Barbells for UK gym

[Tobias]

I'm building a home gym shortly, will be doing olympic lifts also. Looking for something quite flexy. I have my eye on these 2 bars:

https://www.strengthshop.co.uk/bars/...fting-bar.html

http://www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/...r/15727_p.html

Anyone have experience with these bars? Or any other bars in the UK for olympic lifting? Rogue EU do not distribute the B&R bar. My Budget is around £250.

Thanks.

[m@tty]

I'm in the same boat!
Bought the Strengthshop barbell you provided a link for but sent it back mine had QC issues!
Strengthshop did give me my money back so nothing wrong with their customer service!
Gymworld.co.uk have the York Elite Power Bar 32004 and York Elite Olympic Training Bar 32002 for around £320 delivered or if that's too pricey have a look at the Againfaster Team Barbell as it gets reasonable reviews!
You could order a B&R bar from Rogue America and it will be around £300 delivered but you might get stung for another £70-80 import tax

[Tobias]

Thanks for the recommendations,why didn't you buy another strength shop barbell?

[m@tty]

Bought the basic barbell which turned up bent so upgraded to spring steel barbell also bent!
Didn't fancy trying a third time! Strengthshop gave me my money back including postage so I wasn't out of pocket!
Decided to look elsewhere for a barbell! Still deciding what to do might get a B&R not sure yet though!

[m@tty]

Decided to bite the bullet today and got a York Elite Power Bar 32004.
Savage Strength have them on sale and got a 10% discount code for liking them on FB so it came to just short of £285 delivered..

[G1981C]

some people find york end caps annoying, especially if you have tight fitting plates. as for that first bar - it could also use some bevel on the edge to make putting plates on easier. i don't know if in this price range you should be worrying about how flexy the bar is. i think that's more a concern for $500+ bars, and for olympic movements with over 100 kilos of weight. but admittedly, my knowledge in this area is quite limited.

with the first bar i find it disturbing that you can apparently order it with bearings or bushings at the same price and in the same bar. that's like buying the same car with the option of SUV or Roadster in the same car, at the same price. doesn't make a lot of sense. the knurl looks miserable too. i would stay away from it.

you can get a good power bar for $250. i don't think you can get a good bar for olympic movements for under $500. i'm talking about prices in 'Murica. stuff tends to cost more in Europe.

ideally you will want a bar from a brand you can trust, that lists at the very least the steel PSI, and preferrably also the number of bearings in the bar. a good bar will have 8 bearings. top quality bar will have 10. however just because a bar has 10 bearings doesn't mean it is good. a good bar will have 185,000 PSI. top quality bar will have 210,000 PSI or more.

you may not need a good bar to workout with but if you're already going to be making an investment might as well buy something good ...

[Dunk]

http://www.bulldoggear.co.uk sells decent equipment and is very reasonably priced.