Which barbell?

[EMW14]

I am going to replace my cheapo barbell after Christmas. I get most of my equipment used; I deal with a couple of commercial gym equipment dealers. One of these guys has several high-quality narbells to choose from. They are:
1. Texas Power Bar
2. Rogue 2.0
3. York Split-Sleeve

Anyone have experience with all of these? I've read up on all of them. I'm sure all of them have plenty of tensile strength for me, though the TPB is the strongest in that department.

My heaviest lift is the squat, and that's at 415 currently and I anticipate it will continue yo increase. This is why I need to replace my current bar: it's gotten a bend in it from the heavy squats.

So, if you have experience with all of these, or any of these, let's hear it!

 

[trekrider215]

I've used the first two on your list, as well as a number of other brands. My vote goes for texas power bar hands down.

 

[EMW14]

I've used the first two on your list, as well as a number of other brands. My vote goes for texas power bar hands down.

Can you give specific reasons why you like the TPB better than the Rogue 2.0?

 

[EMW14]

Well, today was gym equipment wheeling and dealing day. Part of that included a barbell, and I decided to go with the TPB. It's the strongest of the three available (as far as I know: I never was able to find tensile strength of the Split Sleeve); it is perfectly straight, as least as far as the naked eye can see; and I was worried about the knurl being too sharp, but it feels perfect in my hands. It was an easy choice.

 

[trekrider215]

Can you give specific reasons why you like the TPB better than the Rogue 2.0?

The number one thing I noticed was the gnarling. For me that's personally my number one feature. Rogue 2.0's gnurl was just not nearly as aggressive. It's still pretty darn good though. The black also seemed to have a shiny coating on it if I remember correctly also. I think with rogue you have the option of a couple different finishes though, so maybe I used one that I din't like. Those shiny coatings always seem to be a bit more slippery. Texas just felt much better In my hands, and almost dryer in a way. I've competed in about 5 powerlifting meets so far and so far I think they've all used texas power bars for the bench press. Never actually competed with a rogue, and I don't think many federations or meet directors seem to use them. not sure why. probably because it's one of those time tested things.

I think the meet specs are probably the same. I don't know what the difference in ratings are, I know the diameters are probably the same, and I feel like they both had about the same whip.

In all honesty they're basically the same bar man. The texas power bar costs a little more but you might be paying for the name. Texas power bars are just better well known I think. The rogue is a nice looking bar, might actually be cleaner looking than the texas. I know the rogue I used had chrome sleeves whereas the texas did not. I don't know if its an extra charge to get that or if they all come like that but thinking back that might not be a bad thing to go for. I don't know how chrome holds up over time, but I have a texas deadlift bar at my gym that has been around the block a few times and the sleeves look like they're oxidizing. Sort of a green hue to them with a little bit of corrosion.This makes putting plates on a little harder.

You'll be happy regardless if you happen to buy either of the two though. The texas is more of the gold standard and I think it offers better grip. But if you think about it, power bars are like multi use bars, or (bench bars, if you're not using like a 20 foot long bench bar for the monsters who bench 1000 lbs) so grip isn't as important as a deadlift bar.

I'm going around in circle now lol, these probably aren't the best reasonings on why I think the texas is better. They probably are pretty equal I just like to go with bigger name shit that's been time tested.

 

[trekrider215]

Well, today was gym equipment wheeling and dealing day. Part of that included a barbell, and I decided to go with the TPB. It's the strongest of the three available (as far as I know: I never was able to find tensile strength of the Split Sleeve); it is perfectly straight, as least as far as the naked eye can see; and I was worried about the knurl being too sharp, but it feels perfect in my hands. It was an easy choice.

lmfao. I didn't make it to this post. I read the post where you asked me why and replied to it. and after I wrote all that shit i read the next post talking about how you went and bought one! haha. well congrats man you made a damn good choice.

 

[EMW14]

lmfao. I didn't make it to this post. I read the post where you asked me why and replied to it. and after I wrote all that shit i read the next post talking about how you went and bought one! haha. well congrats man you made a damn good choice.

Lol! Yeah, well, thanks for your reasons anyhow!

I did a bunch of reading on barbells generally and these two specifically. They're definitely NOT the same. Besides "looks" and "feel" (by feel I mean the knurl depth), the biggest thing is the tensile strength. TPB is a lot stronger (185,000 psi as oppsed to 150,000). This will make it a lot stiffer, also. For the kind of weight I'm moving, this probably doesn't matter, but for context, the cheapo barbells are often in the 120,000 to 130,000 psi range, and mine is now a little bit bent. There's also a "yield strength" spec which I don't have in my head which basically defines how far the thing can bend and return to its original shape. This is closely related to tensile strength.

The TPB I bought is "raw", meaning bare steel. This apparently offers the best grip as opposed to chrome, which gets the most slippery; black oxide (the Rogue 2.0 had this finish, and you're right, it is one of several options and this one gets somewhat slippery but not as bad as chrome); zinc plating, which is better than the oxide coatings but not as good as bare steel.

The TPB I got had a lot of surface rust, but apparently this can be cleaned up pretty effectively with white vinegar. I started this process last night and will have a look this morning and see how it did. I'll probably polish the sleeves and oil them lightly to ensure the plates glide on and off.

Apparently dedicated deadlift bars are often longer than 7 foot and have lower tensile strength to allow for more flex. This apparently gives an advantage when lifting heavy weight: you move the bar a little bit before actually moving all that heavyvweight off the floor... Again, at my level, this probably makes no difference. I'll be using this TPB for everything.