Texas All American Bar Reviews And Info
Overall
Summary
The Texas All American Bar is a general-purpose barbell that’s great for a variety of Olympic-type lifts which is exactly what it’s built for.
Pros
- Aggressive but not overly-aggressive knurling.
- Excellent Price Point For A Beginner Bar.
- Decent tensile strength.
Cons
- Loadable sleeves could be longer.
- We’re not big fans of the bushing rotation system’s spin.
The Texas All American bar from Buddy Capps is a general-purpose barbell that works fairly well for performing a variety of Olympic lifts.
Unlike the company’s Texas Power Bar, the All American bar features a more passive knurl that won’t cut into your hands like the company’s original powerlifting barbells.
The bar features a fairly standard 190,000 PSI Tensile Strength Shaft that’s covered in Black Zinc with Bright Chrome Sleeves. Higher tensile strength means less bar bend under higher weights and Buddy Caps has created an option that aligns perfectly with other high-end bars from its competitors. We think you’ll be happy with the yield strength offered by this bar if you’re using it for multi-purpose lifting.
Much like the more expensive Rogue Ohio Bar, the All American Bar features dual knurl marks so you can position yourself for the perfect grip during every movement. The bar’s knurling is more aggressive than the Rogue Ohio bar, which isn’t a surprise given Buddy Capps’ emphasis on relatively heavy knurling for all of its other bars.
The All American Bar also features a less aggressive spin provided by the bar’s bushing rotation system. We would like to see improvements in this part of the performance of the bar but for a general-purpose barbell, it gets the job done under most circumstances. Spin helps lessen the chance of shoulder fatigue and injury and in this case, the bar falls short of others on the market.
We like the 28.5MM shaft size which feels familiar in our hands for an all-purpose barbell, making for a great deadlift experience and a smooth full movement with clean and jerks and other Olympics lifts. We don’t lift overly heavy so whip from the thinner bar wasn’t noticeable, however, some reviewers who lift heavier noted that the bar tended to bounce more on their shoulders during heavy squats. If you’re lifting heavy and have your heart set on a Texas bar you’re better off going with the stiffer Texas Power Bar.
Our biggest complaint is the bars loadable sleeve length of just 14.5″ that’s almost two inches less than the Ohio Bar which features loadable sleeve lengths of 16.40.” For clarification the barbell lists 17″ but the collars are thicker than many bars, leading to less loadable space.
In terms of general size, the bar’s length is 86″ long and weighs in at 20kg (~45 pounds).
One final note, Texas Barbells are one of the few to still use a traditional end cap system. We prefer the snap ring setup for ease of maintenance. It’s not really a big hinderance and it makes the barbells stand out in a commercial gym setting. Again, this isn’t really a strike against the product as much as a personal preference.
Overall, the Texas All American bar is a decent option, especially if you’re just starting out and need something that will allow you to get a feel for a professionally crafted barbell. If you’re willing to spend a little more money, we’d choose the Rogue Ohio Bar which performs betters all around or even the cheaper but still as impressive Rogue Bar 2.0.
While we have some small issues with the Texas All American Bar it’s still a high-quality product that’s likely to withstand the test of time.
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