Olympic Weightlifting Barbell

I love this bar knurling is great, spin is great, and the coating on the sleeves seems extreme resilient however it doesn't stand up to being dropped on the endcap on concrete very well. Part of the way through the shipping process the tracking info stated a new label had been destroyed old label was not readable. Once it got here I realized what had happened. The bar was leaned up against my garage when I got home. I excitedly grabbed the cardboard tube and went to through it over my shoulder and carry it inside at that time the tape gave out and smashed into the concrete. It now has two little blemishes on the end of the sleeve near the endcap, but honestly a lesser Barbell wouldn't have fared as well and I will be the only one to notice it plus technically it got to my house without blemishes it happed once I pick up the tube. You may ask why packing tape on the ends of the tube, why didnt the foam at the end of tube protect it? Well as some point in the process both caps at the end of thr tube had been lost and the tube had been torn most of thr way through right over the oly knurl marks, additionally the foam that is usually behind the caps was gone lost into the ether of the fedex shipping facility. All of the missing parts had been wrapped with a liberal application of packing tape. But it was barely holding by the time it got to my home. On the bright side the unboxing was very quick. I would give this bar 5stars if it wasn't for tbr packaging. And honestly idk if…

I would -and do- recommend this bar to weightlifters of beginner to intermediate seriousness.

Allow me to preface my review with: before this bar I have only used fancy Swedish bars in fancy Swedish gyms.

The bar was a little stiffer than I expected, but my only real complaint is the knurling, which I thought could be more aggressive. I think the machining process to make the knurl took multiple passes at different tracking speeds to make the grip a little more comfy. As a result, the knurl isn't quite even, and is more aggressive right outside the outer band then it is near the collar or inside the bands, however it's all totally usable. I'd appreciate only one band and some center knurling too, but hey.

The sleeves are grooved to help keep plates on, however I find I *really* need to use clips, that could certainly be an issue with my plates though. Spin is totally fine.

I've had the bar for about 5 months now, since then I've noticed a bit of rust on the end of the sleeves a few times, but I've been able to totally brush that off.

There is a bit of lateral play on the sleeves, but it's totally fine, I think it may contribute to the bar bouncing to the side when it's dropped, but its not noticeable when lifting.