Visit to York PA and York Barbell Co.

[AttyGuy]

I've been looking for some better quality iron plates and after doing some research I settled on the York Legacy milled plates. Actually, my first preference was Ivanko, but considering that I can't afford the OMEZH plates, I decided to stay old school and go for York.

I did some looking around the internet and found no great deals on York milled plates, and I also regularly checked craigslist, to no avail. (Yes, there's a guy in Deleware who sells used plates. I thought about him.) Fortunately, I found a few references to "Allison" from York, suggesting that I might get a better deal than what I'd been seeing. Allison Foreman does indeed work for York and has some responsibility for commercial and vertical markets at the company. I found her office number online, (614) 785-9266, and her fax, (614) 785-9322, as well as her e-mail, allisonforeman@aol.com, and I dropped her a line. After a few days, I followed up with a call. She remembered my e-mail, and we discussed what I might be interested in. I told her and advised her that I would like to make the drive from the DC area up to York to pick up the plates. A short time later she provided me with a quote for the items and an estimate on shipping, should I decide not make the drive.

A buddy and I headed up to York on 83 and realized that we'd gone to far as we passed the York facility. You can't miss it from the highway. We turned around and headed back to the exit and when we arrived, we went into the outlet store, which is attached to the museum/USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame. We spoke with the store manager, Mike, who showed us around. The workout facility and competition area were awesome! Mike also called over to the recieving area to make sure that our stuff was ready to go. And he told us about all the cool training that they sometimes run at the facility. Even better, he gave us contact information for one of the top kettle bell guys in the DC area to see when we returned.

We looked that the historical exhibits and the memorabilia from Bob Hoffman, picked up our stuff and headed out for lunch at the Round the Clock Diner in York (google it, if you are going to be in the area). We also heard of a guy in East York who was selling new chrome Olympic bars. Nothing fancy, just made in China, 700 lb. bars, but with a bunch of Cap plates to sell, I thought I'd pick up one of the bars to sell with the old plates. Great deal at $20 a bar. (If you are in the area, look at craigslist for York.) My only regret was not doing a more thorough search of CL before making the drive to see if there were any vintage milled York plates for sale.

Why did I share this? I don't work for York and have no affiliation with them whatsoever. A pleasant two-hour drive and some conversations in person beats the internet, e-mail and phone calls. We got some great equipment, saw some interesting stuff, met some great people, and made some good contacts. All for a half tank of gas and the better part of a day. Oh, and we got some cool York Barbell Club t-shirts and a tremendous discount on the equipment.

That's why. Two thumbs up for York PA and York Barbell Co.

[animalfan]

congrats on the new plates, and i agree, dealing in person is better if at all possible.

[fishingeek]

Good stuff man!
Some chicklets for you for doing your research ahead of time and finding Allison's contact info.

[Accutron]

Great review thanks for posting that.

[AttyGuy]

A helpful tip I got from Mike at the outlet store is to confirm that the stuff is ready before making the drive up to York. If you come up at the end of the day and your stuff hasn't been pulled, you might not get it. Better to let Allison know when you're going to come up to York, confirm, and then drive up in the morning. You can take the tour, have lunch at the diner, and then pick up your stuff if it's not immediately ready.

[tonkaboyz]

Do you mind me asking you what they quoted you for? Price and Quanity?

[AttyGuy]

Do you mind me asking you what they quoted you for? Price and Quanity?

Under 300 lbs in plates and a 6' bar. My buddy got some other stuff. We didn't buy a lot and the discount was better than the percentage one often sees for York. Write or call Allison and ask for the catalogs and price lists. She'll also give you a quote once you know which equipment you want.

[keyboardworkout]

Does York still manufacture anything other than their high end bars in the US/Canada?

[Skyaura]

Does York still manufacture anything other than their high end bars in the US/Canada?

Pretty certain that only the high end York Bars are manufactured in the U.S. Much of the dumbell, plate, barbell manufacturing has moved out of the U.S. Iron Grip manufactures their urethane dumbells, urethane plates and barbells in the U.S. Ivanko still produce their urethane plates, urethane dumbbells and bars here, although other Ivanko product lines are manufactured in China. If I remember correctly, I believe Troy Barbell's urethane plates are produced in the U.S.

[eb02z06]

Cool stuff, I'm not far away at all and need to make the trip out. Thanks for sharing.

[AttyGuy]

My new Legacy plates, on the rack.

[mktwelve]

Reps for diggin my hometown....but Rounds the Clocks way to expensive, bad move lol.

[AttyGuy]

What can I say? The outlet store manager recommended Round the Clock to us. Otherwise, it would've been fast food.

[ctgblue]

Always cool to go to a factory

I went to Magnum in Milwaukee a few years ago to check out their commercial equipment for a buddy looking to open a gym. (I was up there training some customers anyway)

Awesome showroom, they let me basically workout on everything

That's what sold me on their flooring, nicest I've seen and not much more than stall mats

We bought the flooring, my buddy never did open a gym.

[ndmike99]

Always cool to go to a factory

I went to Magnum in Milwaukee a few years ago to check out their commercial equipment for a buddy looking to open a gym. (I was up there training some customers anyway)

Awesome showroom, they let me basically workout on everything

That's what sold me on their flooring, nicest I've seen and not much more than stall mats

We bought the flooring, my buddy never did open a gym.

I can not make up my mind on what to do for flooring. I know everyone says stall mats and I have done a lot of searching on the forum, but I am going to have an 1100-1200 sq ft gym in a garage and I am trying to decide between 3/8th rubber (either rolled or interlocking) or the following:

http://www.stallmats.com/products-ranch/sfp/gorilla.htm

I would do stall mats, but I really do not want uneven seams. If you got the roll flooring does the seams look ok and did you glue it down or use tape?

Thanks

[Wildtim]

If you are goig to get the rolled flooring it pays to have it professionally installed, unless you know how to install it yourself. Done properly it will be a complete wall to wall instalation with sealed seams. Done poorly it looks like crap and the edges can curl at every seam.

[ndmike99]

If you are goig to get the rolled flooring it pays to have it professionally installed, unless you know how to install it yourself. Done properly it will be a complete wall to wall instalation with sealed seams. Done poorly it looks like crap and the edges can curl at every seam.

I am thinking of doing the interlocking for that very reason.

[ctgblue]

I can not make up my mind on what to do for flooring. I know everyone says stall mats and I have done a lot of searching on the forum, but I am going to have an 1100-1200 sq ft gym in a garage and I am trying to decide between 3/8th rubber (either rolled or interlocking) or the following:

http://www.stallmats.com/products-ranch/sfp/gorilla.htm

I would do stall mats, but I really do not want uneven seams. If you got the roll flooring does the seams look ok and did you glue it down or use tape?

Thanks

I got the roll flooring.
If you are installing it in an existing room with carpet, like we did, it's easy.
I ripped out the carpet and tack board, left the baseboards where they were. The 3/8" flooring fit right under the baseboards. I put a 3' long 2x4 against the edge and tapped it under on the side, the rest laid perfect. I trimmed the edges really well on the last wall and folded and tucked.
No tape, no glue, I think it's 3 yrs going strong. you can see the seams, but there is still no separation.

On a flat floor, you could tape the edges if you want, but I'd never glue it down as the glue may rip some of it off if you needed to move it later.

[AttyGuy]

If we're going to resurrect old threads, why not resurrect good ones? Or mine.

[smokinHawk]

If we're going to resurrect old threads, why not resurrect good ones? Or mine.

why no pictures of the York museum when you were down there back then?

[C123C]

Been there. It's awesome. Very enjoyable.

[keyboardworkout]

my first preference was Ivanko, but considering that I can't afford the OMEZH plates, I decided to stay old school and go for York.

Maybe you can sell all your York plates and afford to buy OMEZH plates.