Comments on: Bic Criterium 2603 2.0mm leadholder

By: TheHOINK

TheHOINK — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:55:01 +0000

Aloha’Auinala….
If anyone should find this Post and is still interested in buying or trading some, let me know.
I am an illustrator and leadholder collector myself (with a small collection), and it’s easy for me to get to BIC 2603 (Aluminium) and 2613 (Plastic) Models.
Anyhow, the Design of the 2603 has changed since last year, it’s not as classical to me no more, but it’s in some ways improved, too.
Aluminium and Plastic Barrel now are absolutely identical, the grip section is longer, the width a bit larger, the clip is absolutely fixed in position and can not slide any more and the push button / lead sharpener sits more tight now.
Greetings from Old Europe.
TheHOINK

By: joe bobs

joe bobs — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:47:07 +0000

i just found a website that sells the aluminum product to the usa and ordered one recently pencils.jp (google it)
i had been looking for someone that sells this pencils for 5 months but they either didnt ship to usa or the website page was outdated. I tried amazon france also but it didnt help, so if anyone is still interested in this pencil heres the direct link to the product http://www.pencils.jp/product/369. Also they only accept paypal payments (no credit card or debit cards) but hurry there was only 7 left but i ordered one (birthday present!!!!) :D so theres 6 left in stock now

By: impossiblebird

impossiblebird — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:52:41 +0000

Last time I posted there was definitely stock available for buyers outside France; I even went through checkout, without actually placing the order, to find out the p+p to the UK (if I remember correctly, it was something like EUR15, for a EUR7 pen!). However there are no sellers listed there tonight who will post beyond France and Monaco. It’s possible that the seller I saw the other night was posting to Europe but not the USA; sorry if I sent anyone on a wild goose chase!

By: ditto guy

ditto guy — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:45:05 +0000

Hey I tired buying one off Amazon France and I couldn’t because of my location.
I translated the French it said my USA address isn’t usable. So maybe I have the wrong listing I tried three of them though.

By: impossiblebird

impossiblebird — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:45:26 +0000

Easily done; it’s almost midnight here and I can see how my original post was abbreviated to the point of being garbled.

BTW I see there are some Criterium leadholders for sale on amazon.fr “Expédition à l’international disponible”, although p+p is a little steep…..

By: penciladmin

penciladmin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:32:40 +0000

Sorry for misunderstanding – I’m not sure then. The one in the photos has not presented any problems for me. Depending on where you are, it may be a humid time of year, and it is possible that the tolerances of the Criterium mechanism and the leads are strained. Maybe someone else has some ideas?

By: impossiblebird

impossiblebird — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:20:00 +0000

Um, yes, I realise the mechanism is different; I have a couple of clutch leadholders for 5mm leads. The Criterium would maybe benefit from using a slightly smaller diameter lead, as gravity simply won’t do its thing with 2mm. I know 1.8mm is a diameter which was widely used in the past, but any idea where it might be available these days?

I mentioned the Staedtler only for the reason that it’s been my regular writing pencil, and I’ve gone and got used to the grip position and weight…….

By: penciladmin

penciladmin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:44:27 +0000

Clutch leadholders don’t have an advance (or retraction) mechanism. You press the pushbutton, releasing the clutch (the three or four “jaws”) and allow the lead to fall out, manually controlling this as desired.

The Staedtler 925 25 uses a completely different mechanism – it is a wide lead mechanical pencil.

By: impossiblebird

impossiblebird — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:27:54 +0000

Well, I bought an aluminium Criterium 2603 and it won’t advance the lead! Any clues as to what the problem might be? The lack of heft (after my Staedtler 925 25) takes some getting used to, as does the grip, set about 5mm back from where my fingers instinctively want to be.

By: 2mmleadholderfan

2mmleadholderfan — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:11:18 +0000

Thanks for making such a great blog!

Bic has just bought 40% of the number 1 pen supplier in India.
It looks like they want to expand their presence in Asia.

We, in North America, might be out of luck getting our Criteriums but blog participants in Asia might have more of an opportunity.

Thanks to you, I was able to locate a Staedler 2mm leadholder at a big box store to use as my everyday carry pencil. :)

By: penciladmin

penciladmin — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:03:54 +0000

A bit of advocacy? I somehow don’t see Bic (at least in North America) being devoted to ultra-niche products. I could be wrong.

Thanks for dropping by and commenting!

By: 2mmleadholderfan

2mmleadholderfan — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:10:30 +0000

Mine has the Conte logo and I got Conte brand leads when I got it.