According to Rogue:
28.5 mm bars still allow athletes to use a hook grip and whip pretty well, but not as well as 28 mm bars. 28.5 mm also works well for Powerlifting. Therefore many hybrid, general purpose or CrossFit bars have 28.5 mm shafts. Most of the bars used for men at the CrossFit Games for the past several years have been 28.5 mm.
Is there an "affordable" (read <$400) 28mm quality barbell that can be used for the olympics lifts? I have a B&R as my "daily driver" and a Cap OB-86B as a spare/extra in case someone joins me in the gym but I would like to eventually buy a whippy bar for quick lifts.
Last edited by tnumrych; 03-21-2017 at 03:09 PM.
American Barbell sells a nice, true-28mm Olympic bar. At <$400 you're looking at bushing bars. I personally would spend the $550 and get the American Barbell bearing bar if I wanted to see any improvement over the B&R in the feel of my Olympic lifts.
Edit: Note that I said "the feel" of the lifts. For the vast majority of people on this forum (including me) a bearing bar is not going to magically add 10% onto our Olympic totals.
Last edited by Greg Ruhl; 03-21-2017 at 05:03 PM.
Anyone have thoughts on Rouge S2 w spotter arms vs R3 vs titan T3? My current equipment is floor space in my garage.
The T3 for $420 shipped is pretty tempting, (vs $660 or $820) but stories of quality issues make me nervous.
What stories of quality issues? The first batch has some issues. No one has reported anything of significance since. If there is anything recent, please report it here. . . . You'll be fine with the Titan, but the Rogue is better. It's also a better company that knows its product and offers great customer service. And it's made in the USA. That said, I have two Titan racks. (I also have a bunch of Rogue stuff. . . .) Racks are pretty simple. Titan figured out how to do them well. . . .
Both options are bushing bars, as Greg mentions below...
Option 1 ($450): https://americanbarbell.com/products...n-training-bar (stainless )
Option 2: ($325): http://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-28mm-training-bar
Of course there are many other options...
The bushing/bearing debate is so overrated [in quality bars] IMO. You'll definitely feel a huge difference in whip between a 28mm and 29mm (B&R) bar.