The Pen Addict 737/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	737
Title:	That's a Good Pen
Release Date:	October 8th, 2026
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 737
Audio File:	Audio Episode 737
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 737
Length:	5050 min <br />0.833 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From Relay, this is The Pen Addict, episode 737. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley and I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad.

Brad Dowdy: What is up Myke Hurley? How are you doing?

Myke Hurley: I felt like I had to relearn every word that I just said. I wasn't confident in any of it. I was going to say this was connected. I didn't know what the episode number was. And it's like I've never heard of Pen Chalet before, even though they sponsor the show very frequently. So that's where I am in my life. I was 10 and Brad. We had a very minor baby emergency last night, but we were in the hospital at midnight. I'm very tired.

Brad Dowdy: Just for clarity, no baby illness is minor, right? I mean, there is technically minor. Sniffles are minor. Anything after that. Like, you've got to take care of it.

Myke Hurley: I know, but you've got to treat it seriously, but nothing's wrong. You know what I mean? Yes. Yes, no. But like, if you need her to be seen by a doctor and all the doctors are closed, well, there's only one place for you. Yeah, boy. And that's where we were. So I'm very, very tired today. Also jet lag. It's all happening. And I'm jet lagged because I got back from Memphis. It's honestly, like a couple of days ago, it feels like a long time ago. It does, doesn't it? Yeah. The campaign is over. The fundraiser is over. We raised just a fantastic amount of money.

Myke Hurley: $756,000. It says here $201.

Myke Hurley: I think that that might be a little bit more than I thought it was. So who knows how this stuff works, but it means we have passed five, we're actually very close to $5.6 million raised since we started our fundraising in 2019. So I'm incredibly proud of what we did together.

Myke Hurley: And we had a great time in the podcast at all. Really just brilliant stuff. And that's all available for people to go watch. There's a whole 12 hours available for you to go watch. We had a lot of fun. Brad and I exerted physical dominance over anyone that would come near us in the relay races. We were just, it was incredible stuff. So you can go and watch all of that at your leisure.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that was a proper dunking on the other team. Just right over the top. Destruction.

Myke Hurley: Like just brilliant stuff.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I locked in. I locked in from the jump. I needed it. It was on. I needed it. You did need it because I had let you down earlier. Had you? Yeah, that was something. On the family feud. Oh yeah, it was bad. I failed miserably. Yeah, that was real bad.

Myke Hurley: Actually, yeah, no, you did owe me. You have paid the debt. Kathy Campbell on the other hand. Yeah. We have to have a conversation. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: A pen addict always pays his debts. Yes.

Myke Hurley: He so did. He so did. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Speaking of pens and the podcast-a-thon, I just want you to know I had nothing to do with what happened to you. I was unaware.

Myke Hurley: I was responsible.

Stationery Moment

Brad Dowdy: I think, though, our listeners should be aware of what happened. Can you let anyone into the one very popular stationary moment from the podcast-a-thon?

Myke Hurley: So, every year for many years, we do like a blind box challenge where Stephen and I are blindfolded and we have our arms in boxes and the boxes are open to the camera so people can see them. And we have to identify what is in the box. And it began with funny stuff and then it's obviously trended to all gross stuff. But then the gross stuff got too much and so funny stuff has returned, which is great. So, there's a bit of a mix between the two. And this year, one of the items, I put my hand into the box and I found a pen. And I'm like, great. I said it's a pen, but they always want a bit more than that. You have to describe it. So, I'm like, well, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to identify the pen. So, what do you do when you want to identify the pen? You see what is the mechanism. I'm like, great. This is a click pen. So, I clicked it. It was an electric shock pen.

Brad Dowdy: You're blindfolded. You can't see anything. You're going, this is a pen. I have got this. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: I really went for it. When your senses are being controlled, it heightens other things, right? And I will say, this is the thing that I've noticed over time. It's really interesting when you're blindfolded like this because things that are gross, you don't find them gross because you can't see them. But it like heightens your sense of touch, for me at least. And so, it was very shocking. I believe what I did was throw the pen, take my other hand, slam it onto the top of the box. I turned away and screamed. I cannot remember the last time I was more angry. I was furious. I was so mad. I was fuming. It was a thing. Yeah. Yeah. Is the way that I would describe it. It was, I don't know how many hours we've been going at this point, but it was too many hours to be electrocuted. But I won the points because Stephen wouldn't dare touch it because he didn't know what was going on. Yeah. He just could hear me. Just gutturally screaming. Yeah. Yeah. I really had to get it all out. I got it all out. Got my points. Returned to the game.

Brad Dowdy: It was an intense few minutes because we were all-

Myke Hurley: I don't know how everybody else felt. Well, we were- It's just going on.

Brad Dowdy: So I didn't, so I was a judge for this and I was on Stephen's side, which would be opposite you. So I don't usually see them put the items in the box. So I didn't know what it was at the time. And then you, so the way Myke does this, which I did this game later in the day and I took some hints for Myke, you just send it from the jump. You gotta. It's not, it's not going to be good. So you just go, right? So you just jam your hands, right? When they say go, you just go instead of like dilly dallying and just like being, oh, I don't know. Okay.

Myke Hurley: So for people asking and for those that are interested, in the video, this is at eight hours, one minute and 45 seconds. I will put a link in the show notes that is timestamped. Sometimes they don't work, but that's where you can find it. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So I'm sitting there and I don't know what it is. And they go, you know, all right, go. And Myke goes, it's a pen. And I'm like, oh, cool. And then like he started screaming, he started screaming and I had to peek around the box.

Myke Hurley: You're standing on the other side of me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And it happened so fast. I don't know what they're putting in the box, right? I don't. And it's been, you know, traditionally food or just, you know, weird feeling stuff. And Myke just loses it. And I peek around and I see everyone out front that could see what was happening. They're just on the floor. And like, I'm sorry. Like we, we just really, it was unbelievable. Like it's like, you can't script this stuff. Like it was just fascinating to watch. I've just, and I feel bad for you.

Myke Hurley: I've just watched it back for the first time. Yeah. Yeah. I'm real mad. It's intense. I'm just like screaming. Oh, really? And like, so we're all dressed in our costumes and there's just a moment where they zoomed in on me. I've got my back to the camera. I'm screaming and just the words, Woody.

Pen Gift

Brad Dowdy: Oh, what a time to be alive, you know? What a time. So there was stationary in the podcast-a-thon, although Myke probably wishes there wasn't. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: You did give me a P1 to use though. So that was good.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yeah. Um, so the one P, um, was, uh, and it was actually one you have. So you're very familiar. It was a little glittery, little glittery one. So, uh, it was pretty spectacular. So yeah, I did bring, I did bring pins. I used a spoke roadie, um, version three, which we're going to talk about later, uh, in my field notes. So took a lot of notes. We take a lot of notes during this. We have, you'll see us walking around with clipboards and stuff. We all have a run of show. So anyway, podcast-a-thon was great. Memphis was great. Uh, the pin addict fundraiser also wrapped like the, you know, the, my personal fundraiser that goes into the overall, um, event. So we raised $23,000 through the pin addict, which is spectacular. Um, and thank you all so much. I have a link to like the thank you. Um, so we did a bunch of like maker giveaways and, you know, pins and, and stationery giveaways that I, I asked for donations and all of these wonderful companies. And even more, I actually had to turn away some cause we, we get a lot of, I don't want to over collect things. I want to make sure I can get all of it out there for everyone and, and, um, give everyone the, the proper love that they deserve. So go check out this post. I'll put it in the link, uh, for the final fundraiser. All the giveaway winners have been chosen. And as a matter of fact, they've all responded and I've shipped all of their, all of their goods already.

Myke Hurley: So right. Cause these things can really drag on sometimes.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I knew I had to get this one in like pretty quick to did it.

Myke Hurley: And I'll say it on Tuesday. You raised over $23,000 for the kids of St. Jude, which is just amazing, Brad. It's great. It's great. Bravo to you.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, uh, another year, it just makes me so happy to do this and it's super fulfilling. I'm very proud of us as, you know, um, our network and everyone involved in our listeners for participating. Like it's, it's really great. Like you and Steven say, like, this is, this is y'all's like legacy for relay. And I'm, I'm glad to play a little role in that because it's, it's pretty important stuff. Could do it about you. All right. You ready to get into some pen stuff? Yes, please. Since it's been a couple of weeks. First, I'll shout out to, uh, Rob Knight for guesting. Yeah. Uh, filling in last week, uh, Rob and I had some great conversations on finishing notebooks and analog defaults. And, um, you know, Rob's always fun to talk to. Um, so if y'all haven't listened to that, go listen to last week's episode. So shout out Rob. I forgot to note that specifically. And shout out to Rob. Shout out to the Rob. All right. Um, a couple of Kickstarter things have happened over the last couple of weeks that I wanted to take a look at. Kickstarter is having a little moment. Like two weeks ago when we last talked, I was backing the Japan side quest Kickstarter. And now there's a couple of new stationary ones I wanted to, to, uh, get involved in. First one is the big eye design bolt action multi pin. So this is something that people who are into these machine pins, right? Which I consider big eye design and tactile turn like us at spoke and, uh, studio neat, which hint we'll be talking about that in a moment. Um, you know, the, the, not the, the smaller makers do a lot of machine metal pins. And the question has always come up is like, can someone do a multi pin? Um, so big eye design has come up with a design and it fits for cartridges. They're using like a, um, a Schneider cartridge, but it, the way I was reading it, um, it fits some of the, like the uni ball, maybe the style fit cartridges. So that is going to be something I'm going to use. So I did back this because I want to see how this works now. I don't need this as a product per se, but this is obviously going to be a super, super popular thing because it's very unique and it's something it's probably, it's, it's a more difficult problem to solve. You look through the campaign, there's lots of parts. What did they say? There's like 30 parts in this pin. Like that's a lot like this. There is a lot going on here. Um, and to be honest, given all that, I'm surprised at the cost. It was like 112, $115 when I backed it, uh, just got like the titanium black titanium one. Uh, but they have brass and copper that a little more expensive. So I'm interested, right? I want to see how this works. I want to fidget with it. Will I use it? Who knows? Um, as like a daily thing, but I'm glad this exists. And I think, I mean, I keep saying like, it's probably going to do well. I'll tell you, it's already raised $313,000. So I'm going to go with, yeah, it's done pretty well. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. So shout out to Chadwick and Joe who, uh, I got to get up there and see them. They're only a few hours away from me now, Myke. They have, uh, they're, uh, you know, just up the road a little bit. So I need to go, go hang out with those guys one day and see what's up. But this is a really cool idea. And then we'll see, we'll see what, uh, the final version is like. Would you ever be interested in something like this? Like, I don't know.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I know. I obviously I'm, I'm, I'm having my multi-pen moment and I, I love the idea of a nice, nice made multi-pen. I don't think in general that I like the feeling of ball action as a, as a, like a engagement mechanism. Sure. Sure. So I'm, I'm not sure. I would be keen to know how people react to this product once they get it. And maybe, maybe then I would be, but not, not backing a Kickstarter kind of, kind of curious on this one, I think.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. I, I like bolts. I don't, they, I don't mind them as long as they're done right. And, you know, not like protrude too much and things like that. Basic design elements of the bolt. So that doesn't bother me.

Myke Hurley: And they do look like they've done like a nice job. Like it's also pretty minimal. Like sometimes the ball action is ridiculous. Like it's, you know, like it really can be a whole thing. And this does look like they have refined it to a, you're just doing it with your thumb. You know, like it's not like, you know, it's not. And I'm sure that if you're used to this, like it becomes very quick to do it. But there is an element to me of like, but why are we doing this? You know, like what, what, what is the point of this? And I actually just think the point is that's fun to do. And if you like that, then great. But I'm not sure it's my thing. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So we'll see. I'm more like what would hold me back just from a general, what I like thing is, is just going to be the weight and diameter of it. Like it's probably, it's once you get into a four cartridge multi-pin and larger, you're starting to get into like a diameter. You're maxing out the diameter of what's comfortable for me to write with, not for everyone, just for me. Yeah. So that's what I'm going to be looking at. And then just how the bolt works with the mechanism. So it should be good. It should be fun. I'm looking forward to it. And I'm glad someone did this. So I can find, this actually answers a question like we get sometimes is, is there any like upgraded bolt, excuse me, any upgraded multi-pin from any of these machine manufacturers? Something fancy, right? Yeah. Something fancy. So yeah, that's very cool. Speaking of fancy, Myke, Studio Neat Mark IV. Why don't you kick this one off? Because you may have inside information here.

Thoroughly Considered Podcast

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I will also say that probably a companion to this episode. Today, we published an episode of the Thoroughly Considered podcast that I do with Tom and Dan at Studio Neat talking about the Mark IV. So kind of like its origins, some of the design considerations that they made. And I was asking them some questions about logistics and customer support and experience and like how they think that will run for a fountain pen. And like this is a pen. And I'm sure you're aware of this too. I mean, they've been working on this for, I think, five years, maybe more.

Brad Dowdy: I was going to say the first time they asked me, just inquired like, hey, tell me about fountain pens. That had to be, that was years ago.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. I think it was not too long after the Mark I really. Because this is a part of the conversation. The Mark I was such a massive success that you would be like, all right, what else? Right. And you've only got a few areas, right? And they've done them now. You've got pocket pen, pencil, fountain pen. And it makes sense to me that fountain pen was last for them because they had to learn, right? They had to learn what a fountain pen was all about, how to use it, what decisions they want to make. So essentially, this is a Jowo nib. They're doing steel nibs for the pen. There's one model. It's $195 on Kickstarter. It will be $220 later. And you choose a color. They have five standard colors and a Kickstarter exclusive kind of stealth colorway. It's in their kind of the Studio Neat brand colors now. So like black, blue, orange, green, and a kind of rose pink color. It's steel, stainless steel, cerakoted body. And a two-tone design that I like where the body is all one color and then the grip section and the clip. It's got a clip are another color. So they've gone, I would say, simple in their design. It's like a cigar-shaped design, contoured grip. They've worked a lot on white and it's a magnet cap. One of my favorite parts of the discussion, which I really recommend people listen to on Thoroughly Considered, was talking about caps because they worked for a very long time on threading. And they were developing about one and a third turn thread that they were really proud of. And then they threw it out of the window and went back to a magnet because they felt the magnet was better. So, yeah, it's interesting. And, you know, like me and you were talking about this too before the episode of like, you know, what is custom support going to look like for a fountain pen? And they feel confident because they feel like they get a lot of customer support already at requests for the Mark 1 products. And, yeah, so we'll see how that goes for them.

Brad Dowdy: And they have someone dedicated to that now, I believe, if I'm not...

Myke Hurley: Yeah, but... Do I recall that correctly? Fountain pens just create new challenges. Sure, sure, sure, sure. Right? And, you know, we were talking a lot about like they're going to, like with the Mark 1, like develop customer education documents. Like I always refer to the refill guide that they made for the Mark 1. Right. Because it's just very good and it's very simple. And so they're going to do some similar stuff for like how to manage this pen. Yeah, it's got 320 backers, 72 grand raised against the $50,000 goal. I'm really interested to see where this campaign lands. I don't think it's going to be a big smashing success like some of their other pen products just because it's a fountain pen. And I just think the studio neat audience maybe is more hesitant to this than a Mark 1. Right? Like that is a product that's easy to understand. But I think it's going to be brilliant. Like I have no doubt about that because essentially what they're leaning into on this product is their machining. Like their machining expertise. And I think that's what we're going to see them do a great job with.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So I've backed this one. You don't have to pick a color beforehand, but I'm definitely getting the orange. Orange, yeah. I like how they...

Myke Hurley: I have the orange keen knife and the color is really good.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. And it's like you said, it's like their studio neat orange, right? Yes. It runs through the entire product line outside of special editions. Talking about stock editions. I like the two-tone aspect. It's like the monochrome style where it's orange and then a different shade of orange for the grip section. Right? So like the blue is a different shade of blue, green, pink, all those things. What I'm most interested about visually, I don't have a prototype. They said they'd try to send me out a prototype later. So I have not held this or used this. I'm intrigued by the longer grip section. I don't have the measurements right in front of me. They're down here somewhere. It doesn't list that, but you can tell it's slightly longer. But it's only slightly longer because they have actually taken off the threads, right? Yeah. Normally, that length on the back end of the section, you're going to get a group of threading right there. And that's actually where the magnet is going to connect down lower towards the midsection of the barrel. So I'm someone who likes that section style. So we'll see how it goes once I get it in hand, but it should be good. So yeah, I'm looking forward to this. Like I said, I've backed it, so I'll get it whenever they launch one. But they might send me one early. They were talking to me the other day. I was fascinated to see how it feels. That's my big thing, yeah.

Myke Hurley: It's all in the way the Cerakote feels. Because even the grip section is more of a metallic look, but it's also Cerakote still. And stainless steel and the balancing of it all. They're telling me they've worked very hard on that. And I'm really intrigued to experience it.

Brad Dowdy: I am too. So I was looking, one of the things I went and looked at was the full length dimension of it. They have it at 125 millimeters. And that's like 4.9 inches. And usually once you get into like a standard, if you just, if you said, Brad, how big or how long is like a standard pin? I'll say five inches, right? So it's like right there. So it's not overly large, which I think with a stainless barrel is important. For the best, yeah. Yeah. So that's what I want to feel, what the back end feels like. Yeah. But I think the way, just visually looking at it, the way the section's designed, I think it's going to like technically work out well. And this is a non-postable pin. It's not designed to post. Yeah. Which is great for me. I'm so happy. Yeah. It just looks better that way. It's the right design decision for them. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: And yeah, it's great. So yeah, I'm interested for sure to get this in hand, but that'll be a while. So we'll see. But it's already, like you said, it's already off to a good start. But it's funny.

Myke Hurley: I was talking to them kind of a while back now, maybe a few weeks ago, and they were talking to me about price. Mm-hmm. And they were like, do you think 195 is good? And I'm like, these days? Yeah. It's no problem, man. Like, don't worry. You're not the most expensive pen in town anymore. Yeah. Even with a stainless steel nib. Like, we're all good. Like, this is very standard for what you're bringing to the table, I'm sure.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So the pricing is like, you know, I tell myself to just stop worrying about the pricing these days. You're just either going to be interested or you're not. It's, yeah. Like, it's, yeah, it seems about right. You know, could it be, I mean, slightly less? I wouldn't want to pay more. Like, I think we're at the upper end. Yeah. I think they've hit the right price.

Myke Hurley: I think they've hit the price where it's like that, I'm willing to try it for this. Yeah. And I don't think about it too much. I think if they went higher than that, I would maybe consider it differently.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But, like, there's no way this is going to be under, like, 165. Absolutely. Like, if you're really stretching it, right? It's just not going to happen, right? Nor does it need to be, like, 275, right? That's not a thing. Like, that wouldn't work either. So, yeah. It's good. It looks great. So, I'm very interested.

Pen Chalet Products

Myke Hurley: This episode is brought to you by Pen Chalet. They sell the best products around from your favorite brands. Whether you want a beautiful rollerball, wonderful fountain pen, a lovely ballpoint, mechanical pencil, or so much more, Pen Chalet have got it for you. They're always adding new products to the site. Every single month, you're going to find new things from new brands. That brand's list expands all the time. They have your favorite brands at Pen Chalet. And if they don't, they will soon because they're always adding new stuff. They're always running great discounts as well. Every couple of weeks, you're going to find new discounts over at Pen Chalet. As well as, like, pens and pencils and fountain pens, they also sell accessories. So, if you need some inks, some carrying cases, maybe you want a pen holder, fountain pen converter, small, big, whatever you need. Like, small items, big items, they've got it. They do free shipping on orders of over $100 in the U.S. and sell internationally with great shipping rates. Pen Chalet has low prices on high-quality pens with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. So, go to penshalet.com slash penaddict and you'll get 10% off anything at Pen Chalet. And see some exclusive offers because you listen to this show. So, Brad, what have we got over at Pen Chalet right now?

Brad Dowdy: I'm giggling because I don't know how I've become such a Delta fan. And it's always at Pen Chalet I see all the coolest Deltas. And I don't know what's in the water over there, but it's good. It's the good stuff.

Brad Dowdy: I'm fascinated. I need to do some more digging because, like, I just keep saying this all the time. They're really doing a nice job with, like, materials and shapes of their pens. So, I'm looking at the Delta Duna Montana Sunset. It's a limited edition. It's just a beautiful material. This is, you know, from Kristen Brooks of Fountain Telling. And they did this material and just, I mean, it's a knockout. And these are, like, $220 piston-filling fountain pens. Like, it's just brilliant.

Myke Hurley: I thought you were going to mention the other Delta that's on Pen Chalet.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, let me tell you about the Delta IV rings, Myke. Is that the one? I like this. Because it is up on my time. Well, look at the price. So, that's why this one went second. This one is absolutely awesome. But this is, like, an ultra-premium one. This is, like, a $1,200 pin. But it's limited to, like, 36 pieces in two different colors. But what they're doing with design is why I wanted to talk about it, right? They are actually branching out. And given, like, my – I bought one earlier this year and was very impressed with, like, the quality and craftsmanship and the build. I just can't help but just keep looking at them when they keep bringing out these great colors. And this one has this translucent purple barrel and the alternates are translucent green barrel. They basically flip the purple and green on the two models. It's outstanding. It's really, really expensive.

Myke Hurley: I don't know why you would get the full purple cap one, though.

Brad Dowdy: What do you mean? Like, with the green in the middle? Yeah. So, the full purple cap has the green in the middle. Yeah, the purple barrel green cap.

Myke Hurley: Really fun, kind of marbled.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. I think that one will outsell. Yeah. Like, it's kind of not a competition, I think, to your point.

Myke Hurley: It's like – yeah, it's a nice pen, but it's like, come on now.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, they didn't flip it. They didn't match those up. They're not equivalent in their style. I will give you that. The only one I would even look at is the green swirl with the purple barrel.

Myke Hurley: I really like the rings. Like, I like that on the cap.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. They do the alternating colors between the rings. Yeah. Another brand that – like, Leonardo has never gone out of my purview. But sometimes, like, I just use things more and use things less, and that's just the nature of things. I'm back in this Leonardo mode, again, because they're really making – like, Delta, some of the best, like, $200 price point pens. I'm looking at the MZG Eclipsis fountain pen, which is just getting ready to come out here this month. And it's just this beautiful acrylic. Like, I have a newer Memento Zero that I've just inked up in the past couple of weeks that I'll be reviewing soon. And when I use that pen, it's so good. Like, the fit and finish that Leonardo has, just like their manufacturing, is, like, tier one. Like, S-tier level of feel when you're using the product. And then they do cool materials on top of that. Like, it's just kind of a – I don't know. It's kind of like the best in class right now of that type of fountain pen, I think. And they've always been, right? When someone's good all the time, it's like I run out of, like, ways to describe them. They're just good all the time. So, yeah, very, very cool pens. Go check them out over at Pen Chalet and, you know, see what you might be into.

Myke Hurley: That's P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com slash penaddict. Our thanks to Pen Chalet for their support of this show and Relay.

Brad Dowdy: All right, Myke, we got our shout-out of the week. Shout-out of the week. Scathingly brilliant idea. I mean, that's the name of the channel, not the shout-out of the week. That's you, man. He's got it. That's me. No, no. It's actually Nancy, who is awesome. Got to meet Nancy once or twice at Pen Shows. She's really putting out the videos these days and does a great job with that. I can't remember if I've given Nancy the shout-out before, but she also likes to give me a hard time sometimes on stream. She has, in the past, given me stationary-related Band-Aids because I like to poke myself on stream. So now if I need to cover it up while I'm on stream, I have some stationary-themed Band-Aids. So Nancy rules. Scathingly brilliant idea. If you aren't following them, go do it now.

Spoke Pen

Brad Dowdy: If you aren't following Spoke, Myke, you should go follow it now because we released a new pen. Type.

Myke Hurley: New pen.

Brad Dowdy: Spoke Roadie 3. Yep. So the Roadie is our pocket pen, and I just wanted to give it a little run-through of a product launch that happened earlier this week. So the Roadie's been super popular because it is small, right? It's a small pen used to fit Parker-style refills and just in a real compact, portable way. And then, I don't know, a couple years ago, Brian said, well, what if we did that similar style and then made it so it fit gel pens so we made it the Roadie XL? So the same style, the same magnet cap for the Roadie, the previous version. And then Brian, who is my partner at Spoke Design and the design guru, kept tweaking the design, and he ended up coming up with an even better shape, I think. And this is obviously biased personal opinion, but I'm not only a client, I'm also the president or whatever that commercial goes.

Brad Dowdy: We moved the magnets to the middle of the barrel. So the previous versions of the Roadie were the top of the cap and the end of the pen were your magnet points, and now they're in the center of the barrel. So the end of the cap or the base of the cap has a magnet and the center of the barrel has a magnet. And this works out really well for the small Roadie. We could make it even smaller, which Brian finds hilarious that I like it so much. He's like, you know I'm making this for you, right? I'm like, yes, and it's glorious. So it's even smaller than before, but it's still a full-size pen when you're writing with it. That's the whole goal of this style of pen, right? When you have a cap on a small pocket pen, you want it to be postable into a proper writing size. So yeah, the Roadie version 3 is out now. You can choose different grip styles. Like we have knurled and grooved, milligrooved, and you can get them in black or sandblasted or shiny. All of the grips are titanium. We have a bunch of different colors, you know, colors and finishes, you know, black trims, silver trims, purple, orange, red, blue, raw titanium, not raw titanium, polished titanium. So they're great. So that's the Roadie. But wait, there's more. We went ahead and did the Roadie XL in this. So you can use your Energel type refills or Uniball type refills. So I have a Roadie XL that I'm using today that I have, the Uniball Signo RT1 0.38 millimeter blue black refill. How's that for a product listing? Say that fast, you know. Yeah. So it fits full-size gel ink refills. This is our most popular Roadie, like without question. The big one? The sale, the big one is the most popular. Always. Because, well, so they weren't equivalent releases in the past. They kind of did one or the other. And I'd say they're pretty even. Okay. In the past. And this, these all launched at the same time. So it was kind of telling. You could see what was happening. Interesting. Like with orders. The XL, people, it's still a small-ish compact pin. Like as small as we can make it for a full-size gel ink refill. And that's what people really enjoy. Because not everyone likes Parker style refills. I like Parker style refills because I can use the Oto Flash Dry, which I'm currently using in my Roadie. I can use the Jetstream SXR 700, I believe, is the name of that refill. I have that in my other Roadie. So I like the Parker style refills, but not everyone does. And with the XL, you can use a full-length gel pen. And it gives you a few more options. Like I said, I have the Uniball refill in mind. And then we did a combo meal, Myke. Like we did the Roadie SL, which I was unsure about. Brian was unsure about. But we're like, ah, let's try it. So what the Roadie SL is, it stands for short-long, which is a play on like classic Japanese long-short fountain pens. To where you have a short barrel and then a longer cap to post, right? So that's kind of the Roadies, the base Roadie idea, right? It's a short pen and then has a cap to where it's the proper length of writing. This one takes like a longer grip section and a longer cap, but still retains the short barrel of the Roadie, the short Roadie. And uses a Parker style refill, but gives you a full length of a longer barrel when you're writing. So it's a little bit confusing, but people seem to like it. And like we already got feedback on like I was getting – we got an email. Like the first email we got like after launch is, thank you for making the SL. And I'm like, really? Like that's so interesting to me.

Brad Dowdy: What's good about that? People like the longer barrel for the certain type of refills that they like to use. So it is definitely like the least seller, right? And we know this going on. Oh, wait.

Myke Hurley: Oh, okay. Okay.

Brad Dowdy: So the barrel is longer. Barrel and the cap is longer. So we have a side – let me get the – I need to put in a link to the side-by-side comparison we have of all these.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, but like the cap isn't longer on its own though, is it?

Brad Dowdy: It is. The cap is longer and the grip's longer, but the barrel's short. It's confusing. Like I'm not going to lie. What I'm trying to ask – It's a confusing thing.

Myke Hurley: Okay. That is a different question. What refills go in this one? Parker style. Oh, then I don't understand.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's for the short – it's for the short refill, but it gives you a longer writing pen. Longer barrel pen.

Myke Hurley: That's it. That is fascinatingly weird.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. I was like, huh, do we need to do this? Do we – like it's basically something since we have the parts, we can try and see if people like it. And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. That's kind of fine. Okay. But it was weird that I got like instant feedback on thank you for making that. I'm like, really? That's so – it's interesting to me too. Like I'm fascinated by our SL customers. It's like, what are you looking for here? So, I put in a link that compares them, right? So, you can see that. So, it's a shorter barrel, longer cap, and longer grip.

Brad Dowdy: And Parker style refills. So, it gives you just a longer pen when it's posted. But I think, like I said, most people like the XL or just going to go straight for the roadie. And then the SL is an option if you really don't like the super short pen roadie.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Okay. It's easier to see now. I can see the difference now. But I just – I remain – Yeah. Curious. And I think maybe this is just someone who's not a poster.

Brad Dowdy: True. So, on the roadie, the roadie, you can write with it without being posted.

Brad Dowdy: But it's tough. No, it's not. You kind of need to post the cap.

Myke Hurley: It's tough for you maybe. No. Not for me. It would be. Yeah. I would do it and have on the previous roadie.

Brad Dowdy: So. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah. The roadie SL is just something to try and see if there is a customer base for that. Maybe, maybe not. They are selling, though, which I find interesting. The SL? Mm-hmm. Good. I mean, they're the third – they're clearly in third place. Like, roadie XL and roadie V3 are, you know, 80% of the sales, 90% of the sales. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. But, like, if you think something's not going to sell very well, then you don't make as much of it. Right. And then if it doesn't sell very well, it's not a problem because you didn't make as much of it. Right? Right.

Transferable Parts

Brad Dowdy: And these parts are transferable.

Myke Hurley: And there's – oh, that's a really good point. It's just a configuration thing, isn't it? Right. It's a configuration. That's a good way of putting it. Which, I mean, that kind of makes it a no-brainer. So, it's actually really smart to have that in the product line. But it's, like, it's available and people are buying it. Like, as long as they are buying it, then it's, like, it's worth having it. But as you say, the genius move there is you actually don't produce this product. Like, this is not a product that exists. It's like a Frankenstein product.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, the only unique product is the barrel. Yeah. Which is the shortest barrel. Everything else is transferable. So, that's a pretty low bar of entry. Mm-hmm. Very good. So, anyway, the new roadies are out. I'm still shipping orders. We sold a lot of these, suckers. We launched them on Monday. And I'm just – I'm shipping constantly, which is great. It's fantastic. Every time – so, this is one of those things. And this is just me being me. You know, I'm so happy with these pens. Every time I pack one, I'm like, ah, that's a good pen. And I've sent out, like, hundreds of these this week. And I'm like, ah, that's just good. If you just stand outside Brad's office, you hear it all the time. Ah, that's a good one. Oh, look at this one. Look at this guy. Oh, I love this one. This is a good one. Yeah. It's not a joke. I just – I really do that all the time with all of our products. With our pencils, our pens. I was like, ah, look at this guy. Oh, look how lucky these people are. They don't even know what they got. It's like, ah, that looks good. Oh, look at this one. I just really like them. So, huge fan of what Spokes do.

Myke Hurley: Well, these guys, man. Shout out of the week. You know what I'm saying? Like, actual shout out. I was impressed by the Brad Dowdy shipping department. I ordered one, which I guess you know. I don't know how much attention you pay, but I ordered mine. And you shipped it out so fast.

Brad Dowdy: I'm working on it, man. Yeah. It's taken me like – so, I joke about it because I do a lot of the shipping on stream just because I like to have the company. Don't dox me, Brad. I'm not. I'm not. Okay. I was joking that it took me three shipping days to get through the first hour of Monday's orders. Wow. That's awesome. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: That's really great.

Brad Dowdy: Congratulations to you. So, it's like it doesn't matter how much I'm shipping. Well, hang on a minute. I look at the time stamps.

Myke Hurley: I'm congratulating you, but maybe you're just really slow.

Brad Dowdy: No, no. I'm medium. I'm not fast and I'm not slow. I'm medium. The congratulations are worth it then. You know, if you're only shipping like four a day, then it's like – True.

Myke Hurley: It's awkward, isn't it?

Pen Orders

Brad Dowdy: No, no, no. I've shipped hundreds of orders. Good, good. And then I look at the time stamps. I'm like, huh, 1214. That's 14 minutes after launch. And it was like the 200th pin I've shipped. I was like, people are going to be yelling at me if I don't get this done pretty soon. Well, I think you did a good job. I'm there. Well, Brian did an amazing job putting all this together. He is literally a design maestro. You two are a great team, I think. He really, really, really, really works at this and will not release it until it's right. So, yeah, to that end, this was supposed to release in like May. We kept tweaking it, which is great. I'd like to be able to do that.

Myke Hurley: You're going to need to launch it once, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Yes. So, enough about me. You know, I don't like talking about it that much, but I'm pretty proud of this one. Where do people go buy these pens, Brad? Spokedesign.com. There you go. If you like short ballpoint pens, look at the Rode 3. And if you like gel ink pens, look at the Rode XL. And then the Rode SL, you already know that ahead of time. Yeah. Right? That's not a random one. The Rode SL is not the one you ran.

Myke Hurley: Don't buy that one on a chance.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. You got to know what you like in a pen to grab the SL.

Myke Hurley: In fact, there's a proprietary quiz being developed at the Spokedesign website. If you don't pass the quiz, you can't buy one. Is that right? I've heard about that. Correct. Correct. Yeah. They're going to have a little... Coming soon. Coming soon.

Brad Dowdy: Put it behind a little pop-up and you're going to be locked out if you don't pass.

Myke Hurley: It's like those are you a human, but it's like, are you a short long? Are you?

Lamy Vista Rumors

Brad Dowdy: Are you a short long? All right. I want to get into a topic that I normally wouldn't mention because I don't really do rumor mill stuff, but a little bee told me, Myke. And I usually say a little birdie. Yeah. But a little bee told me. Do you know why I said that? I don't know. Is it specific? Are they buzzing? They're buzzing outside of Lamy because they have beehives there, Myke. It's a whole thing there that they do at the Lamy HQ in Heidelberg. Why do they do that? They're big bee farmers. I have no clue.

Myke Hurley: There's no thematic link, right? No. No. Right? Like, I don't know what it would be, but there could be something where it's like, oh, you know, honey and pen production goes together somehow. So, yeah.

Brad Dowdy: They did one kind of like color matching, like black and yellow theme like several years ago. Yeah. This just feels like a tax write-off opportunity for the beehives. Yeah. Totally. Right. Totally. So, they haven't talked about the beehives much, but I like referring back to the beehives because it's so just out of left field, right? That Lamy has beehives. But it's cool. It's pretty cool. So, I was told by someone who would know that in 2027, we should be getting a Lamy Vista special edition.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: And why is this important to me? This is because I've always said that the Vista is, as a product line, is just lying in wait for colors.

Myke Hurley: So, this is the demonstrator version of the Safari, essentially. Yes. I know there are some other differences, but this is the pure, clear one.

Brad Dowdy: Correct. It's just, and it's always been that way for, I don't know, a decade? Yeah. More? The Vista's been around for a while. It's like a one-off Safari where they just made a fully translucent, clear Safari and they call it the Vista. And I've clamored for years, like, why can't I have a purple one that's translucent or an orange one? Why does Lamy just not do this? Because years ago, they made a product called the Lamy Balloon, which was a rollerball and it uses an absolutely awful refill and it's a terrible product. But it's essentially a Vista barrel with translucent colors. So, they did pink and blue and green, translucent barrels. So, like, they have, like, the capabilities of making a translucent plastic barrel. Why not introduce a Vista that's a different color than clear, right? They're just lined up. It could not be more of a perfect match. And then earlier this year, they took the balloon concept. They said the balloon's a rollerball. I didn't mention that before. They took that concept and then made the balloon fountain pen, which was super weird. Like, I'm really surprised they did this because it's, like, half Safari or half Vista and then they used the balloon cap and clip, which is not great, right? It has this weird, it's, like, more of, like, a plastic paper clip on it than the traditional, like, really obvious, like, Lamy wire clip that they use. Like, it's fine in a vacuum, but compared to, like, any other, like, Lamy Safari, All-Star, Vista clip, it's just a letdown. But they made it a fountain pen. I was like, why isn't this the Vista? Why aren't you doing this? And it's, like, frustrating me for years because it's sitting right there because they get so close. They're doing all these parts that could be, like, a Vista special edition and just doing this random stuff with it, like making an inferior product in the balloon. So, that's all I know. Alleged, this is alleged, but someone who knows told me we're going to get a Vista special edition. I don't know that that means, I don't know anything other than that. Is it going to be, like, oh, are we going to get purple? Right. I have no clue.

Myke Hurley: It's the Vista special edition. It's purple, but it's not clear. Yeah, right. It's just the Safari. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: And honestly, yeah, it's the Safari guilloche.

Brad Dowdy: It could be a pattern. It could be anything. It could be literally anything, but they're getting a, we're allegedly getting one next year, which to that I say finally. Yeah. So, they just have to, it's just right there in front of them and has been for years. Just like Pilot, it's right there in front of them to do a color 912. If 912 is, like, their core entry-level gold nib pen, give me something besides black and silver, even though that's great. But that's been the same pen for a decade, you know, if not more, you know, throw me a, throw me some special editions. They did, like, the Verdigris in the 743, which was wonderful, and it was such a great seller. They did a Lavender Mist in the 74, which is wonderful. Like, give me something in the classic 912. Just give me something. You know, these are the, yeah, these are the ones that, they're just sitting out there and just, you know, it's like a pitch right over the middle and they're just not taking the swing. And, but then I look back at Lamy this year and last year and they're, they're just, they're doing a, it's, at one hand, they, they need to slow down some of this stuff. On the other hand, they need to give me the Vista and give me the Vista now, right? Yep. So, we'll see. We'll see. So, big of true and we'll see. We'll see what happens next year. If I'm getting this rumor now at this time of year, that would make me think it's like a first quarter next year type of, type of thing. Like, you know, like that's about the product lines work. So, who knows? Who knows? It could be anytime. It could be nothing. But I like, this is the one rumor because it's just like silly and fun that I'm, I'm fine discussing that I, that I get sometimes in my inboxes. So, but I don't really have anything more than that.

Myke Hurley: Lamy, if you're not doing this, now you've got to get on it.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I mean, what's the difference between the last 20 times I've yelled at them for doing this?

Myke Hurley: No, because now it's like, now there's expectation in the marketplace. The stock market's going to be going wild in the morning.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Stonks are up at Lamy. But like, I could just be making this all up and it doesn't matter.

Myke Hurley: But it's like, it's like in the Bloomberg reporting or whatever that I read at the time. True, true. Yeah. Lamy stock was up following the publication of this episode.

Brad Dowdy: I mean, they are, they are, they are a publicly traded company. Exactly. Come on. The uni and the, and Lamy's own, I believe is publicly traded.

Myke Hurley: I don't think there's anything wrong with just like a smidgen of like stock market manipulation if it gets us the Lamy Vista. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: You know, you know us, you know, we're, we're moving, moving the nibs over here.

Myke Hurley: Moving the needles. Moving the nib needles. Mm-hmm. If you would like to find links to the things that we've discussed on today's episode, then you should look in your podcast app or go to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 737. You'll find all the links there to the new Spoke Roadie products, but you can go to SpokeDesign.com. Check them out for yourself. Be cool like me. The Spoke Roadie, Brad had it in Memphis. And that pen, Brad, it has a unique thing that I've never experienced from a pen before where it makes an unsheathing sound when you uncap it. Yep. It's like, you know, it's like, so if you want to be cool like that, then you should check out one of these things. Super nice. Super nice. And those are all, by the way.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's like the knurling and the, the coating, but they're all coated, right? So they should, I mean, you know, things are going to wear metal on metal and things like that. Oh, I don't think that's a problem.

Myke Hurley: I just think it's cool that it makes a noise.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But like, they're all coated and like protected for like, it's going to last you a while, but it'll eventually show like, you know, wear marks and things like that. But that just means you love it. Nature of the beast. Exactly. You love it. Right. What is that?

Myke Hurley: What's the Japanese phrase? I don't remember. Wabi-sabi. Wabi-sabi, baby. That's what we said. No, the baby was me. They, they don't, they don't put that on the end. Wabi-sabi, baby. There you go. Oh boy. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm one man. Wow. Do you know I've got another podcast after this? Can you imagine something? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: I think we're going to check you for a fever after this one.

Myke Hurley: You know what? Brad might be a good idea. Oh, there is a funny thing where we check Sophia's temperature so much of one of those, like, you know, like the human instant reethomometers, I'll say, is the way I'll call them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She now just puts it in our ears, which I think is really adorable. And it's also kind of sad, right? That she's learned to do it. And she checks the temperatures on all of her teddy bears and stuff. Like she just walks around, like beeping everyone. Yep. Yep. Uh, I don't know where I am. Thanks to Penn Chalet for their support of this week's episode. Thank you for listening. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.