B&R Bar problems

[AdamW]

Hey Rip, just received my B&R and there's a couple things about it bothering me that I wanted to verify were normal...

First of all it showed up with the tube completely unsealed. I'm sure it was sealed when it left the factory and that it came open during shipping, but they really need to come up with a better solution than this for shipping these bars because having it show up essentially unpackaged is completely unacceptable. You can't count on the UPS boys to treat a package with any sort of care so you would hope the things would be packaged with that in mind.


Second, there's a big gap between the sleeve and the end cap on both sides, and the end cap is really wobbly. Is this normal? Is the end cap supposed to be pretty tight or should it be able to wobble back and forth about a half centimeter?


Third, the press fit between the collar and sleeve does not look very strong, there's a very obvious gap the entire way around. I've seen other people complain about small gaps in theirs, but no visible bond at all worries me:


Lastly the bar isn't straight. It's only out by a couple millimeters but you can see it wobble slightly when you spin it which is really disappointing.





Here's a video of the bend:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OygXC-IeHYk

And another one that shows the wobble in the end caps and gap between the sleeves/collars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H95SQE-uxyI

Do you think I should exchange this bar or is this about as good as I should expect?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Call Rogue, get a call tag, and send it back.

[AdamW]

Thanks Rip, guess that means your B&Rs don't have these issues? Will be exchanging it for sure.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Mine are the best general purpose bars in my gym.

[Mac Ward]

Mine are the best general purpose bars in my gym.

My favorite bar in my gym as well. This is disappointing, but I am certain Rogue will honor the purchase and make it right.

[skipbeat]

I think the little bit of space is normal between the end cap and sleeve, I could be wrong though. The wobble is unacceptable though, I'd definitely send it back.

[AdamW]

Rogue is checking with York to see if they will replace it for me, if not I hope Rogue will take the hit for it...

For what it's worth, the guy I spoke to at Rogue (really nice and helpful guy) had this to say about checking a bar for straightness:

In regards to the alleged bend in the bar, the barrel of the sleeve will have a small amount of runout during machining. Even the $1300 Eleiko bars have this. A fraction of an millimeter at one end of the sleeve will result in a small but noticeable deflection at the opposite end over the 17" span. I would expect 1/8" or more barrel spin at the end of the bar. The bars in our gym have this to include the econ bars all the way up to high end Rogue, Ivanko and, Eleiko.

In case you aren't familiar with run out: If you take a drill press and chuck a bit in it and turn it on, you expect the bit to spin, not wobble. The amount of wobble is "run out". No machining tool is perfect and there are always tolerances at play so you will always have small amount of runout.

This bar does not appear to be bent based on the video. If you lay the bar flat and roll it you should notice a significant deflection in the middle of the bar. I'm not sure it is possible to pick up 1/8" with the human eye.

If you haven't done it yet, you can try rolling the bar along the floor, and if it's bent, you will see and be able to capture the wobble when it rolls. If the bar does not have this, then it is not bent and you should be fine.

I checked the bar by rolling it in our bar rack and compared the deviation to the 2 Rogue Bars we have and it is noticeably out in comparison. You can't see it terribly well in the video but it is very very obvious in person. Thinking I can chalk all of these problems up to a couple of the fine men at UPS, but when the bar is packaged the way it was packaged, you can't really expect anything better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12lzid6Ky-I

[Mark Rippetoe]

Send this video link to the guy at Rogue. It is obviously bent. But protecting a bar from the Union boys at UPS would take a sleeve made of schedule 80 pipe, prohibitively expensive. Next time they deliver ANYTHING to you, inspect it before you sign for it. Had you done that in this case, you'd have a claim.

[Alberto Velazquez]

Next time I buy a bar, I may take road trip/vacation to Columbus. Drive is about 6-7 hours from Syracuse. Shop at Rogue maybe catch a Buckeye game.

[tertius]

Send this video link to the guy at Rogue. It is obviously bent. But protecting a bar from the Union boys at UPS would take a sleeve made of schedule 80 pipe, prohibitively expensive. Next time they deliver ANYTHING to you, inspect it before you sign for it. Had you done that in this case, you'd have a claim.

This is really important. The only way UPS is going to not smash the shit out of everything is if people get up their ass about it. Don't be shitty to the driver, as it's usually not their fault. Most of the smashing, dropping, and throwing happens in the unloading of the trailers and loading of the delivery trucks. For lighter stuff, they've got the amount of abuse most people will accept pretty well calibrated, but heavier objects subjected to the same treatment suffer.