Rackable EZ Curl Bar

Name: Rackable EZ Curl Bar
Brand: Bells of Steel
Rating: 4.11 (3 reviews)

Bells of Steel’s Rackable EZ Curl Bar is a 74.6”, 33.5 lb curl bar built to rest across standard J-cups so it loads and unloads like a full-size barbell instead of being balanced on a bench. Its bend puts the wrist and elbow in a more natural angle for curls, skull crushers, and close-grip presses, and the knurl runs the full length of the shaft rather than a narrow patch, so it stays useful across grip widths and exercises. It ships in either a black e-coat shaft with bright zinc sleeves or a black Cerakote shaft with gold titanium-plated sleeves, both spinning on brass bushings, and is rated to a 700 lb weight capacity.

Buying guide

Best Barbell for Your Home Gym — July 2026

Length	74.6"
Weight	33.5 lb
Diameter	28mm (1.1")
Knurling	Medium-aggressive, knurled end-to-end
Warranty	Limited lifetime
Manufacturer	Bells of Steel
Finish options	Black e-coat shaft + bright zinc sleeves, or black Cerakote shaft + gold titanium-plated sleeves
Sleeve rotation	Brass bushings
Weight capacity	700 lb
Grip width peak to peak	~19"

What is a Barbell?

What a barbell is

The barbell is the center of a strength gym — the bar you squat, press, deadlift, and clean with. A men’s Olympic bar is 20 kg (44 lb) and 7.2 ft long (15 kg / 6.5 ft for women). The specs that matter: knurl (the grip texture — aggressive for pulls, milder for high-rep work), shaft diameter (28–29 mm for barbell lifts), sleeve rotation (bushings are fine for slow lifts; bearings spin fast for the Olympic lifts), tensile strength (~190k+ PSI resists bending), and coating (bare steel grips best but rusts; stainless and Cerakote trade grip for corrosion resistance).

Which one to buy

For general lifting, a multipurpose bar (28–28.5mm shaft, dual knurl marks, no center knurl) does squats, bench, deadlifts, and the occasional clean off one bar — this is the right first barbell for most home gyms. Choose a dedicated power bar (29mm, stiffer, aggressive center-knurl grip) only once you know you’re training squat/bench/deadlift specifically and want the stiffest, grippiest tool for that job. A dedicated Olympic weightlifting bar (needle bearings, more whip) is worth it only if you clean, snatch, or jerk regularly.

Beyond your main bar, specialty bars solve specific problems rather than replacing it: a safety squat bar shifts load off sore shoulders, a trap/hex bar takes stress off a cranky lower back on pulls, and a curl bar’s camber reduces wrist strain on isolation work. Add them once you know which problem you actually have.

How it compares

	Rackable EZ Curl Bar	Multi-Purpose Olympic Barbell – The Utility Bar	Il Padrino Deadlift Bar	Okie DeadLift Bar
GymRadar rating	4.11/5	4.13/5	4.13/5	4.08/5
Price		$265.99	$775.00	$399.00
Length	74.6"	2,200 mm / 86.6 in	98.375 in
Weight	33.5 lb	20 kg / 44 lbs	20 kg	20 kg (44 lb)
Diameter	28mm (1.1")		27 mm	27 mm (1 1/16")
Knurling	Medium-aggressive, knurled end-to-end		16 TPI, aggressive but not sharp	Aggressive shark-tooth/mountain-peak pattern, no center knurl
Warranty	Limited lifetime	Limited lifetime (against bending/breaking)
Manufacturer	Bells of Steel	Bells of Steel	American Barbell	Crain (Crain's Muscle World, Ltd.)
Finish options	Black e-coat shaft + bright zinc sleeves, or black Cerakote shaft + gold titanium-plated sleeves
Sleeve rotation	Brass bushings
Weight capacity	700 lb	1,000 lbs / 454 kg
Grip width peak to peak	~19"

4.1/5 · 3 GymRadar reviews

Reviews by source

Expert	4.11/5	3 reviews
Retailer	4.8/5	66 reviews
Youtube	3.8/5	2 reviews
Reddit	4.2/5	6 reviews

Bells of Steel’s Rackable EZ Curl Bar wins fans for its versatility and price: reviewers consistently like the full end-to-end knurl and the wrist-friendly bend for curls, skull crushers, close-grip pressing, and rows, and resting it across J-cups instead of balancing it on a bench is a real convenience win over a short, non-rackable curl bar. Its weakest dimension is build quality: an early production run drew a scathing 0-star write-up from gymcrafter.com over blotchy, unevenly applied Cerakote and clicking sleeves, though a later Gym Crafter video review of a second unit found the issue largely resolved – the reviewer specifically recommends buyers pick the current e-coat/zinc or Cerakote/gold-titanium finish over the older, slicker coating he tested. r/homegym sentiment leans positive on price and feel, though one YouTuber found the ~19in peak-to-peak grip width cramped for a larger frame and eventually switched to a wider bar. It’s a solid budget rackable curl bar overall, but expect some unit-to-unit finish variance rather than uniformly flawless fit and finish.

+Functionality: rests across J-cups so it loads/unloads like a full barbell instead of balancing on a bench (Bells of Steel product page, Gym Crafter video review)
+Versatility: knurled end-to-end rather than in a narrow patch, so it stays usable across grip widths and doubles for skull crushers, French press, and close-grip bench (Gym Crafter video review)
+Value: frequent price drops make it one of the cheaper rackable curl bars, and one Redditor rated it ahead of REP's rackable option (r/homegym)
+Build quality: sleeves spin smoothly on brass bushings and knurl quality under the coating is good on the current finishes (Gym Crafter video review)

−Build quality: an early production run had blotchy, unevenly applied Cerakote and clicking sleeves out of the box (gymcrafter.com review)
−Functionality: peak-to-peak grip width measures about 19in, narrow enough that one reviewer found it uncomfortable and switched to a wider bar (bench175 YouTube review)
−Durability: the specific (now-discontinued) blue Cerakote finish tested on video was thick enough to dull the knurl and feel slick under load (Gym Crafter video review)
−Build quality: little independent long-term durability data exists beyond a couple of single-reviewer accounts, and Garage Gym Reviews' write-up gives no numeric score (Garage Gym Reviews)