Originally Posted by
EdTice
In this, I think we are mostly in agreement! To answer your specific question about the Fringesport garage squat rack, it claims to have a capacity of 700lbs. I have not seen any independent testing of that and I haven't gotten my squat or bench up to that yet.
Based on the spec sheets, I have no idea why anybody would by the Fringesport rack. I own it because it's what I could get during the pandemic. That being said, because I own it, there are many positive things in the design that aren't advertised (for whatever reason). Specifically, there are metal plates that reinforce every spot where the rack bolts together. So although it's true that the uprights are 16 gauge steel, at the places where pieces bolt together, there is much more metal. There is actually as much metal in the FringeSport squat rack at 16 gauge uprights as the Titan T-2 with 12-guage uprights. The difference is that the Fringesport has the bulk of the material where it matters most. The Titan T2 is designed so that you can either bolt it to the ground or not which is also a pretty nice feature.
I seem to have hit a nerve here and I apologize for that.
If you go to the Rogue web site and look at the reviews for their "stabilizer bars," they are all "5-stars" with statements like "Before I felt like the rack was too prone to movement, especially side to side when racking and reracking heavy. These stabilizers removed 100% of the side to side movement."
I wouldn't have responded to this thread again except that somebody made the *excellent* point that a rear stabilizer bar would "get in the way" and this seems to be a valid complaint among the users of stabilizer bar (again based on reviews at Rogue's website)
The plate horns on the T2 (and FringeSport) are such that the rack actually weighs an additional 360 pounds when in use (assuming you keep 4x45lb plates on each horn) Of course once you do that the rack is no longer price competitive with heavier racks. It's kind of a hidden cost.
If I were going to buy a rack today based on price it would be the T2. If I were going to look for something high-quality domestically made it would be the SS rack.
I am in no way saying the RML-390F is a bad rack or "unsafe" but selling a rack and then selling accessories to stabilize it is a terrible practice. Either the rack is safe without the additional stabilizers (in which case don't sell them) or the rack needs them in which case they should be included in the package.
The SS rack comes with a 2.375" wood platform that has the effect of lateral stabilization. This is the way things should be designed and how business should be done.