Azo Mai and the rest of the team at Kizer have recently put the finishing touches on the Drop Bear Zero, the latest model in the Drop Bear family. The Zero derives its name from the fact that visual and mechanical refinement were the key priorities.
The Drop Bear is now many different things in the Kizer lineup – there are fixed blades, different sizes, special editions – but it began as the debut platform for Kizer’s own crossbar lock. That has been a mechanism nearly every manufacturer has implemented (to greater and lesser degrees) in their lineup since the patent on Benchmade’s Axis Lock expired. But beyond the then-novel lock, the Drop Bear also won admiration for being an affordable and thoroughly capable EDC folder.
The Zero takes the simplicity of the original Drop Bear design and makes it even simpler. The team worked to create a handle on which no hardware is visible on the show side. And without anything to distract your eyes, you’ll inevitably notice that the crossbar lock is gone as well – instead, Kizer chose to build in a button lock on the Zero. That’s a mechanism that is enjoying its own little renaissance right now, and it has been popping up all over the place.
The blade shape, at 3.1 inches, measures just about the same as the OG Drop Bear, but the steel here is worth noting because Mai and his crew chose to make the Zero’s blade from M390. Needless to say, performance is going to be higher than the steels other Bears have been rolled out with – things like Nitro-V and 154CM. The package here is rounded out by a deep carry pocket clip and a carry weight of 3.43 oz.
The Drop Bear Zero will be available soon.
Knife in Featured Image: Kizer Drop Bear Zero
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