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.

I wanted a quality bar without spending too much of my home gym budget, and I'm glad I decided to get this one. I'm no expert on barbells, but the knurling on this bar seems perfect to me. I love the center knurling especially, as it makes squatting that much easier because the bar sort of grips to your back. Sometimes I have to stop myself from cleaning the bar so frequently because when it's all brushed off and oiled up, it looks fantastic sitting on my power rack. I've just been using 3-in-1 oil, a hard bristle nylon brush, and a microfiber rag to clean it every couple of weeks. It seems to do the job nicely.I do have an issue with the way Rep Fitness bumper plates slide on and off of this bar though. The bar has what XMark calls "microgrooves" on the sleeves and it seems to shave metal off of the ring of those particular plates. I'd say that's more an issue with the plates than the bar itself. I just hope it doesn't have a huge effect on the lifespan of those plates.

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.

This bar came well packaged and felt good from the get-go. The knurling is not overly-aggressive compared with a Texas Power Bar or a Rogue OPB. I was looking for a general all-around bar that I wouldn't feel bad about beating up in a power rack in my garage. Rack pulls, failed squats, lifts off the pins with anywhere from 300-500+lbs on the bar and this bar has fared well after about 3months of use. Sure it has taken a beating with some of the coating and knurling getting removed from the abuse, but that is what I bought it for. I was considering getting one of the other higher-end brands but I'm glad I went with this one. It has all of the function and durability for half the price.

So I can wanted to use a few days before I posted a review almost bought the rouge camo bar they make for over 400 but found this one and was interested it’s s great bar and the grip feels great don’t get how ivanko gets this gold standard stamp when this bar does the same for 700 less

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.

I researched quite a few bars because I had some pretty specific things that I was looking for. I needed a bar for my garage gym that I’m putting together. I don't feel like my current experience level warranted something like an Ohio bar or Texas bar but still needed something that I could use for primarily powerlifting. This bar had EVERYTHING I wanted. I’ve been using this bar for about a month now and I’ve had ZERO problems. I wasn’t sure about Xmark brand because I’ve had no experience with them but I’m incredibly impressed. I will be using more xmark products.Prosno shipping issues.High quality materials usedHigh tensile strength.1500 lbs capacityNo metal splinters (cap beast bar issue)Center knurlingVery aggressive knurling.ConVery aggressive knurling. My hands are always super sensitive for a while after my workout.

Bought this bar to replace a CAP bar I had for few years (bar collar had snapped and cheaply made). I wish I had dropped money years ago on a good bar and after research I finally settled with the Crow Bar. Well worth the money. I have used for landmine workouts, dead lifts, and etc. and you can tell the difference on how well the bar is put together compared to cheap bars. Buy it you will not be disappointed.