Fitron Cambered Swiss Bar – Another Bullseye from Fitron

Summary

The Fitron Cambered Swiss Bar is made in Europe and is an original design with a quick and clever detachable sleeve system, an excellent build quality and a price-to-quality rating that beats everything else.

Price: 249€ without sleeves, 349€ with sleeves
Weight: 23, 25 or 26 kg
Sleeve length: 21.5, 36 or 43 cm
Rated for: 500 kg

Design & features

The Fitron Cambered Swiss Bar comes with several features that make it stand out.

First of, the removable sleeves. Fitron has created a unique system that allows for quick removal of the sleeves. The sleeve is simply inserted into the frame and a knurled circular piece then screws onto the frame and acts a big nut that keeps the sleeves and frame together. The sleeves can then be switched between both the Fitron Open Trap Bar and the Fitron Cambered Swiss Bar. And you can choose between three different sleeve lengths (21.5, 36 or 43 cm) and two different sleeve finishes (zinc or black oxide). I went with the 36 cm sleeves, which makes the bar weigh in at 25 kg with a total length of 206 cm.

This video shows how the sleeve detaches on the Fitron Trapbar. It it the same system on the Cambered Swiss Bar.

Secondly, the bar comes with a little eye bolt that screws into the middle of the frame and allows you to use the frame as a cable pulley attachment. Here, the removable sleeves come in handy, since they allow you to use the frame by its own for cable movement. The bar also features a pretty wide distance between the sleeves and the actual frame which makes the bar fit into more racks of different dimensions.

Thirdly, the build quality. The bar is rated at 500 kg and you can feel that when using the bar. It feels massive, yet very well balanced. This is partly due to the handle length that leaves plenty of room for my pretty regular sixed hands while not being so long that they affect the balance of the bar. Furthermore, the welds are consistent, the black coating had no faults and the logo is laser cut and bolted onto the frame.

Some might find the lack of handle and colour customization to be a negative. But, in my many months of owning this bar, I have never felt that I needed to change the handles (I am around 1,78 cm and 90 kg). The handles themselves have a passive yet grippy knurling that provides enough grip for static pressing and pulling movements – in my opinion. But, if you expect a very palpaple knurling similar to what you find on most olympic and powerlifting barbell, you might be disappointed.

Functionality

In my training, this bar achieved everything that I expect for a Cambered Swiss bar. As mentioned above, it is very nicely balanced, meaning that you do not have to fight the bar to keep it from tilting forwards or backwards while benching. This is a big plus in my opinion (if I wanted a wobbly bar, I would get a Earthquake bar). Generally, Cambered Swiss Bars are better balanced than Straight Swiss Bars. Also, the 35 mm handles diameter makes pressing movements feel really nice, since the weight is more evenly distributed in the palm of your hand. Additionally, the angle of the handles and the distance between the handles leave nothing to be desired.

One consern I had when I ordered this bar was the removable sleeves. I was afraid the sleeves would wiggle or that the bolt securing the sleeves would constantly get loose and have to be tightened. But, this has not been the case. In the 5 months where I have been using this bar 2-3 times a week, I have only once felt the slightest of loosening in one of the bolts, and it took me a split second to tighen it by hand. I actually can not rule out that I might not have tightened it properly during the initial assembly, since I have had no loosening since.

The bar weighs 23-26 kg depending on sleeve length. This does make it less easy to move around than my previous 10 kg SQMIZE Swiss Bar. Nevertheless, the weight makes the bar more safe when in use. My old 10 kg Swiss Bar was probably one of the biggest safety hazards in my gym, since it would already be prone to tilting sideways in the rack when one side of the bar was loaded with a 20 kg plate while the other sleeve was empty. With my 25 kg Fitron Cambered Swiss bar, I have had no problem with the bar tilting to one side in the rack.

Price-to-Quality Rating

Without sleeves this bar costs 249€ (for example if you already own the trap bar with sleeves that you then change between the bars). With sleeves it start at 359€.

As mentioned throughout the review, I am very satisfied with the design, quality and functionality of this bar. Furthermore, the bar is a original design and it is produced in Slovakia (Europe). Hence, I stand by my initial response on Instagram when I received the bar: At this price, I see no reason to buy an imported Cambered Swiss Bar, unless you are a massive fan of the Kabuki Design but do not want to spend >500€ (In that case buy the Sqmize) or you do not want to spend >300€ on an accessory bar. But, in order to quantify this a bit more, I have made the following table with most of the comparable Cambered Swiss Bars available in Europe currently.

Model	Price in Euro	Production Country	Similar Features?
Rep Fitness	350	China	Yes, but sleeves don’t change as easily
Wolverson Fitness	229	China	No
Kabuki Kadillac	543	USA	Sleeves are detachable to reduce shipping costs, but not meant for easy removal. No eye bolt.
Rogue MG-4CN	Starts at 558	USA	No eye bolt. Only one set of handles come standard. Sleeve are easily removable
Sqmize OB83 SRB-32	299	China	Very similar to the Kabuki Kadillac.

The table shows that the only bar with comparable features to the Fitron Cambered Swiss Bar is the REP Fitness bar, which is imported from China yet it costs the same as the Fitron bar. And the bars made in USA don’t have similar features but cost alot more. Among the two cheaper chinese-made bars, I would reckon that the Sqmize bar it most comparable to the Fitron bar in regards to features and functionality, but it only costs 50€ less than the Fitron bar.

Conclusion

I highly recommend this bar if you are looking for a high quality made-in-Europe Cambered Swiss Bar. I do not currently see any similar bars available that offer a higher price-to-quality rating. The only other comparable Cambered Swiss Bar by Wolverson Fitness that is significantly cheaper than the Fitron Bar also has significantly less features.

But if the price is too much for your current budget, and you do not mind an imported product with less X-factor, I would look at the SQMIZE® OB82 SWB-RC, SQMIZE® OB78 SWB-NB or the Wolverson fitness bar. The Sqmize bars are really budget friendly and will propably work just fine for most people, but be aware of their very low weight, which can be a safety hazard in regards to the bar tilting to one side in the rack. Therefore, if you want a heavier, cheap and imported bar, you should probably look at the Wolverson Fitness bar.