I see this one on sale on Ebay and have not heard of it before, nor does it appear on the list of reviews. Does anyone have knowledge of this Reform model?

Thanks!!

Hi, yes I sell them. Reform is now out of Business but they made great pens that are nearly the quality of Pelikan. The classico is a very nice piston filler with a two-tone steel and gold plated nib. I would say it is as good as a Pelikan 150, but at a better price. I bought 800 Classico and other Reform piston filler pens a few years ago and am down to about 50 left. I would say in the 750 I sold I didn't have more than 2-3 problem pens. They are really good pens! Cheers, BOB

Thank you for your reply, Bob. I see in the Ebay ad that the pen is a similar size to the M400. Here you suggest it is as good as the 150. Would you say it's thin like the 150, the same length -- I guess I'm trying to get a sense of the size. I like a thinner, lighter pen, so am interested in what you might have to say.

Thank you for your time!

Hi, Bob. Just an update. I asked my questions via PM with a knowledgeable member of the Board. I believe this would be a good pen for me to purchase, so I ordered one this aft.

Thank you for making the offer. I look forward to writing with the pen!

Best.

I recently bought one from Bob myself. It's a bit thicker and a bit longer than the 1745. I like the look of the pen and really need to take it to work so I can fill and use it.

I bought one of these from speerbob, somewhat as impulse- I've such a soft spot for these semi-generic German piston fillers. It's an interesting pen. Goes for the Montblancish look, but does it really skinny. I can't help but wonder if it's supposed to make people think you have an MB 146 or something in your pocket, because the clip is disproportionately large for the pen- looked at straight on it takes up more than half the width of the pen. It even goes for the modern Montblanc looking ink window, small clears windows w/ black stripes breaking it up. Perhaps it's a Fun-house Mirror Montblanc.

If only it was a wee bit thicker! Then I'd like this pen even more. I don't care much about how long a pen is, unlike a lot of folks around here, but I do need a base level of girth. The 1745 falls short by a tiny bit for me, so I can't use it for long periods. As far as dimensions of this pen, look up the dimensions of a Lamy 2000- the Classico is the same length capped, uncapped and posted as my 2000.

The pen, out of the box, is maybe 3-4/10 wetness. Speaking of a wetness scale, where is info on Richard's? I don't know what the benchmarks are, so for me it's compared to other pens I've used. A lot of the pens I use are really wet, which has become an issue taking a class this fall- most of the pens I use are so wet that they have been feathering like mad on the cheap lab notebook issued to me and the photocopies I'm also writing on in class. Driving me nuts. This pen writes on it without feathering and feels smooth- a lot of more expensive pens do very poorly on cheap paper.

The nibs are very easily swappable between the 1745 and the Classico- so if you've had someone tune or grind the 1745's nib, it's easy to unscrew them both and swap. The 1745's nib is smaller, but this pen isn't all that much bigger, so I don't think it'd feel too odd. I tried it for a minute and it felt fine. I prefer the nib of the Classico; the pen I got from Speerbob wrote better out of the box than my 1745 did. The latter required some hamfisted tuning by myself, where the Classico worked well straight out of the cellophane. The Classico's nib has a bit less spring, but to me that's a good thing for how I tend to use cheaper pens- standing up, on the go.

I'm not sure why I've such an interest to try non-first tier brands of German pens, but I do! Next on the list: a Senator Windsor, or a President if I can find a *really* good price on it.

Now that I have this, I won't likely be using my 1745 anytime soon- if anyone wants it for $8 shipped, PM me. Only inked once.

Aaron

Aaron, thanks for the "real-life" experiences. I've been debating on this one. This helps.

Thanks for your comments, Aaron. Like you, I've enjoyed my 1745 -- both the quality, "well-made-ness" of it, as well as the size. I am using mine for writing comments on student papers with Swishmix Glacier Blue. The smaller size helps me keep what I have to say in the margins, leaving room for other comments on the page as well. It's very precise in that regard, I find. The nib sweats out/creeps a little bit of the Noodler's Swishmix, but nothing like the rivers I saw in other pens I tried that ink in. The one I have now is between an M and F, and it works well on many types of paper. I have ordered an Ex. Fine for "tighter spots" on these student papers, and I look forward to using it too. JJBlanche offers a great deal, and his nib tuning service is wonderful as well. These are very good pens, in my experience -- and incredibly reasonable.

My hands are relatively small -- or fine -- or whatever I should call them. In other days, I've done roofing, poured concrete, written poetry and fiction, and everything in between, so they've worked well, but overall "sensitively," I guess. That's one reason why I like the 1745 -- it's hard to find a solid pen that thin and light. The nib floats across the ink, and I can fly on paper -- easily and solidly all at the same time, and the ideas fly easily too, I find, as they follow the flow of the pen. Oddly, as I've been writing more with the 1745, now that school has started, I've found even my M200 feeling a little too thick. I use that for journaling, writing projects, etc. -- and the nib is hard to beat, but I've been missing that thin, light touch -- even thinner and lighter than the M200. So, that's why I'm giving the Classico a shot. When I have a whole sheet of paper in front of me, a longer pen is preferable -- as there's more room to move/"fly." I often switch to the Pilot 78G I bought from Samovar -- also relatively thin, but as nice as that nib is, it doesn't feel as solid/certain to me as the Reform. So lightness, thinness, and a solid feel combined is what I'm hoping for with the Classico. Will see what happens. I don't think I'll ever retire the Pilot or M200 -- but I'm ready at the same time to take a shot at the Classico.

"Everybody's different, " as they say -- or, "That's baseball," as my mother-in-law likes to say. Achhh... the sound of that word still hurts. Was up til after midnight, suffering with the Red Sox. Ouch....

Anyway, I'll write back with some conclusions, once the pen arrives. Thanks again for your post!

Sweet zombie jesus! Discovery time!

When I got my 1745 from JJ, I noticed that the nib screws out. At the time, I tried putting a Pelikan M150 nib into it, but it didn't fit right. For some adjustment, I just took the nib out of the Classico, and again thought: it's a shame you can't buy Reform nibs for this still! Then, on a whim I tried out some other nibs, and guess what?

Pelikan does work- just not modern Pelikan. The nib from my 100N does! I about fell over. It's an awesome old B nib with a lot of line variation and flex... and it fits in the Reform pens. Another case of $100 nib in a $20 pen.

Aaron

I think this has happened to me before, when I do a Google search: a FPN review shows up that isn't on the list. Anyway, while I'm waiting for my pen to arrive this coming week, I tried typing in the name of the model, Reform Classico + Reviews, and an extensive FPN review and discussion showed up. Here's a link to it, for any who might be interested:

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/lo...php/t57791.html

Best to all!

Hi, I haven't been keeping up on this thread but glad you're all enjoying the Reforms. I have sold so many of these and people love them. I'm pretty sure they are the best $20.00 piston filler you can buy right now. Several people have bought spares just in case they loose one. Reform was a family owned company and I have been told that Pelikan did make some of their pens for them. That may explain the very high quality.

I'll likely sell out soon. I have only a small number of Classico pens left and some of the flat top style ones with a medium nib. I have more of the Calligraph fine nib pens but they go fast too. I wish i could get more but I bought all that was left. Enjoy. Cheers, BOB