Aurora 88 Flex Nib In Action ~ Video

[Earthdawn]

I got the green light to let it go public… so here is a sample of the Aurora 88 Flex in action.

188 Blue resin will be released shortly, say early March, and then the Red will follow with another LE of 188.

 

[errantmarginalia]

Thanks for the sneak peak, the nib looks like fun! Shame about the gold trim on the blue pen, though...

[Frank66]

Magnifico, it does not get any better, thanks for sharing!! And the ink is?

[Professor Plume]

Just preordered one from Dan Smith. Who can resist an Italian flex nib !? And now, just learned from this thread that a red pen is to follow . . . ‼️

[Earthdawn]

Magnifico, it does not get any better, thanks for sharing!! And the ink is?

 

Sorry... Ink in Aurora Blue and paper is Clairefontaine French ruled spiral.

[Prithwijit]

Hi

 

How does the nib compare to an OMAS Extra Flessible nib or the pilot FA nib in terms of flex experience and smoothness?

 

Regards,

 

Prithwijit

[Feanaaro]

Now I'm sad... because it will be too expensive for me to get one :-/

[DrHumongous]

Wow, this is a must have. Where are you guys pre ordering these beauties? Is the new aurora blue-black ink coming out at the same time?

[zchen]

I just got to test this at Aurora's table at LA Pen Show, it is an absolute must have for me now.

[Omaslover]

I just got to test this at Aurora's table at LA Pen Show, it is an absolute must have for me now.

Were they available for sale in LA?

[welcmhm]

Can anyone comment as to the comparison between the forthcoming Aurora flex nib and the Wahl Eversharp Modern Decoband? I was able to try the Wahl Eversharp at the LA Pen Show and was amazed at how smooth it is when not flexed, though it might be a bit large for me. Sadly, Aurora was not set up by the time I had to leave.

[zchen]

Were they available for sale in LA?

 

No, I believe the distributor said available at retailers early March.

Edited February 20, 2017 by zchen

[JonSzanto]

Here were my impressions (that I posted elsewhere as well...) of the pre-launch of the Aurora 88 with 'flex' nib at the LA Show:

 

I was able to test this pen on two separate occasions at the show. I was guardedly optimistic, but I feel that there is going to be a case of... overselling what the nib really is.

Upsides: nib is nice to look at, feels comfortable to write with (no catches, etc), and most notably had very good snap-back. For the most part, the feed kept up, and railroading was an issue only if you tried to race with the thing.

Downsides: flex is such a loose term, but this nib feels more like a step beyond a soft nib, with just a bit more splaying of the tines. Unless you get a grind, there is no needle line, just a European fine, maybe XF. The range is not dramatic, and I felt the nib was definitely saying "Don't push me too far." I think John Mottishaw's Spencerian treatments, especially on the Falcon nibs, go further.

However, this may be a harbinger of things to come, and be the potential beginning of new entries of nib making with more flexible characteristics. In this, I think it is a very positive move. I found the colors, even the ones beyond the initial two offerings, to be very underwhelming, certainly on a pen of this price point. There were also two metal-bodied pens, (possibly) silver- and gold-plated, that added a little heft and certainly a step up in looks. Again, I'm assuming these first iterations are a sensible way for the company to test a new area of development, and that is a very good thing.

As to whether someone would want to save up for this pen because of the flex , if it indeed goes for more than the $500 strata, which I am pretty certain it will (being an LE pen), you could get a far, far better nib for flex with that amount of money by going to a reputable vintage dealer and getting a nice Waterman or other gold nib from the true era of flexible nibs. This ain't that, that's for sure.

Regarding the question of this nib vs. the new W-E nib... They really are two different concept nibs, but certainly at this point, the W-E is a far more finished product, albeit in a large and more expensive pen as well. Again, not a noodle, but that Decoband writes like a dream and would be maximally suitable not for elaborate scripting (such as variants on Spencerian or Copperplate scripts), but in a very much more expressive handwriting from your own penmanship. And with the price difference between the two pens, you gat a LOT more pen - in style, materials, and execution - with the Wahl. But that is what we came here for!

[antoniosz]

Ditto... To paraphrase what wrote in an other post

I went to the LA show for one main reason, to check the Aurora flexible nib. They Aurora people had all three colors with the flex nib inked with blue-black for everyone to try. It was good but I was not mesmerized. Don't get me wrong I love my Optimas and I would very much like to have a good flex nib on one of them. It was a semiflex nib with reasonble line variation and good recovery on the thick-thin transition. It missed couple of lines when I tried to go fast.
I did not feel comfortable to push it. For $600 I can get some great vintage pens with flex. Balances, Duofolds, Watermans. Plus I just don't need another basic color pen 88 to get the nib. I will wait to see if they they will sell it alone without the pen and if they will improve it and then we will see.

[Feanaaro]

Can anyone be more precise about the width of the un-flexed line? How would it compare with a regular 14k Aurora EF?

 

I tried the Decoband once, just to see about the flex as it would be both too expensive and too large/heavy for me to use, and I wasn't impressed. The nib was soft(-ish) sure, but the un-flexed line was already so broad and wet (I don't understand why they started from their, very generous, F as a base, and used the EF only for the non-flex version... but I digress...) that the actual line variation effect was very disappointing.