We could all love Liberty Stroll’s F40 bodykit for the Autozam AZ-1, however the firm presents a equipment for the real article Ferrari F40 too — a equipment that Liberty Stroll has now determined to honor with a mechanical keyboard collab. I do know, that sounds absurd, but it surely’s truly extra becoming than you would possibly assume.
There’s a large crossover between automobile lovers and keyboard lovers. Positive, to many the thought of a “keyboard fanatic” sounds comical, however the identical could be stated for automobile people within the larger world. All of us like intricate engineering tasks which can be dismissed by others as mere home equipment. I’m not simply saying this to justify my roughly 5 keyboards. That’s an affordable variety of keyboards to personal, I swear.
The keyboard is a collab between Liberty Stroll and Authentic Konbini, a model that doesn’t seem to exist exterior the collab. Its Instagram account has no posts earlier than the Liberty Stroll keyboard, and its web site requires a password for something greater than submitting your e-mail for keyboard updates. “Konbini” comes from the Japanese comfort retailer, however transliterating the Authentic Konbini identify into hiragana returns no outcomes. The Drive, nonetheless, has some extra information:
“It is a piece of JDM heritage that lives in your desk,” stated Caleb Chandra, co-founder of Authentic Konbini. “We wish to deliver the eagerness and exquisite modifications of those machines to your house, an extension of affection for probably the most iconic builds in current JDM historical past.”
As for the keyboard itself, its case is comprised of two milled blocks of aluminum that had been then coated in an off-white colour just like the tuner’s F40. It makes use of low-profile mechanical switches and keycaps, however there’s no phrase on who makes them or their specs. The one change element offered is that they’re tactile switches, which means they’ve a noticeable engagement level that you may really feel within the keystroke. Nevertheless, we do comprehend it’s a wired USB-C keyboard with RGB backlighting and a 75%-ish profile. For non-keyboard nerds, the latter implies that it has perform and arrow keys however no quantity pad or page-up and page-down buttons. The Liberty Stroll livery appears to be like nice, too, with its easy black-over-white principal keys, black house bar with “Slammed” on it, and the Japanese flag on the enter key.
That identify, Caleb Chandra, provides us a bit extra data to go on. Chandra can also be the founding father of modern keyboard outfit Monokei, however none of that firm’s PCBs appear to match up with the brand new Authentic Konbini format. The Kei appears closest, but it surely’s lacking a button within the first row — the Liberty Stroll board appears to be like authentic.
Most fascinating is the declare of low-profile tactile switches and RGB lighting. That might imply the board makes use of Gateron low-profile SMD-compatible switches, both in brown or banana taste. My day by day driver board — a customized handwired Alice-style cut up 60 p.c — makes use of full-profile Gateron Milky Browns, and so they’re a wonderful change. This Liberty Stroll collab could find yourself feeling nearly as good because it appears to be like.
The worlds of vehicles and keyboards aren’t so completely different, and if this Liberty Stroll collab bridges that hole then it may imply extra followers of each communities. I, for one, assume that’s a plus.
