Equipment: The Euro Thread

[KevinMcGrath]

Anyone tried the bastard bar from strength shop?

[HMan]

I just got a reply from our local ATX dealer about their powerlifting bars.

The Ram has the most knurling, then the Comp bar, and the Golden has the least.

For me that means, try to find an Ohio Power Bar.

[51M0N]

Having felt the knurling on both, the Ram bar doesn't hold a candle to it. I found the ATX knurling much too passive for a 'power' bar. It's still a good bar, particularly for the price, but if you want a very grippy knurl the OPB is much more aggressive (but not stupidly so).

[HMan]

Having felt the knurling on both, the Ram bar doesn't hold a candle to it. I found the ATX knurling much too passive for a 'power' bar. It's still a good bar, particularly for the price, but if you want a very grippy knurl the OPB is much more aggressive (but not stupidly so).

That seals it!

[Wilhelm]

OPB is great.
The volcano style knurl makes it very grippy, but without the needle points of a "mountan" style knurl that can shred your skin.
It makes it so there is more surface area per square cm/inch too. Mine is bare steel, which gives the most positive feel of the knurl. Coatings fill it in some, and change the feel. Pic is of an actual OPB

[Wayne]

I just got a reply from our local ATX dealer about their powerlifting bars.

The Ram has the most knurling, then the Comp bar, and the Golden has the least.

For me that means, try to find an Ohio Power Bar.

Good to know, thanks for sharing. Did they give you any info on how the stainless bar compares?

[HMan]

I just got a reply from our local ATX dealer about their powerlifting bars.

The Ram has the most knurling, then the Comp bar, and the Golden has the least.

For me that means, try to find an Ohio Power Bar.

Good to know, thanks for sharing. Did they give you any info on how the stainless bar compares?

No, I didn’t ask them about that one though. I’ve got to imagine, that if the Ram isn’t that deep and it’s their deepest that the SS would be soft as well though.

[HMan]

The OHP just popped up on Rouge EU, so luckily I have one on the way.

[51M0N]

Nice, what type?

[HMan]

Just black zinc, the stainless is way out of my range.

Edit: And they are already out of stock. I really did get lucky.

BTW any recommendations on collars? I just pushed order as fast as I could and forgot to add them. I’ve got some cheapo knockoffs now.

[51M0N]

Nice, I've always found lock jaw collars work just fine and are easy to source on eBay.

[OCG]

Just black zinc, the stainless is way out of my range.

Edit: And they are already out of stock. I really did get lucky.

BTW any recommendations on collars? I just pushed order as fast as I could and forgot to add them. I’ve got some cheapo knockoffs now.

The Rogue "HG" collars are excellent, although expensive for plastic collars.

https://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-hg-2-0-collars

[Wilhelm]

Just black zinc, the stainless is way out of my range.

Edit: And they are already out of stock. I really did get lucky.

BTW any recommendations on collars? I just pushed order as fast as I could and forgot to add them. I’ve got some cheapo knockoffs now.

The Rogue "HG" collars are excellent, although expensive for plastic collars.

https://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-hg-2-0-collars

$10 Less than the OSOs though, which yeah, are billet aircraft grade aluminium.

I have the regular OSOs, and they have held up well for 3+ years.

I don't push them to the expand/open position, as they slip on fine without that.
If they break, i'm back to my spring clips, as i'm not dropping another $50 for collars anytime soon.
Kept the spring clips when i sold my first cheapo bar and rack.

I do like them a lot, but have never used any others besides the spring clips.

[HMan]

The OSDs are nice looking, but in Europe cost over twice what the HDs cost when you factor the free shipping in. The OSDs were pushing €90 with tax and shipping!

[Wilhelm]

The OSDs are nice looking, but in Europe cost over twice what the HDs cost when you factor the free shipping in. The OSDs were pushing €90 with tax and shipping!

Yikes!
They aren't that nice.

[HMan]

Lol, I wound up getting the OSO’s, I didn’t think Rouge would let me add to the order after it was placed, but they would, so I decided to bite the bullet. The 2 year warranty tipped me over, and well, metal (mostly) vs plastic.

[Wilhelm]

Lol, I wound up getting the OSO’s, I didn’t think Rouge would let me add to the order after it was placed, but they would, so I decided to bite the bullet. The 2 year warranty tipped me over, and well, metal (mostly) vs plastic.

I don't know how much it has helped, but as i mentioned before, i don't do the thing where you expand them beyond the normal open position by pushing the lever back more.

I slide them on slowly, and rotate them as i do to keep the rubber liner from grabbing as they go on.
I think they will grab more when they are new.
Just wanted to point out that expanding them isn't necessarily required.

It didn't occur to me for the first many months i had them to do it this way, and it may be that when they are new it is harder to slip them on unexpanded.

I baby them though, never drop them, and set them down flat.
I probably could have been rougher with them and they'd still be fine.
They aren't fragile, especially with just one user.

Alan Thrall goes through them at his gym, but yeah, many users and some of them likely oblivious to any reasonable handling of equipment.

I've been using mine well over 3 years now.

[HMan]

Lol, I wound up getting the OSO’s, I didn’t think Rouge would let me add to the order after it was placed, but they would, so I decided to bite the bullet. The 2 year warranty tipped me over, and well, metal (mostly) vs plastic.

I don't know how much it has helped, but as i mentioned before, i don't do the thing where you expand them beyond the normal open position by pushing the lever back more.

I slide them on slowly, and rotate them as i do to keep the rubber liner from grabbing as they go on.
I think they will grab more when they are new.
Just wanted to point out that expanding them isn't necessarily required.

Thanks!


IMO these are great collars, it’s so little difference in effort to expand them, that form the most part I just do it that way.
I really don’t get the folks saying they snap, just keep a little pressure on them when you open and it’s easy to avoid.

[HMan]

I’ve pretty lucky with everything that I’ve needed to order from Rogue. They are pretty good about giving a time frame when the expect an item, if you ask them.

I just got a pair of 12,5 kg DBs, and again thanks to them letting me know, was able to get in that 10 minute time window before they disappeared.

Ok it’s a pain, but it improves your odds anyway.

Now for the boxes they sent the DBs in. Totally destroyed, I could actually just slide a DB out of the box when it arrived. UPS had to delay shipping that one, because the box was so beat up they had to tape it themselves.

[Rory]

Just a comment on Rogue Europe's shipping and customer service. We ordered a set of the competition bumper plates and found that, after delivery, one of them had a gouge out of the edge of it. Nothing outrageous that would interfere with the use of the barbell, but not what you want considering it was brand new and they are not cheap.

We emailed Rogue Europe and they shipped a replacement that was with us a matter of a few days later. The courier picked up the damaged one at the same time.

Waiting on Rogue to have the MG-3 multi grip bar back in stock at some stage. Of all the designs out there, I think it's my preference. Also considered the ATX multi grip bar and Watson but I think the MG-3 looks the best all round.

During lockdown we made a few other orders, mainly from Strength Shop UK and Blk Box. In both cases shipping and customer service were on the money. I find Strength Shop are particularly good in terms of their customer service... It's just that the quality of their stuff is often iffy. When you do get a lemon or something with a wonky weld they straight away will offer a replacement or a % of the cost back to you.