Probably not. What are you going to do with the bar?
Member
York Elite/Training bar vs B&R men's bar
Hi,
I received an email from Tom Haynes the Commercial Manager of York Barbell UK Ltd, regarding details of 2 of thier best bars, as not much specific detail is listed on their website or even on the Rouge Fitness website. Anyways here are the details:
-The York Olympic Training Bar (32002) uses a unique bearing shaft which has multiple bearings loaded on the shaft, this cannot be disclosed. 28mm Bar, with a 195,000 PSI Steel
-The York Elite Competition Bar (32000) uses another unique set of bearings and bushes to ensure a seamless rotation of the bar, thus not allowing a counter rotation of the plates during the lift. Once again this cannot be disclosed. 28mm Bar with a Minimum yield strength of 195,00 PSI but is calibrated to +0.01% & -0.05% of the indicated weight of 20kg.
Comparing the details above with the B&R men's bar which has a slightly higher psi at 205k. dual knurling, 29mm, bushings and cheaper price.
Has anyone used any of these bars, which did you prefer? is it worth paying the extra £300 roughly for the York Elite bar, as apposed to the B&R men's bar?
TMPHBITEU
Probably not. What are you going to do with the bar?
Member
ibbz786, you are missing something. We are in the UK, the P&P of having a B&R bar sent here makes it a very costly bar.
If you are into o-lifting the cheapest bar is the york training bar for around £300, and if you are into powerlifting you can get a capps texas bar for around £300.
The main problem with both of these that they are coated.
We have an eleiko training bar in my gym. Some idiot always insists on doing V handle-bar rows on it, using this configuration:
rowsetup-2-1.jpgV-handle-1.jpg
As a result the coating has started to chip off where the bar meets the collar. Whilst snatching a tiny bit of this coating got lodged under my skin, and is stuck there creating a black speck. I guess this is now a permanent feature of my hand now. Ever heard of this happening Rip?
Any ideas on what I can do to prevent this?
TMPHBITEU
Don't use an Eleiko bar.
Member
I have the York Elite Training bar.
It can be bought directly from york in the UK for around £350. Interestingly this is a bushing bar, just like the eleiko training bars I have seen. The construction of the collars and bushing are extremely similar to an elieko bar, except the ork has strong end caps instead of the simple eleiko circlip which holds the collar on. The knurling of the york is superior to the eleiko in my opinion. Im not experienced enough to comment on other stuff like strength/whip etc.
Something else interesting, is that york do a range of needle bearing weightlifting bars for LESS money than the bushing bar. These have the distinctive split collar design. These cost between £200-£235. They also do a 29mm "power bar" which has the split collar and "1500lb test" which costs slightly less than the elite oly bar, at around £335.
TMPHBITEU
Eleiko makes a bushing bar?Originally Posted by Dastardly
Member
Not that i'm aware of. In fact i think Darstardly has confused the snap ring caps of a needle bearing bar with the end cap that hold the sleeve on a bushing bearing.
Darstardly, is the knurling deep on the york bar? I really don't like deep knurling, it is one of things i like about the eleiko, it has shallow knurling, which is easier on the thighs.
Member
The 3 eleiko bars I have seen were all bushing bars.
2 were old bars , I was actually present when the circlip went missing and one of the sleeves flew off. So I could see, there was just a bushing inside and nothing else. These were identical bars (training version) supplied to two branches of the same govt sports centres some time in the early 80s.
The other bar, is a modern eleiko training bar which belongs to an OLY lifter who uses the gym I go to. He brings his own bar to train and has let me use it a few times. The design is pretty much identical to the york bushing bar, except for the end caps vs circlips. This is also easily distinguishable as a bushing bar. I have used bearing bars and know how different they are - you can usually see the edges of the bearing cartridge (instead of a bushing!) and there is no lateral shift/movement, unlike bushing bars which tend to have a bit of play in them.
Member
I've been thinking of getting a new bar (I live in South Wales, UK). I did a quick check at roguefitness, the quote I got was 1 x B&R mens bar (SKU: YK32006) $295, plus $107.63 shipping with UPS, $402.63. I'm assuming this is USD, which converted to £240.63 on www.xe.com.
Member
I am going to use it for powerlifting lifts (the main four) and olympic lifts (cleans/snatches).
@Randle McMurphy, I know I'm situated in the UK and I raised the concern with Rouge Fitness, that the shipping costs are almost as much as the cost of the bar. I asked if there was any chance of free shipping promotions? (worth a shot :P) They replied saying to combat the high shipping costs for their European customers they are opening a Rouge Europe site which they hope to have up and running by May. If you want more information, I can give you the point of contacts email dealing with this at Rouge, just ask.
Onto your second point are you sure the York bar is coated? -_^ It doesn't say that on the website or in his emails I'll double check. If it is that's note good as coating especially with chrome can weaken the bar. The texas power bar has a lower PSI 186k than the B&R men's bar and York Elite/Training bar and also sharp knurling. If you go onto the main Ivanko website there are some really in depth articles about barbell's and how to differentiate between a good and crappy one. Also Rouge Fitness are working on a comparison chart of all the bars they have, it's not finished yet but there is some good detail. (Ask for the link, or can I post it here?) Eleiko has gone down in my estimations after watching that platform video "Is Your Bar Straight?" about how easily they bent their competition bar. :/
Oh and here is what Tom from York Fitness UK had to say about the other York bars they have:
York Power Bar (32004) there are no bearings as its not designed for Olympic Lifting so we use self-lubricating bronzes bushes. 29mm Bar, with a 165,000 PSI Steel. (165k PSI is quite low especially for a power bar don't you think?)
The York Men’s Bearing Bar (32110) is designed for a much lighter usage, although its rated to 400kg this is purely for a “Break point test weight” and should not be used as a performance indicator of the bar. This bar is super smooth in its rotation when large loads are not being used, but is an excellent choice for anyone wishing to try Olympic Lifting. 28mm Bar, with aggressive Knurling.
The only problem with needle bearing bars is excessive sleeve rotation, as opposed to bushings which have a better feel (as I have read). I'm guessing Eleiko's sleeve rotation must be even more excessive seeing as they put 10 precision needle bearings inside, 5 in each sleeve.
@Dastardly, When they make statements like 1500lbs test etc it's not very helpful in determining how strong the bar is, PSI (pounds per square inch) tensile strength is a better indicator. Needle bearings can have varying qualities too, some bad some good quality which is why some may be cheaper then others, like I said take a look at the articles on the main Ivanko website, Tom Ivanko has provided very good details about the criteria on bars.
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