Kaweco Sport Classic Piston and Kaweco Sport Collection Olivine

[Fluegelfeder]

BÄÄÄÄMM! The time has come... As hoped for in my review of the Sport Piston in aluminum in the spring, the Kaweco Sport Classic is now available as a piston filler... and what's more: the RRP is €64.50. Amazing!!! As far as I know, this is not only by far the cheapest piston fountain pen produced in Germany (the next cheapest is probably Pelikan's M200, but it costs more than twice as much!), but it also stands up to international comparison - only undercut by Chinese companies or TWSBI from Taiwan.

That is remarkable and makes the Sport Classic Piston an absolute bread & butter pen for me, as the saying goes; and to use even more commonplaces: no-nonsense, down-to-earth... If you like, it's the antithesis of the limited, classy, but also ambitiously priced Sport Ebonit.

After we asked ourselves here in the forum after the last new releases whether Kaweco was now aiming for the more upmarket price range, I am very pleased that Kaweco continues to manage this balancing act of producing really exclusive pieces on the one hand and obviously remaining true to its core business on the other: practical, affordable everyday pens with a good dose of charm.

But now to the facts: Everything is actually the same as the aluminum piston version, only made of plastic. Around the ink reservoir (with the same and for its size amazing capacity) with internal piston mechanism, a plastic sleeve is attached and firmly glued. At the back we have the blind cap, which exposes the cone for the piston mechanism. The Kaweco lettering is also inserted here, which I think is a nice detail. The nib unit on the plastic version is interchangeable and uses the piston nib units with an additional sealing ring. The only two differences to the aluminum version (apart from the material) are, logically, the weight (12 grams when filled) and the clip: While the aluminum version has a clip integrated into the cap structure (like the models in the Art series), the plastic piston comes without a clip and can be supplemented with the clip-on clips as accessories if required. The plastic piston is currently available in black with gold accents. I guess it's only a matter of time before more colors are added bit by bit. If I could wish for something - once again - it would be a piston version of the Art series. Hickory Brown as a piston version or marbled acrylic in general: Woah!!! Or I could really imagine textured surfaces like the chess pattern or Art Deco elements on the black model.

However, what I find at least as remarkable as the piston mechanism (and now at an unbeatable price!) is the new nib unit. Apart from the sealing ring, this shouldn't really be anything special. However, as I have been writing continuously with my aluminum piston for six months and the initial impression of higher ink flow has been confirmed so far, I have now put it to the test and used an ink with what feels like a tablespoon of glitter in the glass for the plastic piston: Herbin Shogun (thanks to Mr. Hille from Münster for the friendly advice and technical talk about grey inks). Result: So far, inkflow has been absolutely outstanding and rich, which is a new experience for me. While the classic nib units from Kaweco tend to run on the dry side, which can lead to ink flow problems with shimmer inks, the new nib unit of the piston fountain pens is more generous in its ink flow. It apparently also forgives larger amounts of glitter (at least with my Diamine and Herbin inks). Of course, I can't say whether this is actually due to the nib units or to the ink reservoir of the piston filler or a mixture of both. I would also be interested to know whether the piston version copes with air travel in the same way as the normal nib unit.

The absorption volume of the lamellae of the feeder is not necessarily large due to the design, but if there is also a higher ink flow... exciting thing. But it doesn't matter to me, because the Classic Piston is the perfect everyday fountain pen for me: Simple, reliable (although the piston mechanism will of course have to prove itself in the coming years), inexpensive, small and portable, distinctive design, excellent ink volume for this size, good ink flow, lots of accessories such as the matching cases and complementary pens (thanks to Mr. Thoben from Münster for reserving the Bordeaux mechanical pencil).

And because I liked the color so much, I had to have the new Olivine Sport, too. You can never have enough Kawecos and although the model is admittedly always the same, the individual variants are always exciting. With the Olivine, however, it was extremely difficult to capture the color in pictures because it changes from greenish to yellowish depending on the lighting conditions. Incidentally, I also think the new folding converter is great, as it means that my Liliput Fireblue can finally be filled directly from the barrel without any detours... finally there's a solution! And although it looks a bit proky, so far it feels very sturdy and works like a charm!

Well done Kaweco, well done!

And now: some pictures

 

 

[Fluegelfeder]

[Fluegelfeder]

[Fluegelfeder]

[Fluegelfeder]

[Fluegelfeder]

[Ink Sandwich]

Just ordered mine (Piston Sport) a couple of minutes ago - your review tipped me over the edge. I'm really excited (though it's a Christmas present to myself, so it'll take some time before I can actually try it out).

[Fluegelfeder]

Unfortunately I don't seem to be able to upload more pictures, because the maximal capacity has already been reached... 

[Ink Sandwich]

Do I understand it correctly that the nib of the piston Sport is not compatible with that of the regular Sport, or does it just a different grip section? 

[Fluegelfeder]

There are four different nibs for modern Kaweco pens:

The Sport Classic (plastic pen) use a nib/feeder-unit, that isfirmly attached to the section. So you have to swap the complete grip section for exchanging the nib.

Sport Al, Collection, Brass, Steel, Bronze, Art and Liliputs and others use an exchangable nib (060) with 'thorn' for cartridge/converter.

The piston (Al and Classic) use a new exchangeable nib-unit (190) without 'thorn' for cartridge/converter, but with additional o-ring for sealing.

And last but not least there are the bigger nib-units (250) for example for the Kaweco Supra.

[InesF]

Thank you @Fluegelfeder for the pen review and for the many charming photos! Danke!  

The plastic Sport Piston may not be for me. If there will ever come another Al Piston in a colour I like, I may get it.

 

I bought my Al Sport Piston only some weeks ago and had got one of the dry nibs (in F). But I'm happy with that, so that I can use the low surface tension inks from Herbin, from deAtramentis and some others that are troublesome with broader or wetter writing nibs.

My best experience with Kaweco nibs are several standard nibs in EF and the one premium steel nib in M. Those are neither dry nor "simply" wet, I think they have the expected ink control to make a saturated but not flooded line on paper.

I would risk buying a premium nib for the Sport Piston, if produced.

 

Sport Piston is a very good concept. I will stay tuned.

[AceNinja]

2 hours ago, Fluegelfeder said:

The Sport Classic (plastic pen) use a nib/feeder-unit, that isfirmly attached to the section. So you have to swap the complete grip section for exchanging the nib.

or, I can just pull the nib and feed out from the section to swap the nib.

[senzen]

Interesting description; the plasic piston Sport would be very hard to resist in several of the regular version's colours.

[Andy1883]

Enjoyed the review and photos.  Thank you @Fluegelfeder.

[Ink Sandwich]

Well, I got mine today (only one day between ordering and delivery!). 

It's a Christmas gift to myself, but because of sketchy quality control, I've decided to check the nib it before inking it up on Christmas.

Turns out, the tines seem slightly misaligned, and it's got a scratchy feel on paper in some directions. I have four Kaweco Sports in different varieties, and bought quite a few nibs in the past because I wasn't too happy about some of the ones that came with the pen - hence the question to @Fluegelfeder concerning exchangeability. 

 

I was hoping that, with a price like that, quality control would have been a bit better. It's disappointing to see how for some reasons, I've had so much trouble with German nibs, because I love the design of Kaweco and Pelikan. My Japanese pens never gave me any trouble, so that tells me it can be done.

 

Anyway, I'm rambling, but just a heads up for you guys. 

 

At the end of the day, what it comes down to is that it's a ~70 bucks plastic pen (albeit a piston filler). I'm not quite sure if I'll try to swap the nib from one of my good sports, or if I'll just send it back unused for a refund.

[langere]

Well, I looked at some of the pen sites in the United Sates and the piston fillers go for around $160.  A bit much for such a pen, me thinks...

 

Erick

[Driften]

4 hours ago, langere said:

Well, I looked at some of the pen sites in the United Sates and the piston fillers go for around $160.  A bit much for such a pen, me thinks...

 

Erick

The aluminum piston version can be found for $130-135 at amazon. The brand new plastic piston model goes $70-75 at the sites I checked.

 

[jchch1950]

The price difference reflects the material of each version of the piston fill pens. What makes me think is the fact that the old Sport nibs can not be used in the piston pens. 

[Misfit]

On 11/20/2024 at 12:23 AM, Fluegelfeder said:

Unfortunately I don't seem to be able to upload more pictures, because the maximal capacity has already been reached... 

Search for how to add photos by creating albums, and then you can add more. That is, unless you’ve used all your album space up. 

[Azulado]

12 hours ago, Ink Sandwich said:

Turns out, the tines seem slightly misaligned

Nowadays, thanks to foruns, blogs and Youtube channels, checking the alignment of the tines is the easiest thing in the world. All you need is a magnifying glass of at least 10x magnification and the right focus. 
It's strange to me that a gold member like you doesn't know this, but just in case, I'm sending you the link to Richard Binder's post where he explains how to do it. 

http://www.richardspens.com/pdf/workshop_notes.pdf
In the last year I bought a DIA2 and a Student, plus two spare nibs. Neither needed adjustment. Now, I had previously purchased three Sport Classics that did, an F, an M and an EF. I think the F came to me misaligned. I made the correction in less than a minute before inking it. All of my Kaweco's write very well, but it is true based on my experience that sometimes they need a little adjustment. 
I will also tell you that I have sometimes had a nib become misaligned with use and I can't explain why, but it happens. I imagine it is even possible that this could happen after quality control verification. But it is also true that other brands achieve better results out of box, not necessarily Japanese, also German or Chinese. For example, the Schmidt nibs used by some Chinese and one English brand are extremely reliable. 
Now, based on my experience, Kaweco nibs are very good and if they have any misalignment, it is easy to correct with a minimum of experience, at least the steel ones.