Buying a quality barbell

[trofius]

WHolesale no just what they quoted me in an e-mail

ie, a comparison

gym and fitness 20kg rubber oly grip plates $59
ABC PORCB plates are $117.20, or $5.86/kg
ABC PORCG plates are $122.88 or $6.14/kg
ABC PORE# plates are $5 /kg ( its what my gym has,) only 400mm diam
garage gym black 20kg bumpers are $149.95
garage gym coloured 20kg bumpers are $244.95

as a comparison I think they quoted me about $580 for a power bar, you know what yopu got yours for.

 

[trofius]

To all those that own an ABC barbell,..

Could you please check some measurments.. My bar still doesnt match what is on the website anywere..

I would like to know a few measurements.

My bar is 2200mm long all good.
Distance between collars is 1400mm
Collar width 40mm
Sleeve length to inside collars is 360mm
Distance between finger rings is 900
inside knurling is 240, outside is 205,
There is an additional 45mm of smooth bar between the knurling and collars.
The bar is more than 29mm at the smooth area thick? knurling is 30. using calipers.
My scales say it weights 21.4kg ( they weigh about 100g light compared to calibrated scales.)

Some of these measurements are way off what is listed on the ABC site.

 

[amac38]

just picked up my ABC power bar today, totally awesome.

i didn't expect the barbell to be black, its slick as.

knurling is great for deadlifts, tore my callus after 1 set. nice.

i can see myself using this barbell for a long time, feels very nice in the hands.

anyhow trofius, i'll measure my barbell tomorrow just to confirm.
have you contacted ABC? could've been a dud barbell.

thanks for all the input everyone has given

 

[PTC]

I was at ABC yesterday and another client of mine was in there buying one.

did you order from ABC Chipmunk?

 

[CaT_SPeW]

i gotta get a new bar i just noticed tonight mine is bent. does anyone know how the ABC bars stack up against the Pendlay bars that Aus Kettlebells sells?

 

[PTC]

If your doing powerlifts and dont want your bar to EVER bend, get the ABC bar.

The Pendlay bar is a nice OL bar. Great build quality.

ABC now make a powerbar with fine knurling as well.

 

[trofius]

amac it is different to the current barbells, will need to compare with old >10 years old ones..i have contacted abc they need pics

 

[CaT_SPeW]

ABC now make a powerbar with fine knurling as well.

ahhh good, ive never been a fan of the chunky knurling on the ABC bar although i can safely say ive never had a grip issue using one

 

[PTC]

First prize at my bench comp is one of the new fine knurling ABC powerbar

 

[amac38]

i purchased the ABC power bar from Gymcare here in Perth, they ordered one and tagged it along with a shipment that was coming over. I saved mass shipping fees this way. the aggressive knurling is aggressive.

okaay trofius, good luck man.

 

[Sticky]

So, BUMP BUMP BUMP!

Ive just re-read this thread again, and I see alot of love for ABC . Thats great to know.
How are all your bars going by the way?

Im after a new bar now too. My china non-bearing oly bar is annoying me, and I havent brought anything for the gym in a couple of months.

The bar will be used for the usual, plus once I get my clean from right, it will be doing lots of cleans, lots.

Now, my china bar flexs maybe an inch with 250kg on it... Is that about the norm?

Im not sure if I should buy a power bar, which wouldnt be ideal for cleans or snaches but good for the big 3

An all rounder like a pendlay?? Slight whip

Or an oly bar with whip, and use my china bar for benches/squats.

Keep in mind this bar probably wont see over 300kg dead, 220 squat, 180-200 bench

Price less then 900
Opininons?

 

[strong enough?]

For $900, I'd almost be tempted to stretch it a bit further and get an Eleiko powerlifting bar, especially if you're wanting to put 300kg on it. You won't need to buy another bar ever again - unless you wanted an oly lifting specific bar. After using Eleiko bars for a year now, I don't think I could use anything else...unless it was Ivanko.

 

[Sticky]

In reguards to weight - The pendaly, at $500-$600 has a life time warrenty. If it does bend, and it shouldnt, it gets replaced.
The Eleiko would be very good for cleans would it? I imagine it would be very stiff....

 

[strong enough?]

In reguards to weight - The pendaly, at $500-$600 has a life time warrenty. If it does bend, and it shouldnt, it gets replaced.
The Eleiko would be very good for cleans would it? I imagine it would be very stiff....

True, I doubt it would be good for cleans.

We had a Pendlay or Texas - can't remember which it was, but it was a matte black bar - and it was no good for deadlifts. Too much whip. From those that tried it where I train, the whip was noticeable on deadlifts from about 200kg. I didn't like the knurl either and even preferred benching with the Eleiko over the matte black barbell.

If you're looking at the 3 lifts, the Eleiko is just a great all around bar for all 3 and is virtually indestructable. Of course, it's expensive, but once you're spending almost $1,000 for a barbell, then it's not much more to get the best available.

 

[Sticky]

Well Im looking at opening a place in QLD in the next 12 months so I might as well but a good bar to start with, thats why I dont mind spending the coin. I bent the sleeves on my china bar on my first set of rack pulls.

Why does whip affect the deads so much? I would have thought, and this may be completly wrong, that you could generate a little bit of speed from a bending bar. The extra speed may help get through a sticking point...

Not sure if you need to consider this, but all lifters will be raw.

 

[strong enough?]

Why does whip affect the deads so much? I would have thought, and this may be completly wrong, that you could generate a little bit of speed from a bending bar. The extra speed may help get through a sticking point...

Precisely the problem - it creates an artificial aid through part of the lift. With the black bar, the reports were this was quite noticeable at only 200kg, which is pretty light for a bar to be affected by this. What would the effect by at 250kg, 300kg?

If you extra speed to train through sticking points, there are ways to do this controllably (deficit pulls, bands etc).

Keep in mind, this is in the context of lifters training for IPF competition, where there is no specialised deadlift bar, and you don't get the benefit of any whip on comp day.

 

[Sticky]

So the issue, for you and the guys you train with, is that a whippy bar can help add numbers to your deadlift. You will not get a whippy bar on comp day, so you dont really know what to expect with a stiff comp bar?
I dont really have the coin (or demand) yet to buy 2 good bars, a whippy and a stiff.
Have you used ZK?
Thanks for all your imput thus far, much appreciated.

 

[strong enough?]

So the issue, for you and the guys you train with, is that a whippy bar can help add numbers to your deadlift. You will not get a whippy bar on comp day, so you dont really know what to expect with a stiff comp bar?

Yep that's it. But also, the idea of training is not to lift a certain number, but to get stronger. If the bar's whip gets you through a certain part of the lift, that part of the lift is not getting trained as much as it could be.

Thanks for all your imput thus far, much appreciated.

No problem.

can't help you with the ZK sorry.

I reckon it might be worthwhile getting one of the Amercian olympic focussed bars for the olympic lifts, as it's likely you and your trainers won't be needing to clean or snatch nearly as much as you're likely to be squatting and deadlifting. With crossfit and rising interest in olympic lifting, there seems lots of demand over there for affordable olympic bars. There's also probably lots of worthwhile opinions on those bars on the Crossfit forums.

 

[Sticky]

Yeh cheers mate.
Like you said, the main bar will be foucused on the big 3. The oly bar just needs to be whippy and handle 150kg being dropped from a height.

Eleiko, $1500.......
ZK comp bar $950
pendaly <$600
ABC power <$600

I dont think I NEED a Eleiko. Ill wait for M to share his experience with the ZK first though.

 

[Spritcha]

For the powerlifts the Eleiko is king. Ivanko is ok, but whippy and a little thinner.
I lack the funds for an Elieko. I have recently purchased an ABC power bar- for the price its awesome. I have trained on an ABC over the last year and put it through its paces, squatting over 350kg with it, benching 300kg off boards and deadlifting over 280kg plenty of times. It has stayed dead straight and shows no sign of damage. I looked into an Okie power bar and the Texas power bar- both a good, but a couple of hundred more than the ABC bar and not really much better.