From Blog
The oldest barbell we made
The first barbell we built in 2015 is still going after 150,000 reps. On making things to last, not to look the part.
Published
by Adarsh Gopal
“We don’t want to make a book that looks like it was made in 1935, we want to make a book the way they made the book in 1935,” Coudal says. “That’s a real distinction. We’re not trying to be retro; we’re trying to reproduce previous techniques because we like the results these techniques came up with.”
— Jim Coudal
We made our first barbell in May 2015.
It’s still going strong.
It’s gone through close to 150,000 repetitions at this point. And it’s fine.
Same for our trapbars (not the 2025 trio). Going strong for 9 years now. And the pulleys have taken the greatest beating. By one estimate, close to 400,000 repetitions. You can literally see the deeper groove on the pulley! We are going to be upgrading them this year.
DIY was an early tag for some of our equipment. The tag carries the baggage of home-use, rough edges and not suitable for durability.
But DIY can be more thoughtful materials, more robust build quality and built using bespoke process. Knurl that is machined on carefully. Welds that are laid down carefully. And materials that are chosen without the constraint of a sale price.
And the result is equipment that is going to last for decades when used with care and maintenance.