Barbells - Everything you ever wanted to know

[Cleveland33]

just use a wire brush on a drill (or a grinder to save time) - just don't get a knotted one.

[AttyGuy]

just use a wire brush on a drill (or a grinder to save time) - just don't get a knotted one.

Brass wire brush, not stainless.

[Cleveland33]

Brass wire brush, not stainless.

I haven't had any problems with stainless.

[sm1ke]

I did a quick search in this thread but couldn't find anything. Your thoughts on this barbell/brand?

http://www.barbellbros.ca/collection...mm-olympic-bar

It's a Vulcan Standard 28mm Olympic Bearing Bar. I'm looking for a barbell and came across someone selling this one used, but I'm just getting into lifting so I'll only be using it to deadlift, bench, and squat. I'm sure a powerlifting bar would be better for those, but can I get away with using an Olympic bar with moderate whip if I'm not lifting a lot at the moment?

[sm1ke]

I like Canadians, but is this really true, mate?

Something wrong with what I asked?

[murphyreedus]

Something wrong with what I asked?

No. Spamming miscer trying to hit 50 posts, probably.

As for your bar, depends on the used price, I guess. It looks like a nice bar, but I don't really like squatting or benching heavy with a 28mm bar, and you don't need bearings for powerlifting. If it's a good deal, though, might be worth picking up.

[sm1ke]

No. Spamming miscer trying to hit 50 posts, probably.

As for your bar, depends on the used price, I guess. It looks like a nice bar, but I don't really like squatting or benching heavy with a 28mm bar, and you don't need bearings for powerlifting. If it's a good deal, though, might be worth picking up.

Here's the description he posted. Sounds like he's a serious lifter who takes cares of his stuff. He wants $400 for the bar. It sounds like it's not a bad deal, but not great either.


"Selling my Vulcan Standard 28 mm Olympic Bearing Bar. She's been babied since Day 1.

If you're looking for your own Oly bar, look no further than Vulcan. I know this from experience because my gym has all sorts of brand bars such as Rogue, Eleiko, Pendlay, and Gorila. I might be biased when I say this but the Vulcan bar is the best bang for your buck out of all those brands.

The knurling is perfect. It's not too aggressive that it'll eat your hands every time you train. I trained on this bar 5 days a week for the last 6 months and my hands never ripped. Bar is 7 months old and is regularly cleaned and oiled.

With taxes and shipping, the bar will almost cost you $800 brand new. Willing to let it go to the right buyer for $400.

If you anything about Oly bars, you'll know that that's a STEAL. Owning my own bar has been a gamechanger for my lifting game. Only reason why I'm selling it is that I have two bars now - I can only use one at a time lol.

Bar is still available if this ad is still up."

[Cleveland33]

Here's the description he posted. Sounds like he's a serious lifter who takes cares of his stuff. He wants $400 for the bar. It sounds like it's not a bad deal, but not great either.


"Selling my Vulcan Standard 28 mm Olympic Bearing Bar. She's been babied since Day 1.

If you're looking for your own Oly bar, look no further than Vulcan. I know this from experience because my gym has all sorts of brand bars such as Rogue, Eleiko, Pendlay, and Gorila. I might be biased when I say this but the Vulcan bar is the best bang for your buck out of all those brands.

The knurling is perfect. It's not too aggressive that it'll eat your hands every time you train. I trained on this bar 5 days a week for the last 6 months and my hands never ripped. Bar is 7 months old and is regularly cleaned and oiled.

With taxes and shipping, the bar will almost cost you $800 brand new. Willing to let it go to the right buyer for $400.

If you anything about Oly bars, you'll know that that's a STEAL. Owning my own bar has been a gamechanger for my lifting game. Only reason why I'm selling it is that I have two bars now - I can only use one at a time lol.

Bar is still available if this ad is still up."

He killed it for me as I would question why he is getting rid of it. I know he said he has two bars, but if you are that serious - having two bars is a non-issue

[sm1ke]

He killed it for me as I would question why he is getting rid of it. I know he said he has two bars, but if you are that serious - having two bars is a non-issue

I'm going to go and take a look at it either today or tomorrow, whenever he gets back to me.

[sm1ke]

I'm going to go and take a look at it either today or tomorrow, whenever he gets back to me.

The dude never got back to me and the ad disappeared, so he probably sold it shortly after I emailed him.

I ended up going with a Tonic Performance 20kg WOD Bar from Costco.ca. Looks almost identical to a Rogue 2.0 bar. Paid about $220 CAD (free shipping). Been using it for the past few weeks for squat, bench and deadlift.

https://www.costco.ca/Tonic-Performa...100098706.html

[bobcat255]

The dude never got back to me and the ad disappeared, so he probably sold it shortly after I emailed him.

I ended up going with a Tonic Performance 20kg WOD Bar from Costco.ca. Looks almost identical to a Rogue 2.0 bar. Paid about $220 CAD (free shipping). Been using it for the past few weeks for squat, bench and deadlift.

https://www.costco.ca/Tonic-Performa...100098706.html

Some information about the bar here: https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...hp?t=160830351

Yours looks more like what CliveWarren posted (with a rubber band), not daniel's. Is that really an oxide coating? Looks very shiny like zinc, unless you didn't wipe down the oil?

[sm1ke]

Some information about the bar here: https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...hp?t=160830351

Yours looks more like what CliveWarren posted (with a rubber band), not daniel's. Is that really an oxide coating? Looks very shiny like zinc, unless you didn't wipe down the oil?

I think the shaft coating is zinc. I did give the bar a wipe down with a bit of soap and water after I unpacked it, and it looks the same. It looks exactly like the finish on the Rogue 2.0 bar, which is listed on their site as black zinc.

[bisonp]

Anybody know anything about the PRx Olympic Elite Bar?

https://prxperformance.com/products/...ant=6311476293

Looks similar to a Rogue Ohio bar. PRx is local to me so I'd like to support them, plus no shipping. But I can't seem to find any reviews other than their website and they aren't very detailed. Other PRx stuff seems to be good quality, if a bit overpriced. I've seen it first hand and it seems fine but I don't really have any reference points as I've never had a good quality bar so just looking for more experienced opinions.

[vsral]

Well, I don't know interesting / relevant this is, but I did drop test with several different barbells to see how they sound/behave when dropped.
Conclusion: there is A LOT of difference in noise. My cam/micro (iphone 6s) doen't do justice to the real world differences...

.
.
.
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Of the uneven drop I did a slo-mo, just for fun.
The York is the 'worst' (worst drop -> most whip I think).

[bobcat255]

Hah! Interesting test. Actually, an interesting collection of bars! When you spun the ATX Ram Bar with your foot at the end, it spun/sounded like a bearing bar.

I'm assuming you don't weightlift with all of those? Which do you use regularly? Which are your favorites and what do you like about them?

[vsral]

For the actual oly lifts I use the old or new Eleiko.
Old eleiko: spins absolutely the best. Knurling is a bit too soft. Also noisy when dropped. Not my favorite bar. This one is for sale actually.
New Eleiko: love how this thing is built. No sound except from vibrating steel (which I absolutely love). Unfortunately, the knurling is savage. Even when using straps, callus tears all over the place.
I recently used the Schnell for a change. Nice feel, whips enormously because of the extra offset of the plates outwards, but the sound when dropped is horrible.
The Berg and York I use for pulls, overhead, squats etc.

[supdenfoo]

What is the main difference between bronze and composite bushings? From what I've gathered, composite is more cost effective for manufacturers, but does that mean it's poorer quality compared to bronze? I've read only one user's experience where his composite bushings (I think it was a Rogue bar) were worn down after a few years of use. American Barbell uses composite for most, if not all, their bars, and their bars are highly regarded. Curiosity has me wondering.

[bisonp]

What is the main difference between bronze and composite bushings? From what I've gathered, composite is more cost effective for manufacturers, but does that mean it's poorer quality compared to bronze? I've read only one user's experience where his composite bushings (I think it was a Rogue bar) were worn down after a few years of use. American Barbell uses composite for most, if not all, their bars, and their bars are highly regarded. Curiosity has me wondering.

Composite won't last as long, it's plastic. How long is that? I don't know. Maybe it's good enough. But I do know that if I'm spending upwards of $300 I don't want any plastic.

I have seen composite perform better than bronze on barbells in the $200 range, probably due to it being easier to get tighter tolerances with plastic.

[Misanthrope90]

[QUOTE=urbanlifter;1470796641]Those oil impregnated bushings didn't spin that great, would rather use the grease.[/QUOTE
cool.]

[Doogan12]

Just curious if anyone has tried using Slip 2000 on their bushings. It's some of the best stuff going for firearms.

[vava123]

Ask for advice for this article.

[matchsprint]

Don't rule out composite bushings. Fiber composite bushings are incredibly good these days and can outperform most bronze bushings and certainly any sintered bushings. Overall, even though we think about throwing down a lot of weight with every lift, it's nothing compared to a military vehicle running on composite bushings in its suspension for thousands of miles on rough terrain.

Also, consider how bushings fail. Poor sintered bushings can crack, but mostly bushings wear and create slop, which increases wear in the sleeve to bar junction overall. If you let a bushing wear, a replacement bearing isn't likely to fix the problem because the metal shoulders that the bushing runs on will have become worn as well. Then a replacement bushing fails fairly quickly. Quality composite bushings withstand wear better than the metal ones will.

A good composite non-metallic bushing (and there are composite metallic bushings to consider as well) can outperform almost any metallic bushing. The real question is whether a high quality bushing is being used in a bar. If it's a quality bar and comes with a quality composite bushing, there's nothing to worry about.

[Malisa1994]

Please recommend me?

[CanadaBuilder4]

I have the Rogue Ohio Power Bar in Bare or Raw Steel, 45 LB version. I recommend that one, that's the only one I have right now, and probably will be the only one I'll have for a long time. I oiled it and wrapped it in plastic this past winter since I could not use it as my home gym was set up in the balcony of my small rented apartment. I hope it's still good as I'm going to re set up my power rack soon, but nothing a brush won't fix.

[thejosef]

For the actual oly lifts I use the old or new Eleiko.
Old eleiko: spins absolutely the best. Knurling is a bit too soft. Also noisy when dropped. Not my favorite bar. This one is for sale actually.
New Eleiko: love how this thing is built. No sound except from vibrating steel (which I absolutely love). Unfortunately, the knurling is savage. Even when using straps, callus tears all over the place.
I recently used the Schnell for a change. Nice feel, whips enormously because of the extra offset of the plates outwards, but the sound when dropped is horrible.
The Berg and York I use for pulls, overhead, squats etc.

Funny you mention the New Eleiko sound. I had one and it just sounded so mechanical and consistent when dropped. Hard to describe, but it just sounded like it would never break. I actually sold it due to harsh knurling, but wish I would've kept it.

[jbatgaragegyms]

Don't rule out composite bushings. Fiber composite bushings are incredibly good these days and can outperform most bronze bushings and certainly any sintered bushings. Overall, even though we think about throwing down a lot of weight with every lift, it's nothing compared to a military vehicle running on composite bushings in its suspension for thousands of miles on rough terrain.

Also, consider how bushings fail. Poor sintered bushings can crack, but mostly bushings wear and create slop, which increases wear in the sleeve to bar junction overall. If you let a bushing wear, a replacement bearing isn't likely to fix the problem because the metal shoulders that the bushing runs on will have become worn as well. Then a replacement bushing fails fairly quickly. Quality composite bushings withstand wear better than the metal ones will.

A good composite non-metallic bushing (and there are composite metallic bushings to consider as well) can outperform almost any metallic bushing. The real question is whether a high quality bushing is being used in a bar. If it's a quality bar and comes with a quality composite bushing, there's nothing to worry about.

Thank you for correcting that. Composite will absolutely outlast bronze in a barbell application, especially in the case of American Barbell who uses only industrial bushings and bearings. The twist is that 99.99% of people are also not going to ever have an issue with bronze - be it sintered or cast bronze.

[nirmalkant]

Absolutely amazing post. Thanks for sharing this specially the video. I found Grenadier Grip (a small equipment) which can be easily fit in rod and it works really great for lifting weights and maximize grip training which is the best part of it.

[Ginaathletic]

Wow! This is unexpectedly very helpful!

[ejbassett]

So let me get whip straight.
More whip for DL and Olympic to get more spring in the bar.
Less whip for squats? And I'm assuming less whip for normal pressing?

And bearings are obviously going to spin better than bushings but are they as durable? And is it a standard cartridge, angular contact, something else?

[bobcat255]

So let me get whip straight.
More whip for DL and Olympic to get more spring in the bar.
Less whip for squats? And I'm assuming less whip for normal pressing?

And bearings are obviously going to spin better than bushings but are they as durable? And is it a standard cartridge, angular contact, something else?

Per IWF spec, male weightlifters use a 28mm bar and women use 25mm. The whippier bar is preferred for dynamic movements.

Per IPF spec, powerlifters can use a 28-29mm bar, however because they have to use the same bar for all 3-lifts and the lifts aren't dynamic, 99% of competitions employ the 29mm bars. The notable exception is the Buddy Capps Texas Power Bar (28.5mm) which is very rarely used these days and certainly not in high-level meets. Even the 29mm bars get very whippy once you start putting some weight on them.

Bearings aren't as durable, but everything is relative. There are plenty of Eleiko bars which are decades old and function just fine. Quality bars typically have 4-5 needle bearings per sleeve.