Bicycle Elite Edition Playing Cards

[VictorS]

Hi everyone,

Has anyone of you had played with this deck ? This must be something different. Quite many good reviews already shared by professional magicians. But probably would be good to hear something from this forum.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/8397

Thanks guys.
Vic

[EvanS]

I ordered some last week, but have not yet received them. I'll let you know once I get them, and have a chance to play around with them a bit.

[Richard W]

I would buy them if they had blue.
Maybe if I wait but don't expect it anytime soon.

[VictorS]

Thanks Evan and Richard. I believe this will be something very2 good. Look forward for your review

[Brett H]

I work with a decent amount of cards.


Honestly, you can never go wrong with regular Bikes (depending on the climate. Humid heavy environments eat card up like crazy). The ad says 'superior handling out of the box'. I don't buy that. You will ALWAYS need the deck broken in for some magic applications and certainly almost all cardistry applications. Especially since Bikes tend to have a notoriously slick finish that needs to be 'worn' a little.

So really, unless they changed the finish (not sure what they would do since they show a LOT of card fans AND other cardistry: two different types of moves that require the finish to either be intact or worn.); you're getting a regular deck of bikes with a double backer and a blank card.

[VictorS]

Yes Brett, I heard that too. I think there are changes in the thickness, finish, material (I assumed) which lead also to longer durability. But paper is still paper

[Richard W]

I wonder since the cards feel broke in out of the box untouched do they wear out faster or get flimsy or dog eared corners easiwr ash they are thinner stock. They are cheap enough you can just toss them and open a new pack. Being thinner stock they might be good for making double back cards.

Don't know why Penguin always picks red back cards as their default color to use. If I buy a brick I want blue. The last time I bought a card effect from Penguin even though the advertisement and the demo video and the paid instruction video showed blue decks only they sent me red.

I contact them to say hey what happened to the blue cards, they said we only make them in red. I said if you only have red it should say so I bought this specifically because I seen it was blue. They said send it back for store credit if you don't want it. So at least they try to make you happy. I just tossed it in the junk magic pile not worth the postage back for the credit. Too bad Jason is gone he would be saying if you don't want that pile GIVE it to me.

[VictorS]

Richard,
thinner will be good on doing lifts (double, triple, etc) but the best double back will be as thin as 1 single card, unless we want to make a thick card (to force a card for example). This would be good perhaps for manipulator, they usually use thin cards also. About red and blue, actually it depends on what we are working on in my opinion. If we want to get the back of card signed with black sharpie, of course, red would be better but if we want to make a gimmick on the back, of course blue can conceal better. But in general, it`s about personal taste. I hope Penguin will make it available for you

[David DeTenyo]

40 USD for a deck of cards

A skilled person who handles cards can do the same with regular bikes in my opinion ... not saying for instance fanning will be easier with these ones, and they'll probably last longer.

Most gimmicked cards/decks are red, perhaps that's why they only produce red ones. I personally always use red bikes because all the gimmicks I have are red too.

[VictorS]

40 USD for a deck of cards

I thought also the same as you do, at the first time I saw it, David. But we need to read more carefully.

[Richard W]

All the gimmicks are red even more reason to want blue so less suspect to be gimmick.

[David DeTenyo]

40 USD for a deck of cards

I thought also the same as you do, at the first time I saw it, David. But we need to read more carefully.

Ah I see, you get 12 decks (which is called a 'brick' I suppose, I didn't know that word) Well, in that case this isn't a bad deal at all

[Richard W]

Ya great price that's what makes me want to try them but don't want 12 red. Hate when this happens.

[EvanS]

Fortunately, for me, I prefer red decks.

[Richard W]

I guess I could learn to like red.

[Randy]

I asked about Blue decks and they said there are no plans at this time.

The cards are on a thinner stock and the stock is "crushed" so there will be a softer feel.

If they had blue I would buy them as I generally use a blue deck with a red stranger card. I would have to change some presentation around with the change in back color and I don't think it is worth the trouble.

The price of a brick is basically the same as buying 12 single decks in the local store

[Richard Kaufman]

I almost always use red-backed cards. Better for certain sleights.

Just received a few of these decks. They're much thinner than what Bicycle usually makes now, which I like (and what the cards were like when I was younger).

They're not like rocks when you take them out of the box, which is nice, but the deck is certainly not broken in the way it needs to be.

But they have the same lousy slippery plastic finish as all contemporary cards. The last time a deck of cards had a good finish for magicians was in the late 1980s when USPCC varnished the cards instead of using a plastic coating. Government rules on carcinogens eliminated varnish, which is a pity. The cards were much better then.

[Randy]

Richard

Do these cards have a feel like the old ARRCO Club Casino cards. I remember them being like Tahoes but thinner. I may be confusing them with Streamliners. I know I used to use both back in the early 80's.

[Randy]

Looking back at some old Club Casino decks I have I believe that the Streamliners were a thinner version of the Club Casino cards.

[EvanS]

I completely agree with Richard's comments about these cards (which I actually like very much). I also appreciate that the box is slightly bigger than the deck, if you happen to want to add a few cards (for whatever reason ).

Can't complain about the price, and the added gaffs are a nice touch, as well.