XMark Black Diamond Olympic Barbell Sets with The Crowbar 7' Olympic Bar

Let me first start off by saying I have plenty of experience with barbells of all sort; From you crappy 31mm chrome beater bars from Walmart to Rogue Fitness, Texas Power Bar, Wright Fitness, etc. So, I'm your typical garage gym barbell snob.After initially inspecting and doing 1 whole workout, I am 100% confident I can give an accurate review and will not need updates. The Crow bar packaging was pretty standard and I had little difficulty opening the screwed-in end caps on the cardboard housing. The bar, as typical from any decent company, was heavily oiled. After wiping down the bar, wow! It was gorgeous. Seriously, the chamfered edges and machining was flawless. Clean lines and no sharp edges at all! Easily up there with Rogue for fit and finish. The bright zinc sleeves and matte black shaft is very aesthetic as well. One flaw on my bar, there were thin straight lines of what looked like uncoated metal along the shaft. There were only a couple, but I was not concerned in the slightest. My other bars, in black zinc and cerakote, have all been defeated from Florida's humidity. I imagine this manganese finish will develop it's own from my abuse and 3-in-1 oil.Now, for the function. The sleeves spin very well, though I don't Olympic lift, nor do I do crossfit, so YMMV, but I highly doubt anyone will complain (Just don't expect those Fancy Nancy bars' spin). The bar itself is on the longer end of standard bars, being 87" with a 53" shaft. This is one of the reason I picked this bar, as my Rogue 20KG OPB bangs against my cage with it's thin collars (If you own a Rogue SML series, you'll appreciate the added wingspan). The Knurl is pretty passive for my taste (again, OPB), but the finish provides a tacky feel and I had no problems benching with it (even without chalk). Compared to my OPB, it only had a slight increase in whip.Guys and gals, you cannot beat the value of this bar.Overall (or TD;LR version)Value: 6/5Fit and Finish: 4.5ish/5Function: 5/5It's essentially an inexpensive Ohio Bar with center knurl.

It comes prepared as the product description says to do for maintenance: with a light coat of machine oil to prevent rust. This is to handle complaints from some reviews saying that it rusts. Er, duh. Steel rusts if you expose it to air and moisture. Proper maintenance would prevent it.As far as the price goes: I saw one complaint that it was too expensive. Did someone twist your arm to buy it? If not, then why complain? IF, on the other hand, it is truly up to the standard it says (1500lbs), it is definitely worth more than a bar that only holds 700lbs (around $150).As far as workmanship goes: The knurling is crisp and clean. I don't see any blemishes or such. The bearings spin smoothly and easily.Looking forward to putting it across the shoulders a.s.a.p.

The bar immediately started to rust after first use. Yeah it’s a string bar, but the quality of the steel is not so great. From looking at other reviews and the reputation of the company I figured it was a good endearment. But now I know I’ll probably be throwing this bar out sooner than later. I plan on getting a lot of use out of it, but I don’t really feel like it will hold up. Been using it for a few weeks and already has some scratches and dents where the weight plates go. I can’t say I’ll be purchasing another one.

I just got this bar today - the shipping was fast. first thing I noticed when I got it out of all the packaging was how sturdy the bar is. If you look at the picture I’m comparing the crow bar which is on top to the cheap silver $150 Olympic weight set bar that I’ve been using for the past 30 years I’ve actually bench pressed 330 pounds on the cheap silver bar here in my garage and am looking forward to using this new crowbar for my workouts. I did do a couple sets 135 pounds on the bench press with the new crowbar and I have crappy cheap 45 pound plates that are actually too big for any Olympic bar sleeve but once I locked the collars against the hilt of the sleeve the weights didn’t wobble and the weight felt more stable than with my old cheap silver Olympic bar. I don’t believe this crow bar is going to have a lot of whip that dead lifters like but this is not a dead lifting bar I would not use it for Dead lifting competitions as it has the center knurling and the knurling appears to be an aggressive diamond cut. I know a lot of reviews are saying this is a good bar for home gyms but I’m here to tell you I’ve worked out in a lot of gyms and this bar could easily be used in your average commercial gym. I have done shoulder shrugs for reps with 500 pounds with my old Cheap silver Olympic bar with no problems so there’s no doubt this bar it would easily withstand that kind of load. The sleeves are secured and will rotate but they do not freely spin it’s mainly because they are secured with the clip ring on the end and it rotates upon a brass sleeve instead of ball bearings or needle bearings. If you spin the sleeve with your hand you might get one revolution out of it in the beginning prior to using the bar. One thing to note is when you open the packaging make sure you’re in a place that do you will not have a problem getting oil on - the bar is lightly oiled so be careful when you’re opening it because oil obviously will stain the carpet or clothing you’re wearing.

Very happy with this purchase. Weights are extremely durable rubber coated. The bar is super tough. The grip is a little aggressive for the wife and kids, but nothing a good pair of gloves can’t take care of. Impressively packaged double boxed and strapped as well as wrapped in plastic.

This bar is beautiful. It would have been nice if Fedex didn’t beat the heck out of it during shipping. There were two small dings; one on each end. Neither effects function, but it upsets me the way they threw it around. The bar was very well packed so they really mistreated the package. From an aesthetics standpoint, this bar is just as nice as the Rogue Ohio bar I use at the gym.