Bumper Plates And Oly Platform

[Introspective]

Does anyone know where i can get good value for money bumper plates and an olympic lifting platform, i couldnt find 1 website that is uk based (typical) so i will have to buy from america.

 

[beerdrinker]

Does anyone know where i can get good value for money bumper plates and an olympic lifting platform, i couldnt find 1 website that is uk based (typical) so i will have to buy from america.

I can't imagine the shipping costs for something like that. Good luck.

 

[super_rice]

you will pay out the ass in shipping.

i'm sure you can order bumpers from somewhere in europe or find a club, then build your own platform.

do not buy a platform - build it.

 

[Guinness5.0]

Platform:

http://www.ironmind.com/ironcms/export/IronMind/Main/homesweathome6.html

 

[Introspective]

I baught a pair of 15kg bumpers from a uk site, but the holes are slightly 2 big for the bar, if i put the plates on my oly bar i can move the bar up and down a little inside the plates, and it effects my lifts. So i won't be buying those again. I don't know of any outher uk site that sells bumpers, apart from a site that sells eliko's at a stupid price.

As for building my own platform, i was thinking about it. I read some intructions before, but i don't have any tools at all, and thought i would have to buy tools and shit to build my own platform. Like bolting the platforms together, wouldn't i need some kind of special drill and bolts for that ?

Thanks for the reply's

 

[anotherbutters]

I got my bumper plates from here (they're based in north London):

http://www.worldofhealthandleisure.co.uk/

Dirt cheap and the tolerances would give any engineer a heart attack, but the bigger plates generally weigh more than the smaller ones . They do rattle a bit on the bar, but I've never really noticed whilst working out. I can't imagine being put off by them.

For the platform, I bought two 2m x 1m rubber mats from the above place and four 8'x4' sheets of 1/2" thick rough plywood from a builder's yard. Lay two sheets of ply on the floor side by side, put the other two sheets on top in the other direction, then just screw them all together (if you're short on tools, just hammer the screws in to get them started instead of drilling pilot holes). Lay the mats on top (they don't move) and hey presto. I also cut the wood down to match the size of the matting, but if you're short on tools and have the space, I wouldn't bother.

If you really want to get creative, you could get one rubber mat, cut it in half along its length and run a piece of nice polished ply down the middle. But that doesn't sound like you somehow

Hope that helps.

 

[Introspective]

But that doesn't sound like you somehow

Ile have you know i take great pride im my craftsmanship

Thanks for the info, My problem with the plate holes being 2 big is that when im doing say powercleans, i have to pull the bar up so it touches the top part of the hole in the plates, and then when i clean the weight i'm thinking maybe im losing momentum/power because there is that extra push pull effect with the plates moving up and down on the bar as i am cleaning. i can unmistakably tell the difference when using 1 of my regular tight fitting plates.

About that link you posted, i have seen that site before, but it just said rubber coated plates and not bumper plates so i left the site. I have seen outher sites advertising rubber coated plates that look like oly plates with the different colours and all but they where in fact just normal plates with a rubber coating, is this the case with these plates from that site you posted or are they in fact purpose built bumpers ?

That's some good info on the home made oly platform, i think i might have to give it a try, how well does yours work. Does it reduce much noise ? is it easey on your bar, plates and floor ?

Cheers

 

[anotherbutters]

I'd just read 'rubber coated plate' as meaning bumper plate. They're sealed units. It's not as though it's just a rubber wrapper around a regular plate. Ok, so the cheaper ones might not stand up to the abuse of dumping the bar 100's of times that Eleiko plates would, but it's not something I'd worry about to be honest.

That said, I've never dumped the bar from shoulder height because I work out at home and don't want to scare the crap out of the neighbours. The platform doesn't really reduce noise, since it's tough, sturdy rubber. It would be quieter not to use it and workout on carpet, but then you don't have a solid underfoot and you'll just ruin the carpet. The plates themselves are quieter than iron plates because they don't clang around, which is my main reason for buying them (and they're pretty colours ).

I bought the cheapest plates I could find from that site. The front page shows the blue ones. Mine just don't have the writing on. Once they're on the bar, there's only about 2-3mm clearance in there. It sounds like you've a lot more than that.

 

[Introspective]

Naa there is a big difference between rubber plate and bumper plate, i have rubber coated plates myself. Those blue 1's on the front page of the link you gave are just regular oly plates with a rubber coating. dropping normal rubber coated plates from a height will just damage equipment.

I did an extensive search last night and found this link
http://www.optimafitness.co.uk/ishop/1025/shopscr268.html
These are propper bumpers, and are more realistically priced than eliko, ivanko and so on. Featuring a "nice Hardened Chrome Bar Tested 700kg"

I think you convinced me to build my own platform, how much did the plywood cost ?

 

[Introspective]

I made some simple diagrams to show a home made platform. See what you all think.

http://img285.imageshack.us/img285/5706/platformrender12qd.jpg
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/3161/platformrender21wc.jpg
http://img285.imageshack.us/img285/8600/platformrender32xk.jpg

Is this basically how your average platform is made up ?

 

[Introspective]

I guess those links don't work, here's a working link
http://www.freewebs.com/introssite/

 

[anotherbutters]

Wow, did you create those diagrams? They look pretty professional!

Yes, that's how they platforms are made. Mine's the same except my rubber matting covers the whole surface - I didn't really think about it. The cheap ply I bought was £72 for 4 sheets.

The Hampton plates sound damned expensive, but obviously much better than the cheap stuff I bought. Ask them if you can get a specific combination of weights rather than go for one of their standard packages. I did that at World of Health and Leisure and got 200kg of the rubber coated plates for £264 (no bar).

 

[Introspective]

Yea i created those diagrams, made with 3ds max 6 and v-ray. It's 3d software as the name suggests, i just modeld some basic boxes and added texture's i found through google.

Once the garage get's cleared out i will hopefully be moving my weights into there, and building a long awaited platform. Sounds like you got a reasonable deal with the wood i heard it isn't cheap.

Your right about the plates being expensive. And they are pretty much bottom of the range bumpers. I got an e-mail today from ivanko uk, sending me a price list. They where selling platforms for over £2000 and bars for over 600. 20kg bumpers over 150 each.

I was thinking about selling my bar and bumpers (the bumpers that have gigantic holes) to put towards the hampton set.
But if that doesn't work out i will ask them if i can buy plates on thier own.

Thanks for helping AB

 

[rickexf]

Does anyone know where i can get good value for money bumper plates and an olympic lifting platform, i couldnt find 1 website that is uk based (typical) so i will have to buy from america.

Hi, My company supplies oly platforms (any size) with either full matted top, or wooden inserts. We also supply ZKC oly plates, (training and competition) these weights are IFW approved and are cheap!!! We are a UK based company! You can find details on my web site www.exf-fitness.com