REP stainless steel Power bar vs Stainless Excalibur bar

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

Overview and review of the REP fitness Excalibur stainless steel bar

This is an overview of the REP fitness stainless steel Excalibur 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 Excalibur Stainless steel $349

The Excalibur stainless steel barbell from REP takes one of their simpler designs and beefs it up with the stainless steel treatment. It is a solid barbell, but not my favorite option in the line up as I think it takes too many compromises at too high a price tag. The full specifications of this barbell are:

28.5mm diameter
Length: 87.4"
20 kg (45lb) or 15kg (35lb) option
1500 lb static rating
215k tensile, 205k yield
Bushing sleeve construction
Very mild ribbing on sleeves to keep plates in place
No Center Knurl
Stainless Steel
Medium/Deep Knurl
Dual Knurl Markings - Powerlifting and Weightlifting
5 year warranty

This bar neither has an aggressive knurl or bearing sleeve construction for a better spin. More than $300 in the REP barbell portfolio is a good bit of money for a bar that does not really know what it wants to be. To top it off there is also no center knurl. You pay a premium for the stainless steel without actually addressing any specific Oly lift or powerlifting needs.

Pros of the Rep Excalibur Stainless steel

The pros of the Excalibur Stainless steel barbell are:

Stainless steel
Price
Will not offend anyone

The main thing this barbell has going for itself is that it is stainless steel and therefore will not rust as quickly as other barbells which are not. Especially if you are training in a hot and humid climate you should look for stainless steel to get the most out of barbell's life span.

The price for this barbell is good considering that it is stainless steel. But this can also be said for the other stainless steel barbells out of the REP fitness portfolio which in my opinion provide a clearer profile of what needs they want to cover rather than not making a decision of whether they are going to be an all-round barbell, powerlifting, or weightlifting barbell.

A good thing about this barbell is that it will not offend anyone if you buy it in bulk for your gym. The knurling is mild, no center knurling means less rubbing off the back or shins and no bearing means that it won't spin too much for people who only use it for the squat, bench press, and deadlift.

Cons of the Rep Excalibur Stainless steel

The cons of the Excalibur stainless steel are:

No aggressive knurling
No bearing
Imported
No color options

For a barbell from a low price vendor for $300 i personally think you should not spend the money without deciding for a clear use profile of your bar. If you want an all-around barbell you can save yourself $100 to $150 by going for the sabre bar or the REP basic bar. In the $300+ range I would make a clear decision for whether you will be using the barbell mainly for powerlifting or oly lifting and then get either an aggressive knurl bar or one that goes all out on bearing and whip. Why compromise at the upper end of the price spectrum of a vendor?

One big con for patriots will be that this barbell is not being sourced and produced in the United States. If you have problems with that and want to keep the money and the jobs as local as possible then Sorinex and Rogue fitness are better options to do so. These brands also have overseas products in their portfolio but take pains to keep as much of their production and supply chain local to the United States.

Another thing that REP fitness has not figured out yet are color options. While Rogue fitness and TITAN fitness have applied Cerakote coatings to their Ohio bar and Blues city barbell lineup, REP fitness is lagging behind and only offers the Sabre bar in color for now. I am sure they will catch up, but if you want the most flexibility in terms of the material of the sleeves and which colors to go with then Rogue fitness is the better option. What REP fitness lacks in the color department for barbells they make up for in the rack department as here you have more options to choose and customize the color of each single upright.

Alternatives to the Rep Excalibur Stainless steel

If you like the middle of the road approach in the design of the Excalibur bar I would also make the price middle of the road and opt for the Excalibur bar as a non-stainless steel option. If you are outfitting a Crossfit gym in bulk, this is probably a good barbell to choose from as the design is reliable and works in many directions. For a home gym I would possibly not recommend it as ou can treat yourself for the only purchase you are possibly going to make for the next couple of years in the barbell department.

REP Gladiator MX barbell comes in at a similar price to the Excalibur stainless steel but makes a decision to be a better all-around barbell by providing bearing instead of bushing sleeves. If you will be mainly lifting overhead in your home gym or you are trying to build an oly lifting section in your commercial gym, then this is the better option than the Excalibur stainless steel.

The Rogue Chan bar is in my opinion the best hybrid bar between powerlifting and weightlifting that Rogue has to offer. It beaks this up with high tensile strength and an interesting design to keep you motivated. The only downside is that it is rarely in stock and hard to grab. That is why I have a Rogue Ohio power bar at home instead.

The TITAN Atlas bar is the bread and butter barbell model from TITAN without any color options. If you are looking to optimize for the budget this is it. As it is a fairly simple bar you are less exposed to the risk of the looser quality controls which TITAN applies to their products to offer them at the lowest possible cost to you.

Conclusion for the Rep Excalibur Stainless steel

The Excalibur stainless steel bar is a good idea, but too Vanilla for my personal tastes for a bar in this price range. Get something specific to your needs when you shell out more than $300 on a barbell or try to drive down cost as much as possible for an all-around compromise in my opinion. Spending a lot of money on a compromise is usually not a good road to take for being happy with your equipment.

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.