CAP Barbell 45 lb Elite Power Bar Chrome

Maybe I got a unicorn, but I bought a CAP barbell for $50 over 30 years and besides flaking chrome I have no major complaints. Sure I have to tighten the nuts once a year, and the "center" knurling is off-center, and an the knurling is minimal to begin with, but it's done it's job for three decades. As my sons get stronger and are putting real weight on the bar we use it mostly for rows, landmines, and other accessories because I worry about their safety much more than my own. We have a Rogue 1.0 and Texas Power Bar for the big lifts, but the CAP is still serviceable so I haven' completely retired it.

I bought this as a beater bar when I first started my gym and I paid $60. The current cost is $90, so I guess inflation and whatnot after 7 years the new price is... okay. The chrome is garbage and the knurling is non-existant, so don't go looking for something premium. I'm not sure it even had bushings, if I'm being honest. After a few weeks of using it with a landmine, I noticed the sleeves were both getting loose. While I'd give both ends a tug with an allen key before each use, the thing never stayed tight. I wouldn't recommend this for anyone for any reason. So many other options out there, I'd spend up and get The Beast if I was hung up on Cap, but definitely keep away from this one. Oh, also, the chrome flaked off. Horrible experience.

If this is all you have, it’s more than enough to make gains. Holds the weight it needs to for cheap. I got it with some weights for free. However, loose tolerances, loud and clanky, no knurling, and scratches easily. The barbell was my first priority to upgrade from.

Excellent landmine bar. Knurling is as passive as it gets, but it's a bar and it works if you need it.

Great value if you are only using it for Landmine work.

I have two of these from the 1990s, they are my landmine bars. One came with my Cap weight set I bought when 1st dipping my toe into 2 inch Olympic barbells. Note, my gym was just 700lbs of York standard at that time. Anyway, say what you want, but I still have both of these and the sleeves still rotate on mine. Maybe the older quality was better. I still only use them for landmine stuff.

It's hard to find the EXACT Cap barbell that comes with the 300lb weight set, but I have to believe that this is it, or at least really close. This is something I started my lifting journey on. Mine actually weighed about 40 lb, making the entire weight set's nominal weight off by 5 lbs right off the bat. It was "coated" black, but in actuality it was just slathered in black paint completely filling in the knurling. This made deadlifts very difficult to progress without straps. That's not the biggest concern in the world considering I permanently bent my barbell maybe a couple months into lifting with a low-mid 300s pull. For some people, this thing could work alright. For anyone looking up barbell reviews, this is unacceptable. I permanently bent the bar

For many people, it’ll be fine. For anyone serious, it won’t. Diameter is wrong, weight is off, knurling is non-existent. I used this bar for years not knowing how little I knew. Buy a used bar instead. Also, if you’re gonna use this bar, put threadlocker on the hex bolts, tighten them down and then loosen them slightly. This will keep them from loosening and eventually stripping out

Junk. So many better bars that you buy used for the same price. Does not meet its own specs mine is like 38 LBS.

There will always be the guys that say “a bar is a bar” or “weight is weight” and that is not the case. My next door neighbor got this bar and it’s so terrible. One sleeve was pretty much locked up. Knurl had so many irregularities and burrs. The coating was flaking off. It worked, but not well at all.