know to purchase it if he sees it somewhere when he’s gun/knife shopping. Luckily our interests on knives don’t align, lol. So he was able to snag one of these Shaman Micarta Cruwear for me from a Mom & Pop store. Of the 20+ knives I’ve asked him to look for, this is only the second one that he was able to snag.

All of you who made it in the KC preorder in the first 2 hours should be ok. I was told my KC preorder was made at 1.5 hours into the 2 hour window. They just filled my order today.

View attachment 1219661
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Congrats on making the list. I dunno where I'm in that list but as of now, it shows as pre-order and 0 avail. I could therefore very well be outside of the window looking in. All I know is that it was late in the eve of Sept 24th.

BTW, you should be thrown rocks at not because of scoring a very tough to find Shaman, but because of where you live! Aloha :p
 
"Havoc" said:
So before I get Stoned to Death in here after reading all the above, please understand. My buddy in Cali visits a lot of Gun and knife shops. Since I live in Hawaii, if I have my eye on something I always let him know to purchase it if he sees it somewhere when he’s gun/knife shopping. Luckily our interests on knives don’t align, lol. So he was able to snag one of these Shaman Micarta Cruwear for me from a Mom & Pop store. Of the 20+ knives I’ve asked him to look for, this is only the second one that he was able to snag.

All of you who made it in the KC preorder in the first 2 hours should be ok. I was told my KC preorder was made at 1.5 hours into the 2 hour window. They just filled my order today.

View attachment 1219661
Click to expand...

:mad:

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j/k :p Congrats!
 
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