About BaliYo


All About BaliYo


Eric Glesser has always been quite fond of knives (he is, after all, the son of Sal Glesser, founder of Spyderco). His life pretty much revolves around them. Whether he is selling knives with his dad or designing new models, Eric is never far from something sharp.


In the mid 2000’s, he realized something was missing. Being a long time fan of butterfly knives, a knife that battles legality in many places around the world, Eric set out to develop a vastly different type of product than the knives he had designed in the past. He came back in 2008 with the BaliYo. 


Dubbed the butterfly knife pen by many, BaliYo is just that, only better. It still allows you to perform fancy tricks like the ones you can do with a butterfly knife but goes one step further. BaliYo allows you to flip in ways that would be impossible with a blade swinging all willy-nilly around your hand, making it safe and fun for just about anyone.


By replacing the blade with a pen cartridge, BaliYo successfully removes any threat of cutting off a finger or impaling a nearby friend in the face (although chances are it will still fly out of your hand on occasion), but it’s still capable of the same kind of swinging, rotating, transferring, flipping and launching (if you are really good) as a Balisong. When you carry and flip a BaliYo in public, you can draw a crowd; when you carry and flip a butterfly knife, you scare the bejesus out of the elderly, get fined and have the knife confiscated.


The BaliYo provides safe, unlimited and creative motion anytime, anywhere. The BaliYo is the first skill toy of its kind - it turns an everyday writing instrument into a skill game that will provide endless entertainment wherever you are. You don’t need a large open space or need to be standing. All you need is a BaliYo and your fingers and wrist will do the rest (after a little practice, of course!)



Technical Info About BaliYo


Constructed from three pieces of custom-formulated polymer, the center stem is a ball point pen sandwiched by two parallel arms. Two pivots connect the three pieces. The positioning dynamics of the pivots allow you to swing and rotate the pen, changing its speed and force of gravity while flipping and twirling.


About BaliYo

It's all about refined symmetry, with even weight ratio from end-to-end and side-to-side balancing the pen through motion and force. Practice, practice, practice. Learn sophisticated moves, two-handed tricks, quick-flips, spins, aerials and how to manipulate combinations of these by watching our BaliYo Video Tutorials.


We're proud to work with the Fisher Space Pen Company. Their internal ink cartridge carries Fisher's reputation for writing superiority and reliability. The pressurized cartridge provides flowing, smooth ink in any writing position, in any environment: ocean to orbit. Fisher Pen Company makes some of the most reliable pens known to man, which is why all US Made BaliYo's come with one.


The BaliYo uses flexible wire clips that allow you a verity of clip positions. When you pull the pen out, spread the handles, and twist the end to expose the cartridge. Typically you write this way, but we won't judge you if you prefer to write a different way.