REP stainless steel Power bar vs EZ Curl barbell

This is a comparison between the REP fitness stainless steel power bar and the REP fitness EZ Curl barbell. Follow the links for more details.

Overview and review of the REP fitness Rackabale EZ Curl barbell

This is an overview of the REP fitness Rackable EZ curl barbell including the pros, cons, and alternatives. This article was originally posted in which barbell to buy from REP Fitness. Follow the links for more information.

Rep Rackable EZ Curl Barbell $169

The REP rackable EZ barbell is an EZ bar designed to be racked and is, therefore, longer than the usual EZ barbells you would find in most gyms. The EZ design is specially tailored to bicep curls and skull crushers. The wavy design makes these exercises easier on the wrist than a straight barbell. These are nice to have but not necessities for your home gym setup. I personally do curls and skull crushers with my Rogue Ohio barbell with a narrow grip and that works just fine. The full specifications of this barbell are:

Diameter: 30mm
Weight: 35lbs
Finish: Stainless Steel or Hard Chrome Coating
Knurl: 4x70mm sections of medium depth knurl
Length: 6'2"
Loadable length: 10"
Distance between sleeves: 4'3"

It does what it says on the tin if you fancy one.

Pros of the Rep Rackable EZ Curl Barbell

Pros of the EZ rackable Curl barbell are:

Rackable
Length
Easy on the wrists

The design and purpose of this barbell are fulfilled with this model. The quality is good and it is not that expensive that you would regret your purchase. Just be aware that the use you will get out of this barbell is quite limited, unless you want to curl like a berserker on a daily basis to make your bicep grow. I had phases like that in my teenage years, I have to admit.

Cons of the Rep Rackable EZ Curl Barbell

The cons of the rackable EZ Curl barbell are:

Hard to store
Limited use cases

While this barbell is easier to handle in the rack than a normal short EZ bar, it takes up quite a bit of space when it is not in use. If you don't want it on the floor you will need to get a gun rack mount or some other barbell storing device. These cost usual as much if not more than this barbell. So if you do not have the infrastructure in your gym yet to store a second full-sized barbell I would get a short EZ barbell or none at all.

Alternatives to the Rep Rackable EZ Curl Barbell

Rogue EZ bar
TITAN EZ barbell

Rogue as well as TITAN stock variations in short and long of the EZ barbell. The differences are minimal so it is really more about which vendor you like most and who can deliver the fastest depending on your needs.

Conclusion for the Rep Rackable EZ Curl Barbell

The REP fitness rackable barbell does what it says on the tin. Do you really ned it? Probably not, but it is nice to have if your barbell gun rack is not full yet. Better specialty bars to get are a safety bar or duffalo bar if your budget allows.

Overview and review of the REP stainless steel Power bar

This is an overview of the REP fitness stainless steel power bar including the pros, cons, and alternatives. This article was originally posted in which barbell to buy from REP Fitness. Follow the links for more information.

REP Stainless steel power bar $379

The stainless steel power bar comes with 29mm in diameter, a medium Knurl and bushing to attach to the sleeves to the barbell. This is a powerlifting focused barbell which saves you a little money compared to the deep Knurl top dog from REP fitness. The full specifications are:

200k tensile, 1500 lb rated
29mm for extra stiffness
Length: 87.4"
Medium depth knurl
810mm between outside edges of knurling rings
Stainless steel shaft and smooth stainless sleeves
Bushing sleeves for smooth spin
Snap-ring design.

This is a solid choice, although I would pay the $20 extra for the deep Knurl any day if I am already looking into a powerlifting specific bar.

Pros of the REP Stainless steel power bar

The pros of the REP stainless steel power bar:

Stainless steel
200l tensile

The biggest plus is the powerlifting Knurl marks and the stainless steel itself. Stainless steel means that this barbell is a lot less likely to rust than regular steel barbells. It is also the main driver of the price of the bar as REP chooses to cover the sleeves and the barbell itself with stainless steel.

Tensile refers to the strength of the steel and how much pressure it needs to bend. The higher the number the more power is needed to permanently bend the bar. High-quality barbells hover around 200.000 tensile strength so the stainless steel power bar is spot on.

Cons of the REP Stainless steel power bar

The cons of the REP stainless steel power bar:

Medium Knurl
Price
No color options
Imported

To me personally, this bar makes little sense, unless the federation you lift on works with medium Knurl instead of aggressive Knurl bars. If you are already looking into a powerlifting specific bar you might as well pay the little extra and get the deep Knurl instead. For a compromise, this bar would be quite dear.

Compared to other vendors REP fitness has no color options (yet) on their barbell portfolio. Rogue fitness offers a wide array of sleeves made out of different materials and cerakote coatings. TITAN fitness copied this approach with their blues city barbell line. Currently, there is only the black Sabre bar in the REP fitness portfolio that offers a different color from steel.

The biggest con for REP fitness barbells might be for some that they are imported from overseas. If you want your hard-earned money to go into manufacturing jobs in the US you have to purchase from Rogue or Sorinex.

Alternatives to the REP Stainless steel power bar

Alternatives to the REP stainless steel power bar are:

The Rogue Ohio power bar in stainless steel is the current Creme de la Creme in powerlifting bars. There are some other models from kabuki strength and elitefts that are strong contestants for being higher quality, but they are by far not as known as the Rogue Ohio power bar.

The REP fitness deep Knurl bar is in my opinion the right choice from REP for a serious powerlifter to get the deep Knurl. Why stop $20 short on a $400 item that you will probably use for the next 10 years.

The TITAN blues city power bar is the direct competitor of the Ohio power bar and the REP stainless steel power bar. Here some serious savings can be made at the cost of higher risk of a bad user experience through quality issues on the bar or the with the service provided.

Conclusion for the REP Stainless steel power bar

I personally think that the REP stainless steel power bar does not make an awful lot of sense when you know about the deep Knurl bar from REP as they are only $20 apart. But that is just my thinking as I think the more aggressive the knurling the better for my purposes.