Kaweco Sport Classic "bb"

[Ambrose Bierce]

I have already review the body of the sport classic, and you can find that here. Now onto this BB nib!

 

So I was really excited about getting into some special nibs, and straying the norm of medium and fine (which is all I had used before the Kaweco shipment). This nib is not what I was expecting. It is not a very wide line at all, it is just slightly larger than medium sport that is my EDC. I feel like this is mainly contributed by how dry this pen is. It barely puts down any ink at all, which is the opposite of what a BB should do. Because of that there is hard start issues, they aren't bad at all, but they are there. The nib has some flow issues, but it extremely smooth. This makes me feel like it has a case of "babies bottoms" (essentially over polishing the nib obstructing flow). If this pen was a wetter, I would most likely be in love. Oh well, can always send it off to get it wetter! I'll give it a 5/10 but if it was wetter I would say 8/10 easily. Here are the pictures!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IEqBBfm2he4/VQYihmD-ZYI/AAAAAAAAAew/EZTAiR62VfM/s1600/DSCN0822.JPG

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qvb_ciycCcg/VQYihY4OHCI/AAAAAAAAAeo/qIrFVIqeDO4/s1600/DSCN0824.JPG

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yMYqaBBB7b0/VQYiqg-gYMI/AAAAAAAAAfA/ygwnKFuhwDQ/s1600/DSCN0825.JPG

 

 

 

If you liked the review and would like to see more like it check out my blog at http://fpinkgeek.blogspot.com/

 

[The Blue Knight]

It looks no different to a normal broad to me. I wonder how there broad compares.

[wastelanded]

I have Kaweco B and BB nibs. There is a difference in line width to be sure: I'll try to do a comparison tomorrow.

 

For the flow issue, pull the nib and feed and scrub them with a soapy toothbrush and warm water. This has always worked for me. There is a detent on the top of the feed so you know exactly where the nib goes when it all goes back in the section. ETA: you'll hear/feel a slight click when nib and feed are all the way back in.

 

The Kaweco BB is one of my favourite nibs, a daily writer.

Edited March 16, 2015 by wastelanded

[TheRealScubaSteve]

My BB was very anemic as well. It drove me crazy so I had to adjust it, but hard starts persisted. I ended up sending it out for a new grind. It's now a springy italic gusher with no hard starts. My medium is also extremely dry but starts immediately every time. Kaweco nibs are super smooth, indeed.

 

[grainweevil]

Similar experience here; dry and just not terribly broad. After some tinkering, mine is now a juicy stub and a real pleasure to use.

 

Cheers, Al

[dneal]

Nice review, although I was expecting to see one of these...

 

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa163/roomdog/Pens/50s%20Kaweco%20Sport%2011/Sport%20Classic%20001_zpst78amq4x.jpg

[vojtahlad]

http://s33.postimg.org/ae2jug13z/kaweco_bb.jpg

[Simulacrum]

Wow. That orange BB looks awesome Vojtahlad! If it weren't for the other posts saying how anemic theirs were, I would order one right now. Maybe QC issue at Kaweco ? I dunno.

 

Hmm..

[theverdictis]

 

http://s33.postimg.org/ae2jug13z/kaweco_bb.jpg

 

Lamy almost looks like a think fine, medium at best compared to the 'juicy monster'.

[Astronymus]

In another thread someone mentioned that Kaweco nibs have the baby bottom on purpose. Yet no one knows why and what for.

[MingLau]

Same baby's bottom issue for my Kaweco BB, I ended up grinding it into something like a shorter version of togi nib (Can't exactly mimick a togi nib because the tipping material isn't long enough - ok one mau say it's just a zoom nib, but its good for writing Japanese/Chinese characters).

 

I also came across the thread that Kaweco or Bock doing it on purpose, as long as I remember they do it for the smoothness on an average (non fountain pen friendly, or rougher) paper, but I cant agree with them because we who interested in BB nibs are obviously fountain pen addits, and that Baby's bottom obviously gives a lot of trouble to us. It sounds a lot "rational XD" if their reason is to give trouble to us so we can custom grind it into something else - really, there is a lot of tipping material on this nib for grinding and so many of us are doing so!

 

There are a lot of reason to have a dry flow(or inconsistent flow), if anyone already tried adjusting the nib without improvement, try pull out the feed and see if it's bent, which will create a cavity between the nib and feed and seriously harm the ink flow, this seems to be a quite common problem for injection molded feed, just it's not easy to notice without pulling out the feed.

[minddance]

They want you to spread the tines and it would have very stubbish behaviour.

[minddance]

As usual, shake for ink. And spread those tines. You might be pleasantly surprised.

[ENewton]

My Sport was disappointing even after adjustment, but configuring it as an eyedropper and using very wet inks has greatly improved its performance, even on non-absorbent paper.

[MingLau]

My Sport was disappointing even after adjustment, but configuring it as an eyedropper and using very wet inks has greatly improved its performance, even on non-absorbent paper.

Ah, my experience is that, the Kaweco inks can cause flow issues, sometimes even for Kaweco pens due to nib tolerance, and they don't work at all with any flex nibs. If I need to think of a merit, perhaps their inks work slightly better on cheap papers, less feathering.

[minddance]

I have been very pleased with my Kaweco BB filled with Herbin Cacoa du Bresil and Violette Pensee. While Waterman Serenity Blue, being reticent, stayed close to the nib and sometimes wouldnt write, Herbin really delivers.

[minddance]

But I must say that it did not write out of the box. The same goes for my fine and medium nibs. My broad nib is the worry free nib. I haven't bought enough Kawecos to determine if it is a QC problem or all Kaweco nibs are made this way.

 

I urge pen makers to check their work - regularly.

[Simulacrum]

Not to sound like I'm ripping on Kaweco - but I have a burgundy sport. It was one of my first pens, and I was so frustrated with it out of the box - wrote awfully scratchy, very dry, bad starts etc.. that I decided to mess with the nib - I say 'mess with the nib' because I didn't really know what I was doing - still don't lol. But after looking some stuff up I just kept slowly and carefully pushing the tines apart. I was petrified of breaking my new pen - yet it was useless as it was so I figured there was no loss if I ruined it) after that I bought some brass shims and micro mesh at a local hobby shop - they did not sell fountain pens (models, and trains and stuff), so there's some hope for anyone who doesn't live near a 'fountain pen' store.

 

End of story - it writes great now, but it is a pretty thick 'Fine' - closer to a medium now I think. Still pretty feedbacky /little scratchy but writes pretty wet and am glad I bought it. Would I buy another one... hmm. Undecided.

[estux]

Sorry for resurrecting this old topic, I just want to add a picture about my Kaweco BB (Steel). the line is a tad over 1mm (on rhodia/clairefontainepaper), sightly stub too

 

I was a little bit worried about the nib, I discovered this topic after buying the Kaweco and then I saw a good amount of pictures where the BB looks like a regular B or even a M....luckily mine looks like a proper double broad.

 

For size comparison the sheet is an A4.

 

Not my best handwriting, it needs some adjustment to this kind of nib

 

 

 

[Honeybadgers]

my kaweco sport BB is a real BB.

 

it's also a turd that constantly hard starts.