New Pendlay HD Bar

[GarageIron]

I picked up one of the newly updated Pendlay HD mens bars today... and its... well... kinda the same as the old. At least in appearance.

The new bar is 190KPSI steel with a 28mm diameter vs. the older bar which was 166KPSI and 28.4mm.

The bar is great looking and has a nice spin. The knurl remains very, very soft and sleeve's have deep machining lines that are a bit different than the previous Nexgen. They are almost sharp... certainly sharper than the knurl.

I'll play with it tonight a bit and see how it feel vs. my old Nexgen HD. I'm the the worst olympic lifter on earth, so I doubt I'll be able to notice a difference.

Anyway, pics

[bigboybrent]

After you've played with it for awhile please do a comparison with the sorinex bars thanks!!!

[morebarbell]

Nice photos and video. I'm still on spread. Was the bar made in 2009 (date on end cap)? I thought the change in diameter was more recent.

[ICEcap2]

Can you post a closeup of the sleeve finish so that I can see how rough it is?

[dumb.bell]

Did they change the NB Bar too or is it still the same?

[GarageIron]

Was the bar made in 2009 (date on end cap)? I thought the change in diameter was more recent.

It was made about a week ago. MD could not keep up production of the bars with their old supplier. They moved manufacturing to in-house and can now make about 1000 bars/month. No Idea about the end cap. I checked the bar with callipers...its 28mm

Did they change the NB Bar too or is it still the same?

Yes, the steel was also updated to 190KPSI. The HD and NB now share the same shaft and sleeves. The only difference between them is the bearing vs bushing.

[GarageIron]

Can you post a closeup of the sleeve finish so that I can see how rough it is?

Sure... Its really rough. These were the best I could do on an iPhone.


Also, The sleeve is cut from one piece of steel which is pretty cool. No compression fitting of the sleeve and flange.

[BloodType3R]

Holy crap! I foresee bleeding.

[ICEcap2]

Thanks, I have read there were ridges on the sleeve and wonder how they looked. Over time the ridges may wear down and the sleeve diameter will get a little smaller. It almost like they setup the lathe to turn a thread on the sleeves.

[Skyaura]

It was made about a week ago. MD could not keep up production of the bars with their old supplier. They moved manufacturing to in-house and can now make about 1000 bars/month. No Idea about the end cap. I checked the bar with callipers...its 28mm



Yes, the steel was also updated to 190KPSI. The HD and NB now share the same shaft and sleeves. The only difference between them is the bearing vs bushing.

GarageIron,

Just to follow up, the bar shaft for both the new HD and NB bar is made from the same material as the original NB bar. It is just that the minimal PSI is now 190,000 PSI. The NB bar has 10 bearings, 5 bearings per sleeve, same as the original.

As for the end cap date. That may refer to when the Pendlay bars began to be manufactured under Muscle Driver USA in the NC facility. Pendlay was purchased by MDUSA in 2008 and I believe (hazy with memory here) that production for Pendlay bars under MDUSA began at the NC plant in 2009.

Go to the Muscle Driver facebook page (dated 2/26/13) for a bar deflection test under 40 tons of pressure. Here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/MuscleDriverUSA

[GarageIron]

GarageIron,

Just to follow up, the bar shaft for both the new HD and NB bar is made from the same material as the original NB bar. It is just that the minimal PSI is now 190,000 PSI.

Thanks Skyaura, but I'm not really sure what that means. Are you saying the steel mills are making the same product stronger, or that MD have changed the minimum spec of what they would accept at the factory? When you increase the minimum yield you've changed something in the process and the product. Curious what that is.

[Skyaura]

Thanks Skyaura, but I'm not really sure what that means. Are you saying the steel mills are making the same product stronger, or that MD have changed the minimum spec of what they would accept at the factory? When you increase the minimum yield you've changed something in the process and the product. Curious what that is.

Minimum spec and your point is well taken about increasing minimum yields. As you probably know, when a bar touts for example, 165,000 PSI, that usually refers to the minimal accepted. The bar you have (the new NB) could have a tensile strengh that is slightly greater than the 190,000 PSI. The old NB bar I believe was 186,000 PSI. The HD bar was 165,000, but was made from a different material than the NB bar. That is no longer the case.

And going back to an original point I made, and probably even more so with this new HD bar, that unless you predominately do cleans, snatches and jerks as your workout routine, then the HD bar will suffice. As a side note Danny Shankle (when he was with Team MDUSA) and Kaleb Whitby used the HD bar instead of the NB bar that the other Team MDUSA members were using.

[dumb.bell]

Just to follow up, the bar shaft for both the new HD and NB bar is made from the same material as the original NB bar. It is just that the minimal PSI is now 190,000 PSI. The NB bar now has 10 bearings up from the original 5 bearings.

Minimum spec and your point is well taken about increasing minimum yields. As you probably know, when a bar touts for example, 165,000 PSI, that usually refers to the minimal accepted. The bar you have (the new NB) could have a tensile strengh that is slightly greater than the 190,000 PSI. The old NB bar I believe was 186,000 PSI. The HD bar was 165,000, but was made from a different material than the NB bar. That is no longer the case.

So it is really just the additional bearings? How much difference will that make?

[GarageIron]

Minimum spec and your point is well taken about increasing minimum yields. As you probably know, when a bar touts for example, 165,000 PSI, that usually refers to the minimal accepted. The bar you have (the new NB) could have a tensile strengh that is slightly greater than the 190,000 PSI. The old NB bar I believe was 186,000 PSI. The HD bar was 165,000, but was made from a different material than the NB bar. That is no longer the case.

And going back to an original point I made, and probably even more so with this new HD bar, that unless you predominately do cleans, snatches and jerks as your workout routine, then the HD bar will suffice. As a side note Danny Shankle (when he was with Team MDUSA) and Kaleb Whitby used the HD bar instead of the NB bar that the other Team MDUSA members were using.

Thanks. That all makes sense.

This bar is an HD. I had the previous HD also and it was a very nice bar. I sold it because I didn't like the soft knurl but missed it a bit once it was gone. Happy to have it back on the rack.

[Skyaura]

So it is really just the additional bearings? How much difference will that make?

Dumb.bell,

This is what happens when you type to quickly and are trying to watch college basketball at the same time (Indiana goes down). As for the NB bar, when I was typing about the bearings, I meant to say that the NB bar still HAD 10 bearings, five per sleeve, same as the original bar. The up must have come in because I was thinking about the PSI going up on the two bars.

The 190,000 PSI was probably chosen as a minimal yield based on Eleiko research that shows bars under 190,000 develops bends over time.

My mistake.

[dumb.bell]

Dumb.bell,

This is what happens when you type to quickly and are trying to watch college basketball at the same time (Indiana goes down). As for the NB bar, when I was typing about the bearings, I meant to say that the NB bar still HAD 10 bearings, five per sleeve, same as the original bar. The up must have come in because I was thinking about the PSI going up on the two bars.

The 190,000 PSI was probably chosen as a minimal yield based on Eleiko research that shows bars under 190,000 develops bends over time.

My mistake.

Thanks for the clarification.

Since my school isn't very good at basketball, I spend basketball season reading about the next football season. Tonight I read that our football coach has offered a scholarship to an eighth grader. I guess he is getting a jump on the 2017 class.

[matrix563]

so that bar has the ridges too on the sleeves?

[Andrew_WOT]

Also, The sleeve is cut from one piece of steel which is pretty cool. No compression fitting of the sleeve and flange.

Wasn't that the case with older HD?

[Robination]

yayay

How does hook gripping it feel during the lifts?

[GarageIron]

Wasn't that the case with older HD?

Maybe? I didn't notice on the old one.

[Andrew_WOT]

Maybe? I didn't notice on the old one.

At least it was advertised as such, maybe Skyaura can clarify if that was the case for all Nexgens or NB only.

[Skyaura]

Wasn't that the case with older HD?

Correct. It was a single piece collar design.

[twodog]

Hey GI, nice review, as usual, on the Pendlay. Reps are owed because I'm on spread with you!

I just looked at your facebook page and liked it. Your GI Barbell design is awesome, you really have to get some shirts made, I'm definitely in for at least one when they come around.

Once again, thanks for the review.

[jgood602]

Thanks for the review been looking at getting the bearing bar in the future.