Buying new Bumper Plates

[JMS73]

G'day Guys,

Looking at buying some new Bumper Plates.

Any recommendations are welcome.

So far I looking at either the IE premium plates and the ABC calibrated plates.
Also pretty keen on the Ivanko calibrated plates.

Has anyone used them. there construction looks okay.
I currently use the Ivanko rubber dumbbells and they have been awesome.

 

[High Road]

Just got some Pendlay plates from muscle driver, rate them highly.

 

[LexDB]

What kind of money are you looking to spend? Do you want to go all out and do the ultimate 'buy once buy right' and get some IWF gear? Or do you want the cheapest that will do the job and still probably last a good while?

As you're considering premium plates, you probably don't want those super cheap fat no-name chinese bumpers with little bronze inserts. I don't blame you.

I personally own Pendlay black elite plates, because I was willing to spend the extra over econ style plates, but not willing to spend an extra few hundred to have coloured rubber haha. I currently have the appropriately coloured electrical tape around the edges of them which actually looks fine and works well.

If you do want to go the IWF route, which would probably be in a similar price range as Ivanko except Ivanko aren't certified. I know that JME used to sell Zhang Kong which is great gear (used in 2008 Olympics, trained on by Chinese monsters), however I notice their site has changed and they only have Force USA nonsense on there, whatever that is. Maybe enquire if you're interested.

Underground Elite used to/still has Werk San gear, another IWF company. I notice they too are only stocking Force USA now, what the hell! Enquire there too if you're interested in Werk San.

There are a few sites to get DHS gear from, which is the other Chinese IWF brand, also used at the 2008 games and trained on by the Chinese. I'm seeing it used in major competitions a lot more nowadays, USA Nationals used it recently. I was going to buy DHS before I bought Pendlay but I think the price went up so some sites stopped selling it.

There is apparently an Eleiko dealer in Australia but their site is dodgy as hell, I wouldn't trust it.

The last IWF company is Uesaka, used in a crapload of olympics and worlds etc. You can get it from here Uesaka Barbells: Training Bumper Plates I just looked at the american site, and somehow, the australian prices are cheaper. That never happens. For anything.

If you want to spend less money, and I don't blame you, then Pendlay is a great option. They have benefit of me knowing they've been slammed every day for years in American gyms like California Strength, and now MDUSA. Plus Glenn Pendlay is a great guy.

To me, the Pendlay gear seems to be about the best value for money. Also the shipping on muscledriveraus is actually really low somehow. Many times I have ended up not buying things from Iron Edge because the shipping is so expensive. Maybe if you live near Iron Edge then shipping wouldn't be an issue.

 

[High Road]

To me, the Pendlay gear seems to be about the best value for money. Also the shipping on muscledriveraus is actually really low somehow. Many times I have ended up not buying things from Iron Edge because the shipping is so expensive. Maybe if you live near Iron Edge then shipping wouldn't be an issue.

I got free shipping from Gosford to Townsville! I got a fair bit of gear thou. Went with muscle driver kettlebells, exactly the same as the iron edge pro grade but iron edge wanted almost as much as the cost of the kettlebells to ship them!

 

[PerthMac]

I have both the IE premium and the ABC plates at home.
I bought the ABC plates when the only options in Australia were Eleiko, ABC, and Buffalo.

While the ABC plates are excellent, and will take an absolute hammering,
the price is pretty hard to justify for home use.
( as an example of the abuse ABC plates can withstand I had mine stored at the muscle pit for almost 3 years and another year at the Allround weightlifting gym, and they are still in great condition with no cracks or chips )

The ironedge premium plates are very good, weight is accurate, and they seem pretty solidly put together. I wouldn't trust the 10's to hold up to as much punishment as the ABC ones as they are thinner.

there is no point buying IWF certified plates unless you're planning to hold an official olympic weightlifting comp, or you simply have stacks of cash
IWF or IPF certification is about money, there's lots of options than meet the same spec that haven't paid a certification fee

 

[moons]

While I haven't had them for long I've been happy with the Pendlay Elites, and would recommend MuscleDriver - A+ service

 

[JMS73]

Thanks for the input Guys.
I'm up in Sydney on the weekend so might go for the drive up to gosford and check the Pendlay plates out.
Most of my kit is IE, saying that, I'm a true believer in not giving one place all my money.
No IWF comps going on here, just a small S&C studio. So no need for plates to be certified but necessary that they hold up to some punishment.
The blokes at ABC have always looked after me pretty well and I support them where I can. currently use there black grip plates and they have proven themselves as have the Ivanko dumbbells.
Another selling point with ABC over IE is at least they are Aussie made.

@PerthMac, How would you compare the rebound rate of the ABC plates compared to the IE premium.

As much as it would be nice (not Necessary) to go Eleiko the price tag is unjustifiable.

 

[PerthMac]

The ABC plates are pretty bouncy.
I haven't really done any oly lifts with the Ironedge ones
If you can afford them I consider the ABC's better than the Ironedge, and they are certainly the most durable, and the weight is very accurate

 

[Bazza20]

Unless you are full on doing Olympic lifting bumpers are a waste of cash. The odd powerclean doesn't count.

If you really want bumpers its basically just up to how much money you want to spend.

 

[The Hamburgler]

The ABC plates are pretty bouncy.
I haven't really done any oly lifts with the Ironedge ones
If you can afford them I consider the ABC's better than the Ironedge, and they are certainly the most durable, and the weight is very accurate

the super duper Iron Edge ones are miles better than ABC
the premiums about on par
the economy not as good

ABC also cost a buttload

 

[LexDB]

there is no point buying IWF certified plates unless you're planning to hold an official olympic weightlifting comp, or you simply have stacks of cash
IWF or IPF certification is about money, there's lots of options than meet the same spec that haven't paid a certification fee

When I mentioned IWF gear I meant more in general terms of buying from a certified company so you know exactly what you're getting and you're not throwing a still-substantial amount of money into unknown plates like Force USA and the like. The Chinese train mostly on DHS Hercules gear which is very cheap for high-end gear, probably because it isn't specifically certified like their competition stuff. I'd never recommend a regular home lifter to buy competition bumpers because they offer no benefits over the identical training versions.

Werk-San econ bumpers would be a good choice, there's no end of gyms that've been using those for decades and they are priced well, particularly the plain black ones. Not sure about Australian availability though.