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HQ Germany Barbell 170 cm Hard Chrome review

The only bar in this family to publish its bearing arrangement: two needle bearings and one bushing per side, under a hard chrome finish, with a 350 kg rating and a stated 28 mm shaft.

The bottom line The most mechanically specified bar in the family. Publishing the bearing arrangement — two needle bearings and a bushing per side — is something no competitor here does, and the 28 mm shaft and exact 13 kg mass are stated with the same precision. The 350 kg rests on no more evidence than anybody else’s figure, and the missing sleeve length is the one gap in an otherwise unusually complete listing.

What the maker publishes

  • Overall 170 cm, 50 mm sleeves for Olympic plates
  • Shaft Ø 28 mm
  • Mass 13 kg exactly, as the maker words it
  • Maximum load 350 kg
  • Two precision needle bearings and one plain bushing per side
  • Black hard chrome on both shaft and sleeves
  • Shipped in a tube with a VCI corrosion-inhibiting bag

The figure nothing else here publishes

A bearing arrangement. Every other bar in this family either says nothing about rotation or describes it in one word.

Two needle bearings and a bushing per side is a specific mechanical claim, and it is the kind of detail that can be checked against the product. Whether it justifies the price is a separate question; that it is published at all is what distinguishes this listing.

The 28 mm shaft

Thinner than the 30 mm grips on the POWER-XTREME, thicker than the 25 mm shafts on the shorter bars here.

Twenty-eight millimetres is the shaft diameter competition-style bars use. A thinner shaft closes more easily in the hand and flexes more under load. Both follow from the figure, and which suits a given lifter is not something this page decides.

The 350 kg, in context

It is the largest rating in this family by a wide margin, and like every other figure here it cites no standard.

That is worth stating plainly rather than treating as a selling point: a declaration of 350 kg and a declaration of 100 kg rest on the same kind of evidence, which is the maker’s own word. Where a bar publishes a test reference, this site says so; none of these do.

The gap

No sleeve length. On a 50 mm bar loaded with bumper plates — which are thick by design, because they are sized to a fixed diameter — that figure is what caps a loading, and it is not here.

Availability

About 100 € on the German Amazon store, on the one reading this page rests on.

The British, French, Italian and Spanish Amazon catalogues list the reference with nobody selling behind it.

The American Amazon store returned nothing at all, so the buy button there opens a search rather than an empty page.

These figures are what Keepa returned on the day this page was last written. Stock and prices move without notice.

Prices quoted in this text were read on 20 September 2026. The live price is at the top of the page.

The figures declared, and the gaps beside them

Strengths

  • Publishes its bearing arrangement in detail — two needle bearings and a bushing per side
  • The 28 mm shaft is a published figure and it is the one a competition-style bar uses
  • Hard chrome on shaft and sleeves, stated for corrosion as well as scratches

Compromises

  • No sleeve length published, which on a 50 mm bar is the figure that caps a loading
  • A 350 kg rating with no standard cited is the largest claim here on the same evidence as the rest
  • No collars stated as supplied

Specifications

BoreØ 50 mm sleeve, for Olympic plates with a 50 mm bore as the maker states it
Length170 cm overall
Bar weight13 kg exactly, as the maker states it
Loadable sleeve lengthNot published by the maker
Shaft diameterØ 28 mm
Load ratingUp to 350 kg, as the maker states it
Standard citedNone cited by the maker
Sleeve rotationTwo precision needle bearings and one plain bushing per side
KnurlKnurling described as grippy and precise, not measured
Collars suppliedNot published by the maker
Amazon referenceB0FM423RBT (one reference across 5 Amazon marketplaces)
EAN4260740812691

What buyers ask about this one

What do needle bearings change?

They let the sleeves turn more freely than a plain bushing does, which matters on any movement where the bar rolls in the hands. The maker publishes two needle bearings plus one bushing per side, which is more detail about the mechanism than anything else in this family gives.

Is the 350 kg tested?

No standard is cited with it, which is true of every bar in this family. It is the maker’s declaration about its own product, and it is the largest figure here made on the same kind of evidence as the smallest.

Why does the 28 mm shaft matter?

It is the shaft diameter used on competition-style bars, and it is thinner than the 30 mm grips elsewhere in this family. A thinner shaft closes more easily in the hand and flexes more under load; both are consequences of a published figure rather than judgements.

Who this one is for

A 50 mm collection where the rotation and the shaft diameter are the point

Guides that feature it

Price and availability

A reference exists on these Amazon stores: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom. Listed is not the same as in stock — availability changes daily.

Details checked on September 20, 2026.

Sources

Specifications: the manufacturer sheet for home gym equipment and the matching Amazon product page. Prices and availability: Keepa. Every figure on this page names its source.

How we assess products