Crafting an Eleiko Barbell
Inside the Eleiko Barbell – where strength begins.
Since 1957, Eleiko has crafted the world's finest barbells — trusted on the biggest stages at leading competitions and training facilities. What does it take to make a barbell worthy of world records and lifetime warranties? Let's take you inside the process.
Built in Sweden Since 1957
Every Eleiko bar is designed, engineered, and assembled in-house at our headquarters in Halmstad, Sweden. Decades of innovation and hands-on expertise deliver bars that exceed the demands of world-class athletes.
Each bar is crafted for specific lifting styles. Performance traits are tuned to weightlifting, powerlifting, or hybrid general strength training. The knurling grip, steel flex under load, and sleeve rotation work in harmony, delivering control, connection, and confidence in every lift.
1. It All Begins with Eleiko Steel™
Our proprietary Eleiko Steel™ forms the core of our bars. This clean Swedish steel delivers strength and flexibility, developed over decades with our partner and sustainable steel leader, Ovako.
Key Performance Specs:
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97% recycled Swedish steel
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80% lower carbon footprint than global steel average
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236,000 PSI tensile strength
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478 HB shaft hardness
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Diameter tolerance IT6 (13μm)
The steel is rolled, heat-treated, quenched, and tempered before becoming a bar. This ensures clean, consistent, mechanically sound core material. Every batch is tested, scanned, and inspected to meet our rigorous requirements.
We use distinct diameters to fine-tune each bar for specific demands — whip for dynamic Olympic lifts or stiffness for max-effort powerlifting.
After quality control at Ovako, steel rods are shipped to our Halmstad facility, where transformation begins.
2. Cut, Machined, and Measured
Precision starts here. Rods are cut to size, machined at both ends for sleeve assembly, then laser-checked for straightness.
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Cut to length for 15 kg or 20 kg bars
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Machined at both ends for sleeve assembly
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Laser-checked and straightened to ultra-tight tolerances
Every bar starts on a perfectly calibrated foundation — critical for knurling accuracy, sleeve fit, and performance.
3. Refined Knurling. Grip You Can Trust.
Knurling is where the lifter meets the bar. It’s crucial for comfort, control, and confidence. Our knurling blends skilled craftsmanship with decades of athlete feedback to strike the ideal balance between grip and comfort.
Four distinct knurling styles:
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1.0 Standard: All-round volcano-shaped pattern for high-volume training.
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1.2 Training: Moderately sharp pyramid pattern for weightlifting training.
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1.2 Competition: Sharp pyramid pattern for competitive weightlifting.
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1.5 Power: Pronounced volcano pattern for maximum grip during powerlifting.
Knurling is applied by CNC lathe after verifying shaft straightness. We strictly control revolutions, tool placement and pressure. Die sharpness is closely monitored; our hardened steel means our tools change often.
4. DN3 Chrome™. For performance that lasts.
Durability starts at the surface. After knurling, bar shafts undergo our DN3 Chrome™ surface treatment, a two-layer process featuring an elastic base and a thin layer of trivalent chrome.
The base layer enhances performance and durability, protecting against corrosion. The trivalent chrome adds a hard, smooth, polished finish. The ultra-thin protective chrome layer preserves the sharpness of the knurling. This is why Eleiko bars maintain their performance and appearance through years of heavy use.
5. Sleeve Design and Manufacturing
A barbell’s sleeve isn’t just where the plates go — it’s where many of the bar’s most important performance features live. Rotation, load handling, and training durability all depend on sleeve design.
We take a holistic approach, combining three key systems:
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Flange Geometry shapes structural integrity and lifting experience
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Optimal Rotation System™ delivers lift-specific spin
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Sleeve Protection System seals against dust, chalk, and moisture
These elements work together to create sleeves that not only elevate your lifting experience — but protect the bar’s performance for a lifetime of lifting.
Flange Geometry
The flange affects stress handling, plate loading, and drop survival. We tailor the flange width and shape by bar type to improve fatigue tolerance and facilitate easier plate handling.
Tailored by Discipline
Each bar has a flange design suited to its use:
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Weightlifting Bars feature medium-width flanges, matching IWF regulations for competition use.
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Powerlifting Bars have our slimmest flanges, allowing more plate space and shifting the load inward for added bar control and stiffness.
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Hybrid and Performance Bars use the widest flanges in our range — providing extra clearance for racks and rigs, and maximum fatigue resistance where drops are frequent.
Force Redistribution System™
Our design extends bar life by reducing stress on critical areas inside the sleeve — where damage is most likely to occur during drops.
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Moved the centre of mass closer to flange end of the sleeve
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Used shorter shafts and modified flange shapes
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Designed self-locking screw sleeve system for axial strength
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Integrated patent-pending Dual Lock System with dustproof seals
Result: quieter, more secure lifting with bars engineered to last and backed by a lifetime warranty.
Optimal Rotation System™
Sleeve rotation is a defining trait of a barbell and the Eleiko Feeling. Our Optimal Rotation System™ ensures smooth, controlled spin calibrated for your discipline.
Bearing Construction: Drawn cup closed needle roller bearings provide responsive rotation for explosive Olympic lifts. Hardened steel inner race protects against wear.
Bushing Construction: Self-lubricating graphite-infused bronze bushings deliver stable rotation for heavy squats and presses, minimising instability under extreme loads.
Dual Construction: Strategic combination of needle bearings and bronze bushings provides adaptive rotation for both Olympic and powerlifting movements.
Sleeve Protection Keeps Dirt Out.
Patent-pending design seals and protects sleeves for minimal maintenance and optimal performance. Specialised grease and components lock in with dustproof seals that block moisture, dirt, and debris. The stainless-steel end cap, secured by our dual lock system, keeps everything tight, quiet, and secure.
Sleeve Manufacturing
The sleeve and flange are manufactured in-house with Swedish steel from Ovako. Steel tubes of different sizes are cut into sleeve and flange parts, then machined to the right geometries inside and out. A robot welds the pieces together and fine-tunes the sleeve details, after which they are sent for our DN3 Chrome™ surface treatment.
Once back from the surface treatment, the Optimal Rotation System™ components — whether bushings, bearings or dual construction — are pressed into place inside the sleeve.
6. Final Assembly and Quality Control
Once shafts and sleeves return from chroming and the Optimal Rotation System™ components are fitted, it's time to hand-assemble each bar by skilled craftspeople in our Halmstad headquarters.
All the components are weighed to make sure the specified weight tolerance is met. A special grease is applied to keep the moving parts lubricated and the rotation smooth. Finally, we place the last barrier in our sleeve protection system – the stainless steel endcaps. The builder signs their name on the tag to verify the meticulous production. It is then handed off to Quality Control.
Quality Assurance
Each Eleiko bar undergoes a meticulous quality assurance process. We conduct visual inspections, precise weight calibrations, and verification of knurling consistency, sleeve rotation, and radial and axial play.
Every bar receives a unique serial number for full traceability to its steel batch. It’s signed by the Eleiko craftsperson who built the bar and the technician who performed the quality checks.
Only bars that pass every test move on to final packaging.
7. Final Touches – Prepared for Delivery
From Our Hands to Yours
Once the bar passes final quality checks, careful packaging ensures the bar arrives in perfect condition.
Each bar is:
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Slipped into a corrosion-resistant protective bag
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Accompanied by its manual, wrapped securely around the sleeve
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A bar brush is included for barbell care
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Boxed and sealed for shipment
The manual includes essential information — including care, use, service, and warranty — as well as access to exclusive training resources from the Eleiko Education Team.
For a lifetime of lifting
Every component is carefully selected and designed to enhance the bar’s durability and performance. Swedish steel's inherent purity and our precision design choices minimise fatigue, extending the lifespan of the bar while delivering the ultimate lifting experience — The Eleiko Feeling™.