So i just unboxed 10 and 20 kg bars ( videos on my channel ) :
https://www.youtube.com/user/UnapologeticGeek/videos
now i think i need a 15 KG Bar.
the 3 contenders i have are:
Pendlay Bearing - on sale right now. $449 shipped.
DHS Training - should come out to about $590 shipped.
Eleiko Sport Training - should come out to about $725 shipped.
the Pendlay is the cheapest serious bearing bar, certainly at this sale price, the downsides as i see them are excessive ribbing on the sleeves, no bevels on the edges of the bar, no Chrome, and as far as i know Pendlay doesn't make ANYTHING that is IWF certified. am i wrong ? Perhaps the biggest reason i do NOT want to get Pendlay is because it reminds me too much of Rogue. I just got rid of all my Rogue bars and the Pendlay is just about identical except with bearings. It's sort of the opposite of Eleiko - the Eleiko is like a piece of Jewelry and the Rogue is like a part that fell of some old diesel truck - it's cheap, it works, but it's just hard to fall in love with, unless you're the type of person who makes his own equipment, then you might appreciate how "raw" the Rogue is.
NOTE: the B&R bar is NOT manufactured by Rogue, but by York, so my comments on Rogue bars don't apply to B&R. As a distributor i find that Rogue is doing a good job - most my orders shipped within 2 days - but as a Manufacturer i think Rogue makes bars to a price point, whereas Eleiko and even DHS make bars as best as they can, and then charge whatever it cost to make them.
DHS is the cheapest serious bar that's better than Pendlay. It has an IWF certified bigger brother, it is Chromed and it has nice beveled ends instead of just chopped off like a Rogue or Pendlay bar. the downside is that DHS used to be same price as Pendlay, and now it is almost the same price as Eleiko sport training, which sort of defeats the purpose of getting a Chinese bar.
Eleiko Sport training is a great bar. I have one in 20 KG. The only problem is that i don't really need the same quality in a 15 KG bar. On the other hand to save just a fraction of the cost i would have to step down to something made in China that i would have a much harder time selling in case i need to. Selling a 15 KG bar would probably be hard enough as it is, without it being from a company many people don't know. Also i hear the Chrome on the DHS chips off. it just seems like a dubios way to "save" ...
any thoughts ? are there any other bars in this price range ?
it seems with Sport Training bar Eleiko was able to undercut the price of just about all of their competitors including Zhangkong.
???
PS: i hope to make a decision by mid-day Monday.
Last edited by G1981C; 06-07-2014 at 06:06 PM.
It must be hard living in a country where they ban the use of 2.5 kg plates.
Do it, Adam.
Yes! I have a thought. You can take your 20 kg bar and tie some helium balloons (pink works best, in my experience) to the sleeves. Bearings or bushings, it don't matter, as long as the helium is pure.
According to this site, a single helium balloon can lift 4.8 grams, so you'll need a lot of them. But it will still be a bargain compared to getting another bar.
Or, you could work on lifting more than a 10 year old boy. [Nah, just kiddin'. Get the Eleiko]
Helium shouldn't be wasted on balloons. It should be only used for science. Hydrogen is renewable. Use that to float stuff.
Get the Sebenza.