TOPS Serrates the Back Bite, a 2010 Design Still Without Rivals
The Back Bite has been in the TOPS catalog since 2010, designed with martial arts instructor Colin Despins, and in sixteen years nobody has produced a convincing copy of it. That is partly because the shape is hard to describe: a dagger-ground chisel-tanto with a live edge on top and a heavily recurved second edge underneath, closer to a grappling tool than to a knife. The new Serrated Back Bite adds teeth to both edges.
The geometry is the whole story. There are about four inches of live edge in total — three on the primary top edge, one on the bottom curve — in 1095 carbon steel, which is tough enough to survive contact with gear and easy to repair with a stone. Serrations on a design intended to grab and tear make sense in a way they do not on a hunting knife: the tool's job is to catch material and hold it, and teeth do that better than a plain edge.
The handle is deliberately unremarkable, which is the correct decision on a martial fixed blade. Scales are G10 here, a change from the Micarta of the original, and the shape is readable enough to support the several grips this kind of knife is used in. Overall weight is 5.7 ounces, and TOPS ships it with a Kydex pancake sheath that can be configured for different carry positions.
Comparing it with anything else is awkward because there is no direct equivalent. An ESEE Izula or a Bradford Guardian is a better general-purpose small fixed blade, with a more useful edge and a friendlier profile. A Clinch Pick or a karambit is closer in intent but different in mechanics. The Back Bite is a specialist that happens to be legal to own in most places a fixed blade is legal at all.
Verdict: buy it if you train with a fixed blade for personal defense, you understand what a dual-edge recurve is for, and you want serrations for grabbing. Skip it if you want one fixed blade for camping, because nearly every chore knife task is easier with a conventional drop point.
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