Knowledge Graph / Limited Editions
Sprint Runs
The Sprint Run register: every run with pieces, steel, bearings, year and distribution, where the program sits against Custom Division, and what to check on a listing.
On this page
A Sprint Run (SR) is a numbered limited pre-series from the Shirogorov workshop, almost always 30 pieces, usually on single-row roller bearings, on a design that is either new or a material variant of a production model. It sits between serial production and Custom Division on the tier ladder, and buyers mix the two up constantly, partly because the workshop’s own dealers have listed Quantum-family SRs under a Custom Division heading. This page is the register: what runs exist, what is known of each, and what a listing marked “SR” should be checked against; the tier it is confused with is on the Custom Division FAQ. Prices sit in the price record with venue, date and sample size.
What a Sprint Run is, and is not
The term is borrowed. In the wider knife trade a sprint run is a short release ahead of, or beside, series production, differing from the series in materials or detail. Dealers credit Sergey Shirogorov with bringing the term into use among Russian makers. The factory itself tiers its bearings this way: MRBS on serial production, MRBS on the Sinkevich projects and SRRBS on projects with Western makers, SRRBS on Custom Division. Sprint Run is a dealer and collector term rather than a factory tier; every documented run carries SRRBS.
Against the neighboring tiers, the distinctions that hold:
| Sprint Run | Custom Division | |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds it | The workshop, as a limited pre-series | The workshop’s Custom Division, since April 2014 |
| Run size | 30 in every documented run | Typically 50 to 100 per run; some as small as 30 |
| Bearings | SRRBS in every documented run | SRRBS |
| Numbering | 1 to 30 on the box and COA | Continuous individual numbering since 2014 |
| Distribution | Direct to followers, a fan club, or a handful of dealers; several runs never reached open retail | Lottery and dealer allocation |
| Pivot hardware | Standard. Duck foot pivots are full custom only; “duckfoot hardware” on an SR listing means the standard pivot, not the full-custom one | Standard |
The tier ladder page has the four-tier view and the authentication cues per tier. The rest of this page is the runs themselves.
The origin question, once
Two accounts of the first Sprint Run circulate and they do not agree. Dealers call the Stellar SR (designed 2021, 30 pieces, sold by the workshop to its followers rather than through open sale) the first official Sprint Run from the workshop, and the Stellar is the first release the workshop called an SR by name. Against that, Quantum-family limited variants marked SR were listed by dealers in 2019 and 2020, under a “Quantum Sprint Run Custom Division” title, and collectors place early Quantum-era limited runs in 2019. If “first Sprint Run” means the first release the workshop named that way, it is the Stellar; if it means the first 30-piece limited pre-series with the SR mark on a dealer listing, the Quantum precedes it. The register below records what each run is called.
Where Sprint Runs sit in a model’s life
The usual release ladder for a new model runs show debut, then Custom Division, then Sprint Run, then First Production, then serial. That order is not a rule; it varies by model, and the Astrum is the one model with a dated sequence.
The Astrum is that model. Its SR carries a 2023 blade stamp and reached dealers in late 2023 and early 2024; the Astrum First Production in MagnaCut, the serial line and the Custom Division run followed in 2024, with serial retail continuing through 2025 and 2026. That is SR before CD. For the Quantum the boundary is less clean: Sergey’s custom Quantum won Best Tactical at Blade Show 2019, the workshop announced the Custom Division version in June 2019 with a Damasteel Sprint Run named in the same report, serial release came in spring 2020, and the dealer listings for the Quantum SR title it as a Custom Division piece, so the SR/CD boundary on that model is not clean. The Astrum is the one dated case, and it runs SR first.
The register
| Run | Steel and build | Bearings | Pieces | Year | Distribution | Listed as |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stellar SR | Titanium and Damasteel; liner lock with apron | SRRBS | 30 | Designed 2021 | Sold by the workshop to followers, not in open sale | “First official Sprint Run”, in dealer copy |
| Quantum SR | Full-size Quantum in Damasteel, three patterns with four pieces in Björkmans Twist; 3.75 in blade, 8.86 in overall, 5 oz; titanium with zirconium hardware and backspacer | SRRBS | 30 | Named June 2019; listed 2019 to 2020 | Dealer (Rusblade, statusknife) and secondary | “Quantum Sprint Run Custom Division” on dealer listings and collector posts, 2019 |
| NeOniX SR | 201-EVA Russian stainless Damascus; milled, windowed and skeletonized titanium; steel-capped lock bar as a hidden overtravel stop | SRRBS | 30 | Listings 2026 | Secondary (Facebook B/S/T) | Seen only on the secondary market |
| Mini Quantum SR | M398, 85 mm blade, 3 mm stock, 198 mm overall, 83 g; engraved titanium with anodized decorative washers; rotating pocket clip | SRRBS | 30 | Made for the Russian fan club; never sold in a store or by lottery | Distinct from the Mini Quantum CD, which has a fixed clip and won Best Investor/Collector at Blade Show 2023 | |
| Astrum SR | ZDI-E Damascus (Zladinox’s Elmax-based laminate), 4.00 in blade, 9.00 in overall, 3.6 oz; 3D-milled titanium with internal pockets; darkened titanium backspacer with lanyard hole | SRRBS | 30 | 2023 blade stamp; on the market late 2023 to early 2024 | Direct to established collectors and select dealers (Recon1, eknives, BladeZilla); single batch | “Sprint Run” on all three dealer listings |
| MidiQ SR | Zladinox ZDI-1016 stainless Damascus, 3.65 in polished blade, 8.25 in overall, 3.5 oz; stonewashed and polished titanium with internal pockets; KenobiTi backspacer | SRRBS | 30 | Listings from 2024 | Dealer (eknives, BladeZilla) and secondary | “Sprint Run”; the “duckfoot hardware” in the eknives listing is the standard pivot, not the full-custom one |
Three things the register makes visible. The 30-piece count holds on every run with a count. SRRBS is universal where bearings are stated. And distribution is the variable that differs between runs: the Stellar and Mini Quantum never reached open retail at all, the Astrum went to named collectors and three dealers, the MidiQ went through dealers in the ordinary way. That last column is the one to read when a listing says “rare.”
Serials seen so far: Astrum SR, #26/30; MidiQ SR, #27 and #29 of 30.
The runs, briefly
Stellar SR. The template for what followed. Thirty pieces, titanium and Damascus, on the workshop’s first liner lock in some years, built with an apron to close the gaps behind the lock bar; the serial Stellar (2023) carries the same lock. The design is minimal and strict. It set the count, the bearing choice and the direct-to-followers distribution that the program has kept.
Quantum family. The full-size Quantum SR is thirty pieces in Damasteel, across three of the mill’s patterns with four in Björkmans Twist, on rollers with zirconium hardware. The factory named it in June 2019 beside the Custom Division Quantum in S90V, and dealers listed it under a Custom Division title from then on. The Mini Quantum SR is the odd one out in distribution: made for the Russian fan club, never sold in a store or through the lottery, with the rotating pocket clip that separates it at a glance from the Mini Quantum CD. The Mini Quantum that won Best Investor/Collector Knife at Blade Show 2023 was the CD version.
Astrum SR. The run with the most documentation and the clearest place in its model’s life. ZDI-E Damascus on a 3D-milled and internally pocketed titanium frame at 3.6 oz, with the blade-spine window and the lanyard-hole backspacer that carried over to the serial Astrum. Stamped 2023, on the market by early 2024, distributed to established collectors and three dealers in a single batch. The Astrum CD (MagnaCut, /50), the First Production and serial retail all came after it.
MidiQ SR. The 2024 run in Zladinox ZDI-1016, a laminate of two Russian stainless steels (140Kh18 and 60Kh14), with the same internal-pocket construction as the Astrum SR and a KenobiTi backspacer. Examples #27 and #29 have passed through dealers.
What the price record says about SRs
Sprint Runs trade above production pieces, and the release-window premium compresses over one to two years on the same hype cycle as Custom Division; the CDX 10th Anniversary is the worked example on the tier ladder. Per-run figures, with venue, date and sample size, are in the price record, and Buying, selling and value covers when to buy inside that cycle. Numbering is a real premium driver on the secondary: low numbers, #1 and #30, and a few numbers that recur in community talk (#21, #28) draw asks above their run-mates, which is a collector behavior, not a quality difference.
Checking an SR listing
An SR listing should reconcile on five points before money moves. The run should be in the register above, or be a run the seller can document that the register lacks. The serial should read NN/30 on the box and COA (NN/3 for the Damasteel Quantum), and the number should match across box, COA and any workshop marking. The bearings should be rollers; a listing that says SR and shows ball bearings is describing something else. The pivot should be standard hardware, whatever the dealer copy calls it. And the price should be read against the SR figures for that model in the price record, not against a “retail” figure, because several runs never had one. The authentication guide carries the general cues; the tier ladder carries the per-tier ones.