Bic Cristal

[penguinmaster]

This is writing instrument related so I figured this was the right forum.

 

I was flipping through our office supply catalog just now and ran across a Bic Crystal Grip with the caption, "Puts real pleasure back into writing".

 

 

If they only knew...I guess the fake rubbery grip really changes the experience. I might have our secretary order some just for testing sake!

 

-penguin

[I am not a number]

The great thing about our office supply catalogue is that the company who won our contract obviously decided to put in a few very low prices to cover the mark up they make on standard items. The ones that got my eye were Parker Quink (Blue or Black) at 60 pence per bottle (less than $1) and a similarly low price for packs of cartridges. They also stock Black'n'Red notebooks, which makes our FP users very happy bunnies indeed.

[spotted and speckled]

This is writing instrument related so I figured this was the right forum.

 

I was flipping through our office supply catalog just now and ran across a Bic Crystal Grip with the caption, "Puts real pleasure back into writing".

 

 

If they only knew...I guess the fake rubbery grip really changes the experience. I might have our secretary order some just for testing sake!

 

-penguin

 

It feels good when you stop banging your head against the wall, doesn't it?? :hmm1:

[Palladin]

I...uh...hate to admit this, but: I've been impressed with the basic Bic Cristal, for what it is, a 50 cent ballpoint. The blue ink is pretty vibrant, actually, and the writing fairly smooth. No, it ain't a Visconti, but I have tried far worse and far more expensive writing instruments. I don't mind keeping one in my pocket for quick notes or filling forms. I read somewhere that the design is now considered a classic of modern design and is in some big museum.

 

Makes a mean spit-ball shooter, too...

[I am not a number]

I read somewhere that the design is now considered a classic of modern design and is in some big museum.

MoMA no less...

 

Rather touchingly, the ones on display in the link above are the gift of the manufacturer thereby saving MoMA a considerable outlay.

 

Décolletage Plastique Design Team. (French, established 1945). Bic Cristal® Ballpoint pen. 1950. Polystyrene, polypropylene, and tungsten carbide, Each: l. 5 7/8" (14.9 cm), diam. 1/2" (1.3 cm). Manufactured by Société Bic, France. Gift of the manufacturer. © 2008 Société Bic, France

 

 

Edited November 24, 2008 by I am not a number

[Palladin]

Ya see? Pretty impressive!

 

When I was a kid, I remember they had them with yellow barrels as well as these transparent ones.

 

By the way, I bought a pack of mini Bic Cristals a year ago---ideal size for a day-planner or just to stick in your dungarees. But I haven't found them anywhere again. They were just an experiment on Bic's part, I guess, and discontinued.

 

Remember sci-fi flicks from the 60's when the scientist always had a Bic Cristal in his labcoat pocket?

 

 

[wvbeetlebug]

Ah yes. Good ol' "high school pens". At least that's what I like to call them. Since that was mainly when I used them.

[The Write Pen]

They also made great "spit wad shooters" in school when you pulled the dot out of the back and the point out of the front.

 

As to vintage pens, they are excellent for replacing the old points in Wahl Eversharp 5th Avenue ball pens.

 

danny

[jonro]

They also made great "spit wad shooters" in school when you pulled the dot out of the back and the point out of the front.

 

As to vintage pens, they are excellent for replacing the old points in Wahl Eversharp 5th Avenue ball pens.

 

danny

How funny. I did the same thing when I was in elementary school. The Bic Cristal was one of the first smooth and reliable ballpoints (compared to other ballpoints). When I was 10, I guess it wasn't too slim for my hand.

[WillSW]

They also made great "spit wad shooters" in school when you pulled the dot out of the back and the point out of the front.

 

As to vintage pens, they are excellent for replacing the old points in Wahl Eversharp 5th Avenue ball pens.

 

danny

 

The teacher left the room and the Bic Stics were out! I remember one class in 7th grade that had near daily battles.

[Nick A]

Agreed, the classic style Bic is a great pen for what it is. Especially considering the price point. I like the hexagonal (?) barrel, that makes it less likely to roll away. I remember the accountant style versions with a metal slide-on clip and the cap had no "clip." The one thing I do not like is the new caps with the gaping huge hole in the top. I understand why this was done, but aesthetically, it looks crummy. Certainly the classic Bic is an icon of sorts. Good design sells itself.

[Johnny Appleseed]

They also made great "spit wad shooters" in school when you pulled the dot out of the back and the point out of the front.

 

As to vintage pens, they are excellent for replacing the old points in Wahl Eversharp 5th Avenue ball pens.

 

danny

 

The teacher left the room and the Bic Stics were out! I remember one class in 7th grade that had near daily battles.

 

Two words - Orange peels.

 

The cartridge makes a perfect plunger as well, if you plug the breather hole with your finger.

 

John

[sumgaikid]

This is writing instrument related so I figured this was the right forum.

 

I was flipping through our office supply catalog just now and ran across a Bic Crystal Grip with the caption, "Puts real pleasure back into writing".

 

 

If they only knew...I guess the fake rubbery grip really changes the experience. I might have our secretary order some just for testing sake!

 

-penguin

 

I guess the "fake rubbery grip" means that we can now avoid getting carpal tunnel syndrome from trying to

squeeze and write with a toothpick......................

 

John

 

[thibaulthalpern]

I find many ballpoint pens very difficult to use now. I find rollerball pens acceptable. Ballpoint pens require so much pressure to write with that my hand is no longer accustomed to that. Recently I left my home without my pen case and so had to resort to whatever writing instrument I found at the bottom of my bad--a ballpoint pen. The pressure it took to write with it was immense compared to what I was used to.

 

Rollerball pens on the other hand are totally acceptable.

[Anne-Sophie]

When I was a kid, I remember they had them with yellow barrels as well as these transparent ones.

 

I remember both with horror as well as the cramps I had, when, in second grade, a teacher decided to tear up whole pages of a notebook and make me redo the whole stuff with the same horrible yellow bic.

 

The yellow bics were standard issues and we were forced to use them (blue for writing and black, green and red for underlining).

Even at such a young age, the grip was so painful to me that I bought one of their four color fat pen.

It did the same thing as the four thin pens was easier to use and took refills, I had a very hard time getting the teachers to accept it.

 

I also bought a fat multicolor novelty ball point with non-standard fun colors which I used to do homework.

 

By the 4th grade, I was using my cheap plastic Stypen brown, gushy medium nib cartridge fountain pen on our good notebooks and by the 5th grade I added a

steel Waterman school pen, switched to smooth loose leaf paper and used both pen

all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

[GClef]

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Tutuguans/0602130532-1_zpsad5a4cb1.jpg

[Felix1]

Wow, a five-year-old thread resurrected.

 

About ballpoints no less.

[sammyboy]

As the thread's been dug up I'd like to say I do have a soft spot for the old Bic Crystal pens! Many at work (I'm a psychiatric nurse) swear by it, one in particular does love these cheapie ballpens! I find they usually write pretty smoothly and last forever, it's rare I actually get to completely use up a Crystal - it's usually being lost, 'leant' out, or pinched before it runs out.

 

I also find the tip of the pocket clip on the lid has many uses too - cleaning out my fingernails, something to 'prod' or push things in tight(ish) spaces, clean things that using something harder could damage, it's almost a tool in itself! Not to mention the pea-shooter capabilities of the barrel already discussed

 

And of course make a great, inexpensive 'loaner' pen

[Elizabeth in NJ]

I've always been a fan of the Cristal. Way way better than the Biro. (I think they call 'em Round Stic these days.) Those always got gnarly and dirty looking while the Cristals stayed nice, and the Cristals wrote better too. In fact, someone was using a Bic Cristal at a meeting the other day and I was admiring the looks of it.

 

I remember those yellow ones with the metal clips well. They came in "accountant fine point" or some such. Skritch skritch skritch.

[MarcS]

i have rediscovered bic crystals because of the bold size. in college, i would purchase several 3-pen packages of bics: 2 medium crystals, 1 accountant fine point. when the fine point was used up, the clip was "recycled" onto the crystals so they could ride in my shirt pocket like a "real" pen. i remember the black ink was the darkest black i could find in a ballpoint at that time. today, the blue and red still seem the same, but the black appears faded and unsatisfying (reformulated?).