The best Kershaw Lucha Mod? The Flytanium Aluminum Balisong
Hello there, you greasy fuckers! It's me, the half dead moldy corpse known as Deadspace. I'm here today to go over a mod that I did recently to my Kershaw Lucha balisong, which basically transformed the knife entirely. I did this by picking up a set of aluminum anodized Lucha handles that were made and sold by a company known as Flytanium, or, Flyti for short. Flyti might be a familiar name to some of you who collect pocket knives, as they've put out heaps of different scales and handles for many different models of knives. I've been aware of them for a long time, but, never bought any of their products up until now. But, I figured I'd go over my opinion on this product after having it on my knife for the past 10 or so days.
The design
So, for starters lets talk about how the knife looks with the Flyti mod. The handles themselves are pretty distinct in how they look. Instead of using a typical hole pattern, they make use of 3D designs and machine them straight into the handles. Just from one look, you'll find the knife to be pretty interesting to the eye. And, in my opinion, I think these match perfectly with the actual blade design of the model. They match so well, this is something that looks like it just came straight from the factory this way, instead of looking like something that was just an aftermarket modification. There's also a ton of different colors that are available to choose from when these are in stock. I, being an absolute whore for the color green, obviously went for that. I really love the color, and I'd compare it to a toxic green type of tone.
But, that's not to say the other colors are bad, because they're all pretty great looking. They use a matte type of finish on them, which looks great when shown in higher lit areas. I definitely think the anodizing job is well done, and can't really bitch about anything there. They also have laser etched their logo onto the side of the handles, which looks pretty nice and professional. But, because of this logo, I got the idea stuck in my head that I wanted some more laser etching done to the knife. Not only to make my penis filled with blood anytime I picked the knife up, but, to also help me determine which side is the bite handle side, so I don't murder my fucking hands all the time when trying to learn tricks. So, I went ahead and had my friend etch a symbol for everyones favorite dark lord, Cthulhu, onto the bite handle. This is now called the R'lyehsong from now, until forever.
One final thing I'll mention about the design of the handles is that they're are pretty beefy. Now, beefy doesn't mean heavy in this instance, because they're really lightweight. However, the knife with these handles is fucking big. With the blade deployed, you're looking at about 11 inches of OAL, and while closed you're looking at around 6.75". This doesn't really bother me at all, but, If you're not fond of larger knives or larger balisongs, then this might make your genitals dry out a bit.
The quality
The handles themselves were milled from high quality aluminum, my specific guess would be 6061-T6 aluminum (though, I could be wrong there), with hardened steel inserted for the zen pins. The zen pins really work with these handles, as they keep the gap of the handles exactly the same as what you get from the factory. They also happen to match perfectly with the original hardware you get from Kershaw with the lucha, which isn't needed or anything, but, is a nice touch. I've noticed a bit of squeaking happening when I flip the knife, which I would guess is the hardened steel washers (that come along with the handles) rubbing against the aluminum handles themselves. I'm planning on ordering from KPL and hoping that helps reduce it a bit, but, it's also not really that big of a deal.
The fit and finish is solid, with no corner feeling sharp whatsoever. The anodizing itself has held up wonderful with being flipped thus far, though, only time will tell how long it stays that way. Installation was pretty easy for the most part, though, there were a few moments where it got to be a pain in the ass. That's probably more on me not having a huge assortment of tools on hand. I think having some smaller tools used for electronic equipment would have been super fucking helpful for getting this thing together, but, I made due. The good news is, is that you only need a T6 driver to assemble this thing, so you won't have to drop a shit ton of money to put it together. I highly recommend Wiha bits for any and all knife mods/cleanings/etc.
How does it flip?
I'm not gonna sit here and butter up my ass for you fine folks to eat or anything, I am an amateur when it comes to balisong flipping. When I originally got into the hobby, I only learned maybe 2-3 tricks to opening the knife which was enough for young me. Probably because at that time the knife I had bought was, like, 450 fucking dollars. So, I was a huge pussy about ever dropping the knife. Thankfully, I've grown out of that phase a bit and this knife is much cheaper. I've been taking it slow and in the past few months I've managed to learn 8 or 9 tricks now. So, take my opinion with a grain of salt if you want a god tier user's opinion.
I personally think this knife flips great, and keeps up with the other big boy knives in the balisong game. With the ceramic bearings I installed with the handles, this thing feels like butter when doing tricks. I enjoy using this knife so much I've been taking it along with me as my EDC knife for the last week or so, and I'll probably bring it along with me to destroy any and all cardboard and plastic that stands in my god damn way. Now, I will say that you might be better off getting a more standard balisong and learning with that before trying this out, since this knife is a bit of a weirdo in comparison to others. With it being such a long knife, and having 3D milled handles with no hole patterns, it could just be a very odd flipping experience for someone who hasn't flipped other balisongs. That doesn't mean bad, however. It just needs some taking used to.
What I have noticed from my meager skills using this thing, is that it works great for tricks that use momentum to move. I would say that that's probably this knives strongest utility for flipping. I've found it to be probably 10 times easier for me to do a Y2K rollover using this knife, than any other I've touched since I started fingering myself with balisongs. I think once I get more skilled, this thing will rip through combos like nobody's business, and will handle things like aerials pretty smoothly. The balance of the knife is literally as perfect as it could be as well, with weight distribution being very neutral. The only issue I have with the modded knife is that the bead blasted aluminum handles can be a little slippery without much traction/grip to them. This could be an issue for a few different tricks, but, nothing I'd be able to do for a long time anyways. And, by then I'll probably have another balisong to fuck around with :)
Final thoughts
The original Lucha was a great balisong for the price, in fact, I think for around the $100-120 it goes for, it couldn't be beat at that price point. It was a good knife, but, now, it's much better. Getting these handles for $90 puts this knife up into the running with balisongs that go for $250-300 easily. I'm not gonna say this is the end all be all of that price range, as I'm sure it's not. But, the fact that this thing can keep up and be just as good as a $300 balisong is impressive as hell, and it is really a joy to flip and or use. I would say it's hands down the best entry point knife currently available, and a great knife to learn tricks on. And, considering the wide amount of colors available for it, you can customize your knife to whatever makes you have a soggy spot in your trousers.
