Help Me Pick Out My First Knife

Of course you have to do your research first, before you buy something otherwise you will be disappointed... and there are always trade-offs. There are no 1AAA flashlights with 800 Lumen and 10 hour runtime on high without overheating and the same goes for knives. Decide what your priorities are: The best cutting steels are almost always carbon steel... the most corrosion resistant steels will have less cutting performance. Read some basic guides like Jekostas knife primer and decide what you want and how much you are willing to spend on reaching the desired attributes. There is a reason Mora and Opinel offer many of their knives in carbon and stainless steel, so you can choose yourself. The convenience of modern locking mechanisms surpasses the collar lock of the Opinels and most Victorinoxes are slip joint and don't even have a lock. As a fellow biker I would rather use folding blades opposed to fixed blades, because size and weight are critical when you are on 2 wheels. I love my Mora fixed blades, but they stay at home most of the time. I would probably take a MT and larger folder on tour, so I have some tools and a larger blade (bigger than the MT blade... eg. SRM 900 series/Enlan L-class).

In my opinion I get more in return on a SRM 710 knife, than on a Sipik SK68 flashlight in terms of build quality and overall value, but that is highly subjective.