I make no apologies for the fact that I’m an unabashed fan of Bic ballpoint pens. Whether it be the original Bic Cristal, the retractable Bic Clic, or those ginormous Bic multi pens that you carried in third grade, I have and use them all regularly. I consider them the ultimate low-cost, low-distraction, functional writing tool that will work reliably pretty much anywhere except underwater or upside down (which is when you would want to reach for your Fisher Space Pen or other pressurized cartridge).

The pens featured here are technically the Baux Pen 2, a follow-up on the original Baux Pen Kickstarter project from 2013, which launched and closed long before I was far enough down the pen-internet rabbit hole to be aware of it. The project is run by brothers Dan and Brian Conti. You might recognize Brian from his company, Spoke Design, which makes the excellent Spoke Pencil and the current Spoke Pen Kickstarter, a collaboration with Brad Dowdy from the Pen Addict.

The product itself is fairly simple: the Baux Pen is an aluminum stick pen with textured aluminum or titanium grips (shiny or blasted matte) that borrows the rest of the parts from the Bic pen itself. To replace the refill, you remove the plastic “collar,” the refill with the writing tip, and the cap from a Bic Stic pen and insert those parts into the Baux Pen body. It’s very easy and straightforward.

How to disassemble a Baux Pen to incorporate the refill: If you want to use the refill from a Bic Cristal, you will need to borrow the “collar” (pictured second from left) from a Bic Stic to seat the Cristal refill in the Baux Pen. You can then use … — How to disassemble a Baux Pen to incorporate the refill: If you want to use the refill from a Bic Cristal, you will need to borrow the “collar” (pictured second from left) from a Bic Stic to seat the Cristal refill in the Baux Pen. You can then use the ultra fine ballpoint refills from pens like the Bic Cristal “Xtra Precision”, in all their multicolor glory.

One thing I love about the Baux Pen is the grip. I opted for blasted titanium on all three of my pens, and the combination of the matte texture and rings make this a super-comfortable pen to write with. Since titanium and aluminum are both lightweight, you don’t lose one of the best attributes of the Bic pens - their “go-anywhere” portability - and the Baux pen body has a nice balance. The end of the barrel is slightly tapered, allowing you to post the cap. Plastic Bic Stic caps, of course, add no weight whatsoever.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

When this Kickstarter Project was pending, I heard it characterized in many circles as “specialized” or targeted only to artists, designers, and others who use Bic pens for drawing in connection with their work. I disagree. Whether they want to admit it or not, everyone has Bic pens lying around their house, stashed in their car, or in their bag for those occasions when nothing else will work, such as writing on those shiny USPS shipping labels from the post office and all those multi-sheet forms you need to fill out when mailing a package.

If you like the feel and writing properties of a Bic ballpoint, but want to upgrade your daily writing instrument to something just a bit nicer looking, the Baux pen is a great upgrade that doesn’t cost much at all. I backed for three pens with titanium grips, and the price came to $36. The cost for backing a single aluminum pen is only $9. Now that the project has finished shipping, I hope that the Baux Pen gets a wider release (perhaps through the Spoke Design shop?) because it’s a great product that deserves wider exposure than the Kickstarter received. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a retailer where this pen is being sold outside of Kickstarter, but hopefully that’s because the creators wanted to fulfill Kickstarter orders first.

Disclaimer: I purchased the pens featured in this review with my own funds, for my own collection. This post contains affiliate links.

Clickbait headline? Especially coming from a dedicated fountain pen user, who at one point would regularly lament how the ballpoint and the gel pen contributed to the downfall of polite civilization by driving the fountain pen to the brink of extinction? But from a sheer numbers and longevity perspective, you can easily make the case. Bic has sold over 100 billion of these pens since they were first launched in 1950. The pen sits in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. And it’s become the gold standard for how a basic ballpoint pen should look and write.

Though Europe gets the awesome orange barrels, in the States we’re “stuck” with what to me is the "classic" Bic Cristal, featuring a clear plastic hexagonal barrel and a plastic cap that matches the ink color. The design hasn’t changed much in the nearly 70 years this pen has been in existence, and the history of the Bic Cristal makes for fascinating reading.

For awesome write-anywhere portability (like in the car), I don't think you can beat the Cristal, especially if you tend to lose a lot of pens outside the house.

People tend to hate cheap ballpoint pens for one of two reasons: they require too much pressure to write, and/or the ink won’t leave a solid line. The oil-based ink in really cheap ballpoints can also blob and smear all over the page (or in your pocket), making a serious mess. Of all the pure ballpoints out there on the market, however, I consider Bic Cristal and the Schmidt Easyflow 9000 to be the best options, because you don’t usually see any of these issues. (As with any mass-produced product at a lower price point, there are exceptions.)

Two current Bic Cristal models: on the left the .8mm Xtra Precision, which sports a needle tip, and on the right, the most common Bic Cristal available, the 1.0mm "medium".

Though it certainly doesn’t write the same dark line as a gel or hybrid-gel pen, the Bic Cristal performs pretty well for a ballpoint. Bic’s shade of blue ink is much more vibrant than what you’ll find in a Papermate Write Bros., or the various store-brand generics. The 1.0mm “medium” tip can even show some line variation, depending on the pressure you use. For this reason, many artists use Bic pens to draw insanely detailed portraits. While I find gel pens pretty much unusable in tip sizes above .7mm, I have no trouble writing relatively small with the 1.0mm Bic Cristal, since oil-based ink doesn't feather and bleed.

Though ballpoint ink is never going to be as dark as gel, liquid rollerball, or most other types of ink, Bic's formulation is among the best. It also dries near-instantaneously on non-coated paper, including cheap office-supply stock.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

In a world where pen companies and big box stores are starting to charge $15 for a dozen mediocre gel pens, there’s something to be said for taking the opposite approach by picking up a pack of Bic Cristals. Sure, you'll probably lose the pen, give it away, or the plastic barrel may crack long before you use up the ink, but like the most basic woodcase pencils, sometimes you just want to get some work done with a reliable tool that presents the least amount of distraction. Moreover, with the concept of handwriting generally under attack, we should be doing all we can to preserve it by promoting the entire range of writing tools available. The Bic Cristal offers a low-cost, zero-barrier-to-entry option. Anyone can jump online or run down to the corner store, and get started handwriting.

As I mentioned, the 1.0mm medium point will probably give you the smoothest writing experience, and is generally my recommended starting point. For editing and annotation (or if you just write really small), the “Xtra Precision” needle-tip pens are fantastic. If you write large, there's even an "Xtra Bold" 1.6mm version, though I've not tried them.

Finally, if the Bic Cristal interests you from a design or historical perspective, both Philip Hensher's The Missing Ink and James Ward's The Perfection of the Paper Clip discuss the history and development of the Bic ballpoint pen in some detail (as well as diving deep into other aspects of stationery minutiae). I highly recommend both books.

Disclaimer: I purchased the pens featured in this review with my own funds, for my own use.