Which bar?

Being new at this system, what is a good bar to start out with on the NLP program that I can grow with and not quickly outgrow - I am 59 years old. And what bars are currently available? The only two I see of any promise of delivery are the CAP Beast on Amazon and the Texas Power Bar, with a wait period. Rogue today briefly showed the Ohio bar as being in stock but when I went to the specific page, it only gave the Notify Me option, guess I wasn't quick enough.

I currently only have the cheap CAP 7ft "Olympic" bar that came with my 300lb set I got last year Black Friday. My intention has always been to replace it with a good bar and dedicate the cheapo bar to my landmine for T-Bar rows and add real 45lb and possibly 25lb plates. But now I can't find any bars. The Beast mentioned above seems good, but also sounds like I might outgrow it if I'm able to progress as far as I'd like.

Are there any other readily available sources I'm unaware of? Any guidance here would be appreciated. Thanks.

Steve

If your wanting a real good bar might wait till some of these places get back to work. I think a Texas bar would be worth the wait time.
The cap boss bar might be a good bar to get, but I’ve seen this bar going from 169 to 280.
My dream bar right now is the Texas All American Bar black Cerakote.

Thanks, you're kind of confirming my suspicion. I was already leaning to the original Texas Power Bar in bare steel and guess more so now. Even though the Cap Beast is in stock at Amazon, it's $270. I just don't believe I'd want to spend the same on a Cap bar as a Texas bar, since I've read many reports of the Cap's bending between 300-500lb, whereas the Texas bars have supposedly been used in competitions up to 1,000lb. If the Cap was in the $100-150 range, I'd feel better.

Now, as to the different Texas bars, am I correct that the main difference between the original Power Bar and the All-American is the knurling? And I guess the same for the Starting Strength bars too, or is there something else in their build that makes them different and cost more?

We ordered a Texas Power Bar cerakote bodybuilding bar with a stated 2 week lead time back in May and ended up waiting over 6 weeks for it to ship, with no communication or apology or even acknowledgement that they blew through their promised date. But we are in love with it and it will be the staple bar for a long long time. I'm still glad we bought it.

In the mean time, I got in the habit of visiting Rogue's site twice a day. If you wait for the back in stock alert it's too late. But I found that I'd catch a restock about twice a week by going to the page itself. After 4 weeks of waiting for the TPB I picked up a 35lb Rogue bella Boneyard Bar and it came within days. It's not nearly as nice as the TPB but it's nice to have the lighter bar for cleans and presses.

We've also had good luck with Fringe preorders shipping weeks before the stated dates. Sometimes as soon as we placed the pre-order. They have some barbells listed now.

I believe the knurling on the All American is to be less aggressive than the power bar.

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Originally Posted by Elle

...I got in the habit of visiting Rogue's site twice a day. If you wait for the back in stock alert it's too late.

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You aren't kidding about the in stock alert being too late. I had put in a few alerts for a couple of bars and a few models of their 45lb plate pairs. At 10AM this morning I got an alert that the B&R bar was in stock, but busy as my day was at work, it was 2PM before I had a chance to read my messages, and it was already gone with the only choice to "notify me" again and I'm not doing that. I thought they might at least hold it long enough to give me a chance to get it, but they didn't. Rogue has kind of lost a customer in me, at least for a while. Looking more like one of the Texas bars.

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Originally Posted by Steve Cox

You aren't kidding about the in stock alert being too late.

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Yeah. I've gone within seconds of restock alerts and had them sold out. And they've also restocked things I caught on the website but never got an in stock email for.

I was similarly frustrated with Rogue's handling of all this. Especially because it's people with bots set up that are able to nab them before they go out of stock. Then they jack up the prices and sell them on eBay / Facebook.

Which is why I just went with companies that offered preorder. Seems a much fairer way to do it, plus what company wouldn't want cash on hand weeks ahead of delivery?

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Originally Posted by Steve Cox

Rogue has kind of lost a customer in me, at least for a while. Looking more like one of the Texas bars.

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I ordered the Texas Power Bar on June 3 with an estimated 6-8 week lead time. I still haven't heard anything from them. A friend of mine didn't get his for nearly 13 weeks; he ordered in mid-May. I understand that TPB is overwhelmed, but they could do the bare minimum and just send an e-mail to their customers saying, "Hey, we know you ordered a bar. We're working on it. We haven't forgotten you. We've just been slammed since COVID-19."

Last Tuesday the Rogue B&R bar came in stock and I ordered it. I received it Friday and used it on Saturday. I love it. That said, I left my TPB order open as I'm willing to give it a try and see which I like better. The plan is to sell the one I like least. At least... That's how I explained it to my wife. I'm secretly hoping she forgets and I keep both bars. ;)

As for plates: I purchased from Titan Fitness. The expected delivery date matched perfectly with the actual delivery date: ~6 weeks. One pair of 10's got lost along the way, but they backfilled it and had it to me very quickly. I received the last of my plates the day I heard about Grant Broggi making his own Strength Co. plates. I'd have gladly purchased those if I hadn't bought all mine already. I still plan on purchasing another set of 45's when my deadlifts get up that high and they'll be from Grant as a show of support.

What are the Fringe products you mention like and how do they compare? They look like nice bars with really good specs and prices, along with reasonable delivery, but I couldn't find any reviews or user comments online. The one site I did find last night had kind of conflicting info with a couple people saying they are good but another saying they're about the same as Cap, and imported meaning no support if a bushing or part is bad or wears out.

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Originally Posted by Steve Cox

You aren't kidding about the in stock alert being too late. I had put in a few alerts for a couple of bars and a few models of their 45lb plate pairs. At 10AM this morning I got an alert that the B&R bar was in stock, but busy as my day was at work, it was 2PM before I had a chance to read my messages, and it was already gone with the only choice to "notify me" again and I'm not doing that. I thought they might at least hold it long enough to give me a chance to get it, but they didn't. Rogue has kind of lost a customer in me, at least for a while. Looking more like one of the Texas bars.

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If you have Instagram follow and turn notifications on for @asmanyreviewsaspossible he posts rogue(and other) gear in real time, but you have to be quick things sell out in under 5-10 minutes. I ordered a ohio power bar on 7/30 and had it at my door on 8/5. Took me a few days to have him post what I was needing. I was also going to order from Texas Power Bars but they seem to be months behind right now.

Well, I had the day off work so spent some time reading and research, and after a friendly email chat with Ricky Crain, decided to order the Okie Power Bar, which he says is in stock and the price and shipping are good. I feel pretty safe on this so hope nobody is going to say I'm making a mistake.

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Originally Posted by Clintcase

...I was also going to order from Texas Power Bars but they seem to be months behind right now.

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That was my hang-up as well; in some of my other hobbies, when even established companies start showing this trend you might or might not receive your order.

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Originally Posted by Steve Cox

Well, I had the day off work so spent some time reading and research, and after a friendly email chat with Ricky Crain, decided to order the Okie Power Bar, which he says is in stock and the price and shipping are good. I feel pretty safe on this so hope nobody is going to say I'm making a mistake.

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I’m sure it will be fine they have been around a long time. My only experience with Crain was a okie deadlift bar I used at a gym. Hopefully the knurl is less aggressive on the power bar because the deadlift bar was aggressive beyond anything I’ve used including the Ohio deadlift bar and Texas deadlift bar. My hands were shredded after a few heavy sets of 5.

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Originally Posted by Steve Cox

What are the Fringe products you mention like and how do they compare? They look like nice bars with really good specs and prices, along with reasonable delivery, but I couldn't find any reviews or user comments online. The one site I did find last night had kind of conflicting info with a couple people saying they are good but another saying they're about the same as Cap, and imported meaning no support if a bushing or part is bad or wears out.

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We did not get a bar from them. I agree bars might be just ok given its quite a different manufacturing process from the rest of them.

But got bumper plates and a squat stand w/ pull-up bar and they were fantastic. The bumper plates have a nice grippy edge and weighed in exactly. The squat stand is very sturdy.

Garage gym reviews website has lots of reviews for fringe.

I feel I can close out this thread, or at least my contributions. I received my Okie Power Bar today, less than a week from when I ordered, and a very fair price - $334 including UPS Ground shipping. This is a very nice bar, and I really like the finish and knurling even though I've read some say it's rough. And since I didn't get my day's training in this morning, I hit it tonight in a 90 degree garage, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I finally have a bar that doesn't try to slide down my back on squats, so I was finally able to perform good low bar squats. I'm going to enjoy this bar very much, and I even as a novice, can recommend Ricky Dale Crain and doing business with him, he's quite pleasant to deal with.

I do have one side question; my squat rack's bar holder (the hooks or yoke I guess) is metal. I believe I've read it's best to put a covering on them, and IIRC Delrin is the best material to use? If so, I'll go buy some; I have some 1/16" and 1/8" PTFE strips currently, but suspect it's too soft and will wear through too fast.

If Fringe has what you need they ship FAST.

FYI: Mr Crain has 20kg plates in stock.
Like the rest of the world I've been looking for a couple of 45s and I'm considering getting the 20kg simply because there would be no shipping since I live 30 minutes away. I've got fractional plates if OCD kicked in and I NEEDED 45 POUNDS

Thanks for the tip on the 45's, I'll check them out, though I probably need a couple bumpers before more iron.

As for my post above about the material to protect the hooks and my bar, I found maybe a better and less expensive solution. A cheap $2 white UMHW cutting board from Walmart and some heavy duty 3M double sided tape work perfect. And if the 1/8" UMHW pieces wear through, I can just simply peel them off, cut some more pieces and replace.

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Originally Posted by Steve Cox

Thanks for the tip on the 45's, I'll check them out, though I probably need a couple bumpers before more iron.

As for my post above about the material to protect the hooks and my bar, I found maybe a better and less expensive solution. A cheap $2 white UMHW cutting board from Walmart and some heavy duty 3M double sided tape work perfect. And if the 1/8" UMHW pieces wear through, I can just simply peel them off, cut some more pieces and replace.

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A relevant thread, UHMW strips w/adhesive on one side, from McMaster-Carr:

https://startingstrength.com/resourc...ml#post1321228

(Mine haven't budged yet.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steve Cox

I feel I can close out this thread, or at least my contributions. I received my Okie Power Bar today, less than a week from when I ordered, and a very fair price - $334 including UPS Ground shipping. This is a very nice bar, and I really like the finish and knurling even though I've read some say it's rough. And since I didn't get my day's training in this morning, I hit it tonight in a 90 degree garage, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I finally have a bar that doesn't try to slide down my back on squats, so I was finally able to perform good low bar squats. I'm going to enjoy this bar very much, and I even as a novice, can recommend Ricky Dale Crain and doing business with him, he's quite pleasant to deal with.

I do have one side question; my squat rack's bar holder (the hooks or yoke I guess) is metal. I believe I've read it's best to put a covering on them, and IIRC Delrin is the best material to use? If so, I'll go buy some; I have some 1/16" and 1/8" PTFE strips currently, but suspect it's too soft and will wear through too fast.

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Does the okie power bar come with a raw, bare steel shaft or is that only on the deadlift bar. From the pictures I saw on Amazon it appears that the power bar would possibly be bright zinc or chrome.

I can't speak on the deadlift bar or any of his other bars, but the power bar is bare machined steel. I would guess they're all the same.

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Originally Posted by VNV

A relevant thread, UHMW strips w/adhesive on one side, from McMaster-Carr:

https://startingstrength.com/resourc...ml#post1321228

(Mine haven't budged yet.)

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Thanks, that actually was the thread that got me thinking about making my own with this cheap $2 Walmart cutting board, which is UHMW and heavy duty 3M double sided tape. Less than 10 minutes on my chop saw and pieces were in place. And so far, they've been working and hold up quite well.