I have heard that the Mühle-Pinsel R41 head was redesigned for this year. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this razor yet? I am curious what people thought of it. So far all I have heard is that the new head isn't as aggressive as the old design. I think I just worked out a trade so that I can give it a try. It certainly looks nice.
hopefully they didnt change it much cause that razor is number 2 in my lineup. Second only to the 39C - SlantSledgeHammer Awesome shaver !!
I ordered a special made up travel set directly from Muhle which includes this new razor. I hope to have it by mid to late next week. I will report on its shave ability immediately. I am thinking it looks more like the HD Open Comb. I use both the old R41 OC and HD OC and can tell you the Muhle is more aggressive because of its head design but gives a great shave.
Looks like the R89. The R41 was a thinner handle nickel plate version. The new R89 head is precise and I get a good shave from it. It is a bit less agressive than the old R889 head. The only objection I have to the new R89 is that it feel light as compared to the old R89.
I believe the 2009s are all chrome plated. The closed comb is the R89 and the open comb is the R41. I have the Open comb on the way.
I promised several people that I would post pictures of the 2009 R41 when it arrived, so here they are: This picture is of the MP head on the left and the Merkur 1904 Open comb on the right. You can see that the geometry looks nearly identical, but the posts on the MP head are longer and the MP has a shorter gap in the center. I don't know if the new Merkurs have changed as well or not.
I wanted to get a shave in with it before I answered, just in case it was different than a Merkur. I think it shaved just like the Merkurs, which I would say is slightly less aggressive than an OLD, and more forgiving. Very comfortable shavers.
I received the new Muhle R41 directly from the factory thanks to Christian Mueller. I have been shaving with it for over 1 week with the following results: The head is identical to the 11C(Merkur OC) but much lighter in weight,however the handle is thick and "longer" then the 11C. The shave usually 3 passes with a Feather(what else) wtg,atg,wtg is "fantastic". I thought the light weight would be a negative but not at all. The length of the handle makes up for it. And the razor is chromed beautifully. My hats off to Muhle for changing the 41C. Who ever buys one will not be disappointed bottom line: like with all open combs and slants experience is preferred.
The peak looks slightly higher on the the Merkur. But that could be an illusion caused by the deeper notch.
Just before Christmas I ordered the closed comb version (the R89) and it has become my go to razor. It gives a DFS with a variety of blades. The open comb is next on my acquisition list. As an aside the folks at Muhle are great to work with. Dick
I just picked up an 11C and the head looks almost identical to the MP head on the left. Definitely not like the head on the right.
I read somewhere that before the R89 redesign, Muehle razors used Merkur heads. The 2009 head was their own design. I'm not sure if the R41 was also a redesign. The 2009 Muehle R89 head is the one used by the newer EJ razors.
