Which Barbell Finish Is The Best?

Sometimes, the only thing that differentiates one company's barbell from another is the finish. But all finishes are NOT equal, and you are always making a trade-off of some kind. Before you buy your next barbell, make sure to watch this stupidly in-depth guide to barbell finishes!

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Barbells shown in this video:
Rep Fitness Cambered Swiss Bar
Rep Fitness Delta Basic Bar
American Barbell Grizzly Power Bar
Bells of Steel Rackable Curl Bar
Living.Fit Cerakote Bar
Rep Fitness Double Black Diamond Bar
American Barbell California Bar
American Barbell Chewy Bar

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[GymCrafter]

Thanks to everyone who has added to this conversation! A couple of things to add to the video...

First, @bobbyhunt3009 recommend the Vintage Weights channel as a better source or barbell restoration videos. He's right! Check 'em out if you are interested!

As for the E coat and Duracoat sleeves. I talked to my friend @porter_phyed (on Instagram). He is a product designer for Bells of Steel and incredibly knowledgeable on barbell finishes. First, what I say in the video about the marks on Ecoat and Duracoat sleeves in not 100% accurate. The marks you see are actually the metal coming off of the inserts of my bumpers, not scratches in the coating. Ecoat and Duracoat are coatings that etch into the metal itself and do not easily scratch off.

I went in and cleaned the sleeves and sure enough MOST of the marks came off. Not all, but most. I still think there is some scratching there. In either case, I am not the type of person who will clean the sleeves after using my barbell each time, so it doesn't really matter to me what the marks are, they are still there. I really think titanium is the best way to color a barbell sleeve and there is some cool stuff coming down the line.

Barbell shafts, on the other hand, are a great place to use Ecoat and Duracoat (I believe Matt - @porter_physed said Duracoat was a bit more resilient than Ecoat, but I could have that mixed up). Since you aren't loading metal plates onto the shaft, it should look great for a long time. Matt said both of those coatings are more durable than Cerakote as Cerakote sits on top of the metal and the other two actually etch into the metal and change the color of the metal itself. If you follow him over on Instagram, he's getting ready to Duracoat one of his bars himself to match his rack and I'm sure he'll give lots of info on the process in his posts.

Keep the info coming! I'll keep filling out this pinned comment with all the extra goodies! Thanks!!!

[senorbautista]

One of your previous videos convinced me to get the Rep Black Diamond - Stainless steel and I cannot be any happier with it.
Thanks 😊

[basanth]

Love the attention to detail on this video

[TheKurtlocker]

Awesome in-depth video and I appreciate the update in the comments!

[bobbyhunt]

Top 3 video you've ever made.
I had the same weight set, got it at 12 years old. I remember that silver sleeve and burgundy plastic weights. Man, I thought I was somebody when I got that.
Coop's restoration video is one of the worst on YouTube, Vintage weights has the best videos on how to restore bars, plates, and dumbbells.
Enjoyed this one A Whole

[shiwakuseven]

Good information. Thanks for sharing!

[jeremyc]

I've got an old Ivanko bar that I bought used that had the worn black oxide finish as you noted. It was practically a bare steel bare. I decided I wanted to be the one to show the wear, so I bought an industrial black oxide application kit and re-blacked the bar. it's not as shiny as the one that came from the factory and the smell of the sealing oil takes a while to go away, but it looks pretty good. Then I polished the sleeves since the wear from plates would tear it right off. Mix of worn looking but well loved.

[ExpeditionaryRanger]

Another argument for getting stainless despite the cost increase, is that a lot of people don’t realize when they are wiping off rust off bare steel and other bars they are removing oxidized metal… ie, the surface of the metal is gradually disappearing. Thus for the longest lasting Knurl that will dull the slowest from its factory sharpness, needs to be a good grade of stainless.

[bobbyhunt]

I bought all REP cable attachments and they are listed as being Stainless Steel and they looked Great for a while, then I noticed they started rusting and it was severe enough that you could see the rust on all the attachments. Nothing I can do now except keep cleaning them every few months.

[jasonwaringschmidt]

I had the REP Delta Basic bar and it rusted under 1 year. Sold it for Black Dimond bar. Rep was going to send me a replacement but I opted to apply the $$$ to a better bar.

[michaelthompson]

I love my bare steel. It's something about that bare steel when you grip the bar, it's something Else. My favorite bar is texas power bar

[mattb]

Is Zinc in there? Looking at Strength Co Corps bar

[MJA]

What do you think of electroless nickel plating? I live in Austria and I'm thinking of getting the nickel plated Bastard Power Bar from Strength Shop, because it's a reasonable price and I've heard good things about the nickel plating on the Kabuki new gen Power Bar. They also offer a stainless steel Bastard Power Bar, but since these are imported bars and I haven't seen any reviews of the stainless steel bar yet, I'm thinking of getting a mid range bar first and then later getting the Ohio Power Bar in stainless steel. Rogue bars are pretty expensive and REP isn't shipping to Austria as of now.

[Albs]

Appreciate the thorough overview! Any thoughts on e-coat for the shaft? I know you discussed it for sleeves. Was considering the Rogue EZ Curl bar, trying to decide between e-coat and cerakote options. Thanks!

[HughLeFitness]

I have a bare steel bar because the price is the best and I love the raw grip feel. I workout in a climate controlled basement and haven't done any upkeep.

[counselingpsychology]

Bare steel won’t rust if you’re in space. Which is also where you’re likely to hit a new PB. So…win win.

[RubenCherian-kr]

What are your thoughts on the REP Badlands bar? I barely see anyone talking about it and its specs/price looks great. It has option for an all nickel finish or black chrome shaft with nickel sleeves. Would love to hear your input as I’m debating between this one or the black diamond

[bobbyhunt]

There is no Good Black or Dark finish for sleeves that I've seen. All black or dark sleeves are gonna have that beat up look and I hate that. I have a couple bars with the Gold Titanium finish and it has no rust or beat up marks so I agree with you, the titanium finish is the most durable for colored sleeves.
Hard Chrome is a Great sleeve finish but I like colored sleeves. The black titanium sleeve finish will be the next thing to come out because people are not liking the E coat, Ceerakote, and Duracoat, they look terrible IMO but are the only black finish option for sleeves right now, black zinc is horrible for sleeves

[TheKurtlocker]

Who were the other two at Stainless Steel?!?!

[YourFavoriteLibertarian]

Great comparison! I have the v2 powerbar EX from Rep. No issues yet but I'm a basement gym guy so it's always climate controlled.