This thing is seriously challenging... rapidly made me feel like a girly man. Now I'm questioning many of my life's choices and wondering if I should've gone into a more physical line of work, like my father told me to... but nah, screw that guy, he only said that because he didn't believe in me. But Brian Shaw believes in me... and by golly I'm not going to let him down. So I guess this new toy gets added to the regimen a couple times each week.

i've had this bar for a little over a week now and used it several times. I'm perfectly satisfied with it. I suspect their build quality has improved substantially since the COVID review above. There's nothing wrong with the welds and the bar feels very solid. The cerakote is all intact and it arrived shiny and crisply new, no rust or any other issues. It weighs a touch over 25 lb and has good knurling on the interior posts. 6.25" of loadable sleeve space, more than enough for challenging weights for me, but if you're an absolute beast make sure you've got slim collars. Yes, it's a budget friendly no name bar whose purpose is just to be functional... it meets that goal. no one is going to be jealous that you own it... that you can still make them jealous of the guns you build with it.

Very inexpensive, and honestly they feel that way. The plastic lever feels like it might not stand up to rough use for very long. They slip on and clamp down easily, but if there is any weight vibrations from repeated drops, you will see a tiny bit of plate migration by the end of the set. I used these for some heavy BB rows and got almost 1cm of play in the plates by the end of the set. There doesn't seem to be a way to increase the tension in the clamp, so you just get what you get.

Iron Bull makes top notch gear. I have their older version of the fractionals and they are great. The newer ones are probably even more accurate than the older version. If you're looking for fractional plates, these are worthwhile.

Eleiko spinlocks are compact for their era, exquisitely machined and highly functional. They compare very favorably even against more modern spinlocks; but of course are still not as fast as modern clamp or spring collars. For vintage aficianados, however, they are sexy as hell, as all things vintage Eleiko are. Robustly built, these aren't prone to breakage in the way the older shipwheels are, so real world usage is still feasible.