Spoke Design Roady Review
Brad Dowdy has been a force in the stationary world for a while. His blog, the Pen Addict, is one of the major influences on this site. After the blog he started a podcast, which was also a huge influence. Then he moved into the retail space and released cases under the Nock Co. brand. They were stylish and smartly designed. There were some non-case products in the Nock Co. line and there were other product launches. Then Dowdy, the ambitious soul that he is, teamed up with Brian Conti at Spoke Design, to release a pen, the Spoke Pen. With Dowdy’s instincts and Conti’s design language the Spoke Pen rethought the sometimes boring and often crude “machined pen” market. The Spoke Pen was a bit big for me, but I absolutely loved the look and colorways. When Spoke announced the Roady I was stoked. Life got a bit busy, but eventually I picked one up.
It is amazing.
Here is the product page for the Roady. Here is a written review. Here is a video review. Here is my review sample (purchased with my own money and mine to keep):
Twitter Review Summary: Breaking the mold for machined pens (I loved mixed metaphors).
Design: 2
There have been pens with magnetic caps before and there have been so-called pocket pens before, but nothing has hit me as the perfect EDC pen quite like the Roady. I love the MaxMadCo Bolt Action pen, but it is now long out of production and while it was snappy, its not quite as fidget friendly as the Roady. I have had the MMC as the bar for EDC pens for so long that I cannot remember what held the title before it, but now, after many years, I think its time to crown a new king for EDC pens and the Roady it is.
The small size, brilliant colors, and snap snap snap cap make the Roady brilliant. And during EDC use you won’t find something better. As the pandemic has raged on I started doing all of the grocery shopping and the list, the Holy List, has become my Bible come Saturday morning. And the Roady has been my sole “cross off the list” pen. It has done well—getting doused in hand sanitizer at the end of every trip, opening and closing with a snap, and hanging on my shirt collar with its excellent clip. The size and the grip, with its exceptionally fine knurling, makes the Roady my jam. I love everything about this pen.
Fit and Finish: 2
While there is a bit of play in the cap both when posted and when on the pen tip, it is necessary in order to make the cap easily removable and still preserve the finish on the pen. I thought it was a mistake, but it is clearly intentional and in practice it has no impact on the pen. Beyond that one small point, the pen is absolutely perfect. The anodizing is deserving of special mention. These are colors that seem hellbent on breaking your retinas with their vibrance. There is nothing I have seen in the gear world that is as good and as “poppy” as the colors and combinations of colors you’ll find on the Roady.
Carry: 2
Slim, snappy, and weighty enough to detect when it is in your pocket, the Roady is the practically perfect EDC pen, hence its designation as a pocket pen. The clip is usually a weak point on pens, but thanks to thoughtful designs and thick steel on the clip, the Roady carries like a dream.
Appearance: 2
Machined pens, including my beloved MadMaxCo Bolt, are, well, boring. Often the lack of aesthetic appeal is passed off as minimalism when it is, in fact, limitations of the company making the pen. A few have risen above the knurled tubes, but none are quite as complex and beautiful as those made by Spoke. The aesthetic sophistication of machined pens used to be a league below more nuanced and beautiful resin pens. Not anymore. This is a huge step up.
Durability: 2
While a touch of the anodization has worn off on the cap, I doubt, given the design and materials, that anything other than anodization will so wear in the near or far future. The trade off between machined pens and resin pens used to be something like this: machined pens are bland but durable, while resin pens are gorgeous but fragile. The Roady upsets that tradeoff in a delightful way.
Writing Performance: 2
Shipping with a Uniball Jetstream, the Roady writes like a dream out of the box. Even better—its designed to take a Parker style refill, making it easy to find a refill that fits your needs. Frankly, other than the great refill in a Retro 51, the Jetstream is probably my second favorite choice. And, of course, Parkert style refills are the way to go.
Balance/In Hand Feel: 2
Thanks to a dense magnet in the cap and the base of the pen, the Roady is nicely balanced, even when capped. It is also not that long, limiting the cantaliever effect that some capped machine pens suffer from. Overall, like with everything that has to do with the Roady, the thoughtfulness of the design makes the pen a superior writer.
Grip: 2
The Roady’s knurling on the grip is exceptionally well done—fine but still great in the hands. The edges of around the grip are nicely chamfered, making the Roady very comfortable even in long writing sessions. Pocket pens normally suck in this department, but after meticulous notetaking over a two hour court hearing recently, the Roady fares much better than the average pocket pen (which, if we are all candid, is the Fisher Space Pen), and on par with a normal pen.
Barrel: 2
While not particularly thick (as is the case with most pocket pens) the Roady’s contrasting color barrel works because, again, the the pen is so well balanced.
Deployment: 2
No cap pen is as fun to open and close as the Roady. The magnets make its impossible not to enjoy snapping the pen cap on and off, over and over again. If this isn’t as enjoyable as a good flipper, something is wrong with you.
Other Considerations
Fidget Factor: Very High
No pen is this fun. None. It snaps open and closed with a metallic clink not unlike the sound of a good, well-tuned flipper.
Fett Effect: Very High
The ano will last for a while, but around the edges it has started to show some cool wear. Short of a dent on the cap, this is as Fett-like as you will find.
Value: High
At $59 this is not a cheap pen, but in the world of machined pens, it is a pretty darn good buy.
Overall Score: 20 out of 20
I can’t say enough good about this pen. It is truly the heir apparent to the best EDC pen on the market now that the MMC is out of production. If you like a full sized pen, the Tactile Turn line up offers a bunch of good pens too, but in the pocket pen/pure EDC space, the Roady dominates. It also defies the negative trends associated with machined pens—it is neither boringly minimalist nor crudely made. Instead, it is a refresh design, as bright and cheerful as the many different colorways. As of the writing of this review there are still a few in stock. Go quick because this is a great pen and the perfect item to round out your EDC. Be sure to watch the end of the year Gear of the Year post, as the Roady will definitely show up.
Competition
No, the Space Pen is not a competitor, any more than the latest Mall Crawler SUV is competition for the fully upgraded Land Rover Defender. The Tactile Turn pens fill a very similar, but not identical role. As a pocket pen, the Roady has no real rival. Forced to choose between the latest Side Click TT and the Roady, the correct answer, as is often the case in the gear world, is get both. The Roady’s design is a bit more sophisticated and Spoke’s willingness to go polychromatic is a good choice. The Rotring 600 Ball Point is a thin (but not short) pen and it is readily available. There really isn’t something I would recommend thoughtlessly over the Roady. If you need a long term, multiday writer I’d still opt for a fountain pen, but for anything short of that—for trips to the grocery store or runs to the lumber yard (which is where I have enjoyed using the Roady), there is no competition.
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