I’ve had the Rogue Ohio Power Bar for about 6 months now, so thought I’d share my thoughts on Rogue’s arguably most popular power bar. The Rogue OPB is often compared to the likes of the Texas Power Bar (or the TPB). I was ordering a Rogue rack anyway so for them to ship the bar as well meant that I would save on shipping for the bar. Also being in Canada – a new TPB is more expensive and a bit harder to find.  The process to find a solid power bar to last a long time was an arduous one. Here was my criteria: a.)  Center knurl. To me a great power bar, and a must have is the center knurl for back squats. This should have a little bit of bite at the minimum to grip to the back of my tee-shirt while doing back squats. b.)  Stiff bar. I didn’t want an olympic bar that had whip. I wanted a classic power bar that stayed as straight as possible for dead-lifting heavy weight, but still had good spin on the sleeves for setting up correctly in power lifts. Something in the 190,000+ PSI tensile strength. c.)  Medium to aggressive knurl. I’ve used power and olympic bars in the past where the knurl just provided no bite (old bars at the good old public gym), which is okay for some exercises, but ultimately sucks for deadlifts or barbell rows. d.)  28-29mm diameter of the actual center part of the bar e.)  Easy to put on standard 2″ inner diameter plates f.)  Easy maintenance at an affordable price. I didn’t want to spend a fortune getting a stainless steel bar, and I also didn’t want to get a bare steel bar given the crazy change in climates here in Canada. During my research – people swore by the feel and didn’t mind the maintenance (oil and wirebrush) but maintenance is something I like in the easy category. At the same time the finish has to be durable e.g. zinc or hard chrome – so not some crappy cheap coating that chips off easy. g.)  Didn’t really care about a specific type of bushings – as long as the bar is durable h.)  Under $400 brand new i.)  Regular size e.g. 7 ft, 45 lb j.)  Made in USA or Canada With the above criteria in hand I narrowed it all down to the following bars: a.)  Cap barbell OB-86PBCK – Black Phosphate w/ Black E-coat sleeves b.)  Rogue Ohio Power Bar (Rogue OPB) – Black Zinc w/ Bright Zinc collars (so not the bare steel version) c.)  Rogue Chan Bar – All Black Zinc d.)  Rogue Westside Power Bar 2.0 – All Black Zinc e.)  Texas Power Bar (TPB) – Black Zinc w/ Bare Steel collars f.)  York Power Bar PB32004 – All Satin Chrome Here’s how I got the choice down to the Rogue Ohio Power Bar. First of all the Cap barbell is difficult to get here in Canada – the Olympic barbell is easy, but not so with the power bar with the center knurl. Also many reviews out there said the black ‘e-coat’ sleeves gets chipped off almost immediately when loading and unloading plates. Not a fan here as this can expose the steel underneath to premature rusting. The Chan bar was a tough one to give up. I love the idea of having a mixed use Olympic and power-lifting bar. Some reviews also mentioned the black zinc on the sleeves comes off while loading and unloading plates. Not too much of a deal maker as Rogue is quality with a solid warranty. Why...