Knock Off vs Fixed Bar in Weight Over Bar

[o1d_dude]

In Cali we mostly contest the WOB with a knockoff bar. Most of the rest of country uses a fixed bar.

Depending on what you use locally, what are your opinions?

I'll go first.

1. With a knockoff bar your aim has to be much better as there is very little in the way of "friendly roll".

2. With a knockoff bar, a fair amount of time is spent resetting the bar, untangling the rope, etc., compared to set of fixed bar standards.

3. Likewise, attempts for record with a knockoff bar require a measuring tape tossed over the bar to set the height (crank the standards up, etc.) while a fixed bar setup has no height ledges set at 6" intervals. Setting a height can be a simple as raising the bar and directly reading the height off the tape built into the standards. Say the thrower wants to go for 14'2"... In all fairness to the knockoff standards, a built in tape could be added but it just hasn't been thus far.

4. Knockoff bar standards require a lot of welding and fabrication compared to the fairly basic fixed bar standards. Lighter, easier to set up/tear down, etc.

Did I miss anything?

[Detroitpete]

Ugh--Knockoff bars! NO friendly roll at all. Hit it on the way up--and fugittabotit! Longer time to reset, which can make a long event even longer. Flying weights and bars.

Makes me glad I throw in the East.

At the same time--it IS called weight OVER bar isn't it?

My hat is off to the guys who throw with knockoff bars all season long. If I had to do it--I'd wind up rocking back and forth, talking to myself

[o1d_dude]

My hat is off to the guys who throw with knockoff bars all season long. If I had to do it--I'd wind up rocking back and forth, talking to myself

It's a confidence game. You have to believe you can do it.

[Alan H]

That's about it.

I remember at Enumclaw last year, technically KO went 34' 6" or something with the sheaf. Except that what he actually did was plow the sheaf straight into the bar, just maybe two inches above the sheafs center of momentum. That bar bent down a good foot or more and the sheaf crawled over it. So did he "really" clear 34' 6"? Well yeah. Uh. I guess.

For practice standards, the fixed bar is a lot less expensive to make.