Kabuki Strength Kadillac Bar Review
Last updated on April 5th, 2024 at 09:39 am
I love me some specialty bars. When I first started buying them it was more of a “look at that shiny thing I WANT IT” purchase than truly buying a bar to address a need in my space. The good news is, I’m a bit smarter today than I used to be. The good news for all of you, is I’m still willing to snag a bar I don’t need at a good price. The Kabuki Kadillac Bar, like most of what Kabuki offers, is fairly expensive.
Key Notes
The Kabuki Strength Kadillac Bar is a premium bar at a premium price. I struggle to justify that price though. And I don’t think EVERYONE should use a cambered bar for bench.
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A premium product at a premium price. Since I already have a multi grip bar in my Edge Fitness Systems Football Bar, buying a new multi grip bar for almost $500 plus shipping and tax was just not going to happen. Then one day I found one for sale. About $300 listed and on my way to the airport where I was headed anyway. Guy met me at my destination, I paid him, and went about my day with a new bar. Barely used, he had bought it and decided he liked dumbbells better. Sweet!
In this review I will attempt to paint my experiences with the Kabuki Strength Kadillac Bar, compare it to my football bar, and make general notes on the pros and cons, and overall if I think the price tag makes sense.
Quick note, I will be reviewing the bar manufactured BY Kabuki. I’ll make notes on the Rogue manufactured bar as well at the end.
Kabuki Strength Kadillac Bar Quick Highlight
The Kabuki Kadillac Bar is a cambered, multi grip bar, primarily used for pressing movements such as bench press, but can also be used for rows, curls, and other options. If this was your ONLY bar, you could do pull-ups, inverted rows, curls, triceps extensions, overhead presses, chest supported rows, and a ton more. I’ll add some notes as we go, but this bar gets used for bench and rows in my gym, so I won’t be digging into the myriad of options for the bar.
The bar weighs 45lbs, which is a win! I hate when bars weigh different amounts.
Grips
The bar has 3 angled grip options. Since you can turn the bar around, and technically use it upside down, this gives you at minimum 3 grip options, realistically 6, and kind of 12. Kabuki thought ahead and emblazoned their logo on ONLY one side of the bar. If you want to use the bar in the most typical fashion (normal below), you just have to remember to have the Kabuki logo facing out (towards your camera) and you are golden.
The handles alongside the body itself has a VERY aggressive powdercoating. This is to give the handles a knurling effect.
The sleeves bolt on to the base of the bar and are plated instead of powercoated. The sleeves do not rotate.
The camber makes each handle grip drop about an inch, with the final handle having the weights still sitting below your hands. The concept is that this keeps the bar more balanced, thus alleviating wrist stability issues.
Why?
If you don’t know much about multi-grip bars… Most people would grab one for:
- Alleviating Shoulder Pain – By allowing you to reduce the rotation needed from a straight bar, some people find there is less shoulder issues when using a bar with angled grips.
- Smashing the Triceps – Oftentimes the wider flaired grip hits the pecs, and the closer neutral grip hammers the triceps. You can also leverage the closer grips to multiply that effect on the triceps.
- Training Variation – Different options to lift with due to the handles can open up new gains, alleviate boredom, reduce straights from overuse, and more.
Lets dig in.
Kabuki Strength Kadillac Bar Knurling
My edge bar doesn’t have knurling. I don’t really care except for rows. Or at least, I didn’t. I typically strap up for rows. But for bench, at least in a multi grip situation, I never felt like I was missing something until I used the Kadillac Bar for a few blocks, then hopped back to the Football bar.
I found my hand wanting to rotate out of place with the football bar. Now, a quick use of some chalk and this pretty much entirely alleviates the problem, but the Kadillac Bar certainly takes a W for the “knurling” on the handles.
With the Kadi, I appreciate the knurling effect of the powdercoat, but I’m not a fan of how they did it. It is SO aggressive that I’ve had the bar cut me multiple times. Once when trying to get it against my wall, and multiple times unracking it, storing it, and in general trying to move it to use it. Seriously, the ENTIRE frame of the bar is “knurled” with what is basically really pissed off truck bed liner.
Is That Good?
On a bar that claims to be PREMIUM, this feels like a miss. I understand that they wanted knurling, but I’m shocked they couldn’t find a solution that allowed knurl in the right places and not the wrong places. The ideal solution would be to knurl the handles and not the body itself, but obviously that requires a different manufacturing process (more on that later).
The knurling is so aggressive my wife won’t use the bar. And my daughter calls it the scratchy bar. Saying that, I’ve talked to a few people who love it. Something gnarly about using it, feeling it, that makes you feel like a beast. I guess it is like having an aggressive knurl bar… you either like it, or don’t.
So, consider how aggressive you like your knurling and whether this fits your tastes.
Camber
When I’ve struggled with some pec insertion pain, the camber on the Kabuki Strength Kadillac Bar was terrible. It made things worse because the extra ROM put more stress on an area that was already pissed off.
When I’ve benched with it and I didn’t have those pains, it was great. More pec stimulation, things felt good, no complaints. Again, I’ve talked to people about this and it seems the consensus is the same. If you have active shoulder and pec issues that arise from bench when lower in the ROM, i.e., off the chest, you may want to skip this bar entirely. If you don’t, you’ll likely be ready to rock.
Good Of Camber
What is nice about the camber, is that it makes the lift more difficult. From a training perspective, you are put at a disadvantaged angle and position, with extra ROM, and the weight on the bar is gonna be significantly lower than a straight bar. At least at first. Once you overcome this, get stronger, adapt, you’ll go back to a straight bar and feel like you are doing half reps. Seriously, that extra inch or so is a MONSTER requirement.
One thing you’ll likely find, is that the bar tends to ROLL on you. The camber wants to lay down essentially. Once you get the weights loaded, it TENDS to not roll as much. But with less than a couple of plates you are going to want to wait your turn for that bar to roll before sitting up. Otherwise, you might literally die.
The camber is a HUGE improvement over the football bar for rows. The football bar you tend to run into yourself with the bar, the camber makes that not happen. The camber for curls is a little awkward in my opinion. If you are buying one of these bars for the sake of not owning an EZ Curl Bar, a standard Football Bar fits better in my opinion. The camber puts the weights off center compared to your wrists. Not inherently bad, just awkward. For pull-ups and other options, the camber is going to help the bar not wander and shake as much.
Sleeves
Plated sleeves are in theory a better solution than powdercoating. People often complain about the powdercoat being stripped off their bar from continued use of the plates. In my experience that is overplayed, in some instances. I have a Rogue log and the powder coat is shit. The bar is banged up and chipping all over.
My Rogue Trap Bar had similar issues. I have several bars from Edge Fitness Systems and the powdercoat isn’t perfect but far from bad. And taking a look at the plating on the Kabuki, its not exactly perfect either. I’ll still give the nod to the plated sleeves, but I don’t value that as much as others seem to.
You can see where the shaft of my bar is falling apart. Some claim this is a warranty issue. Unfortunately with a used bar, I doubt it. So even plated sleeves can have some issues overtime.
The sleeves are ribbed, which is a hot topic to debate. I personally do not like ribbed sleeves. I find my plates fall off easier, make more noise, and leave behind more mess with ribbed. Not a deal breaker, just one of those things.
Length
This is one that has been lightly talked about over the years. One garage gym reviewer mentioned that the bar was too wide. As soon as he did that, ANOTHER reviewer said it worked just fine. The bad news is, the first guy was right in my experience.
Kabuki caters to highly competitive powerlifters. Many are going to lift out of Combo Racks and competition benches. Getting a bar into one of those is easy. But getting the Kabuki bar in and out of a power rack? That is a workout in itself. The bar is as long as a traditional power bar, with the added cumbersome of the camber, with the previously noted dangerously aggressive knurling. Prepare to either scratch yourself or your rack or maim a child in getting the bar into place, and then back again. Double this with a garage gym that can often be tight on space.
The bar being as wide as it is, is also very wide in the frame of the bar. Meaning there is an extremely small amount of room between the bar and your jcups. We are talking less than half an inch on my 2×3 rack. A 3×3 rack I’m almost positive you’d have even less.
Damage
The issue here is mostly around damage to your equipment. I used the Kadi the day after putting my newly painted JCups on my rack. I spent two weeks prepping, painting, and curing them for use. And in one day the Kadi scratched one of them.
The Kadi has also scratched my Mutant Metals Snap Back Rollers. Same issue, you rerack and if you are a little off center, boom! New battle wound on your equipment.
Now I’m not one to complain about things getting beat up in use. It is gym equipment, made of steel and iron, that I’m tossing around for fun. But when something is needlessly damaging my equipment, its a little annoying. I’ve been told to flip my JCups so the inside cup is on the outside. This works, kind of, but I guarantee you I won’t remember every time. And it isn’t something you can do on the Snap Backs.
Big Loss here.
Other Options
When the Kabuki Strength Kadillac Bar first came out it was competing against mostly some basic multi grip bars. The only cambered options came from EliteFTS and some small shops like Black Widow Training Gear. But today? There are a ton of different options. Bells of Steel has the Arch Nemesis Bar, StrayDog Strength has their Multi-Grip Cambered Bar, and a number of others have made bars that look a LOT like the Kadi. Others are making similar bars without the camber, some are making modifications to the camber, and Rogue has their adjustable handle version. So several years ago the Kadi had no competition, now it does, making the decision a little more difficult.
Rogue
Ok, lets talk about Rogue. Rogue is now making the Kadillac Bar. There are a couple of options in the sleeve finish, but the MAJOR design change from what I can see is around the body of the bar, specifically the powdercoat and knurling. Rogue was able to do what I noted above, and give the handles some knurling, while keeping the body of the bar a flat powder coat. No more issues in the scratched arm department. But take a look at this product photo on Rogue’s site:
Look at the clearance the bar has compared to the rack and j-cup! Even in their product demo shots, they can’t manage to make that any better. Say goodbye to your pretty rack finish!
To be fair, here is the full view. There is a LITTLE more room… but not much.
I think the Rogue design is better, because it addresses one of my big concerns with the bar, but leaving the length and size issues alone is frustrating to me. Again, miss!
Here is an excellent side by side from my dude HomeGymGear on Instagram showing the two bars.
Final Notes
I believe I addressed every individual piece of the bar, including the updated design, but let’s look at it overall.
The Kabuki Strength Kadillac Bar is overall a very aesthetically pleasing bar. The package as a whole comes together from the end cap, to the cut-out Kabuki logo, to each and every cut, weld, nut and bolt. Standing back and admiring the bar on the wall, it POPS in a way my fully powder coated bars do not.
There is something that pulls me to the Kadi. I’m not sure if it is the bar itself. If it is that each piece (for the most part), is slightly better than the Edge Fitness Football bar. Or maybe its a newer shinier toy? I’m not sure yet. Something about it makes me want to use it more often. I think that’s probably the best thing I can say about any piece of gym equipment. I want to use it.
Biggest Complaint
My biggest complaint with the bar, is that the very premium price point, to me, doesn’t carry over to a perfect bar. Maybe my expectations are too high? Maybe Kabuki’s advertising set them too high? I see a lot of people give the bar OUTSTANDING feedback. I can see why, but I’m shocked we don’t see more of the criticisms. Not because it is a bad bar, but because constructive criticism is what makes improvements, and I think there is room for improvement here. I think the biggest point Rogue should address is the re-racking issue with the width. Knowing that they addressed the powdercoat/knurling piece is solid.
YOU Decide
I think what all of this boils down to, is that YOU have to decide what YOU want in your gym. If you need the best bar without question, buying one of the premium multi grip bars is going to be your best bet. The Rogue MG or the Kadi are likely at the top of that list. American Made, premium parts, aesthetics on point, with the best bells and whistles we have available today.
If you want a multi grip bar and just want it to be functional, the finer details aren’t important, and an extra $300 in your pocket makes sense to you, then do that. The minor differences for me, especially if you aren’t a monster bencher, don’t add up to $300. But that is typically how it works in any field. The budget, basic, get the job done is your most bang for your buck.
You’ll get 90% of the features and function, for 50% of the price. You want that last 10%? You’ll pay the remainder of the 50%. And that is exactly what the Kabuki Kadillac Bar is. It sits at the top of the house with few competitors for the best Multi Grip Bar available (and all of those are just as expensive).
Summary
I can sum it up like this. I’m glad I got the Kabuki Kadillac Bar, but I’m really glad I got it at a deal. Because I wouldn’t personally be paying the retail price. I plan to keep the bar, because I enjoy it, and I enjoy it over my Football Bar, but FOR ME the premium price doesn’t jive. Does it for you?
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Joe Gray
My name is Joe Gray - aka Gray Matter Lifting - and I've been lifting at home since 2013. In that time I've built a badass gym, deadlifted over 600lbs, helped grow r/Homegym to over 1 Million subscribers, created the Garage Gym Competition and written a ton of posts here on this site. I love the Garage Gym Community... If you do too, I hope you stick around.
