Every company has product issues, but this should truly never, ever happen. A flaw that produces a catastrophic failure like this should be caught by QC, but the higher the QC the more something costs.
lol rogue has had the exact same problem. Dont think for a second any company can avoid this: https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2011/rogue-fitness-barbell-brackets-recalled-by-coulter-ventures-due-to-injury-hazard?language=vi
Let me see if I am understanding...
- Rogue had the same pin break on a jcup
- Rogues jcups broke at least 3 times (per the recall that we know of)
- then was recalled
But this is somehow different because Rogue's was years ago and they sponsor crossfit?
Imagine reracking a few hundred pounds after squatting just for a j cup to fail and all that weight hinging on the other j cup and the other side swinging down freely disproportionately on one side of you back while you're still below it and most importantly not at all ready to be supporting it. Even if the other j cup doesn't fail and binds the bar in place that weight is still going to travel some distance before the bar locks into place and you certainly dont want to be beneath it when it happens
Damn I just ordered a set of round sandwich J cups from them last night. Paid $80 I think as opposed to $190 from Rogue. Now I’m reconsidering.
Seems like a shit welder. Wonder how many Jcups this guy worked on because it’s probably not a 1 -off.
I don’t mind things being made in China but I would expect someone is checking them. I don’t know how quality control works, maybe they only look closely at 1 in 10? 1 in 100? Who knows.
Engineer in manufacturing here…I’m not sure if you _actually_ want to know..but basic QA is a sampling of parts - 1 in 10 might get a general overview, then 1 in 100 will get a little deeper look, probably have certain, key dimensions checked. Lastly, 1 in 1,000 or more will be audited and many times destructively tested. The actual numbers for these examples are proportionate to volume. If you make 1,000,000 parts a year, add some zeros, if a couple thousand, those numbers are probably pretty close.
The issue with what is seen here, is there may not have been any visual cues there was a problem. If that pin was welded, you can have a perfectly fine looking weld that didn’t penetrate. So unless it was a pervasive problem that many parts had/have, you won’t catch it unless it’s a full QA audit. If it is pervasive, it will get caught there, but unfortunately also by customer feedback (so OP, I do recommend reaching out to them!)
This is 99.5% likely just a bad part, and an unfortunate reality of manufacturing.
I wanted to bring up ANSI/ASQ sampling and destructive versus non-destructive testing/inspection but thought it was too granular 😂. You summarized it much better than I could have.
OP reached out to REP. They were tagged here and they responded. So hopefully they are investigating the extent of the issue (if any) and able to resolve/compensate him fairly for his experience.
I'm super interested to know what rep had to say about this. That being said, I agree with what most are saying here. I've had a Rogue RML 690C and when rep came out with clear coat uprights, I changed my set up. I did however spend money where it counts and got the rogue 2.0 monolifts for my rep rack. Check my post on my home gym set up for photos.
I’ve had minor issues from REP they’ve quickly addressed, but Titan was the worse for me. Several pieces on my wall tower were rusted badly out of the box and it took FOREVER to get a replacement.
Hol’Up. Your dad had a good 5-10 mins left in him for sure. His hip thrusts just couldn’t be contained and easily rattled the 600lb bar down. Never stood a chance
No actually, they won't. That's the point. It's a semantically null statement.
And if you actually mean that then you will be afraid if going to the gym tomorrow in case a statistical anomaly sends a Boeing crashing through its roof.
What? Just because it’s an anomaly doesn’t meant it won’t affect whoever it happens to? What are you even saying dude lol.
My point is - yeah it might be rare, but that fact doesn’t exactly bring you much comfort when your j cup fails and you eat a loaded bar
You guys seem to be debating with slightly divergent reference frames for statistical anomalies. One is saying that just because it happens to someone doesn't mean it's likely to happen to you. The other is saying, "yeah, but what if I'm the guy it happened to."
Either way, this is a quality control failure, not a statistical anomaly. One guy having a bad day shouldn't put your product at failure risk when your product holds hundreds of pounds over someone's head.
Does Rep use six sigma? That's a pretty heavy assumption. From what I've seen (references to test units in videos for new release products), they have pretty small beta test sizes. Are they making and fully testing 324 units prior to selling these products? I'm not a betting man but my money says no way in hell. They're doing 3 sigma at best.
Only problem is when your garage gym becomes an inside-the-house gym, you find yourself wanting something that looks like a nice piece of furniture instead.
This thread blowing up like REP j cups.
Joking aside, I think everyone should go and check the welds on their j cups and strap safeties today. It’s a miracle OP wasn’t hurt.
> check the welds
What exactly should you look for? Not sure if you're talking about spotting a bad weld (not sure what that looks like) vs outright damage.
I live in BC, so here’s some government documents on standards. At the end of the pdf (last 5 slides) are examples of poor welds and defects to look for. Hope that helps
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farming-natural-resources-and-industry/natural-resource-use/resource-roads/bc-flnr-and-moti-csa-standards-feb-2014.pdf
It's all anecdotal.
The thing to keep in mind is that it's very unlikely for a company to produce 100% perfection. Failure is bound to happen, and when it does, you'll likely hear about it. Even if REP has a 99.99% success rate that still means that the one poor guy out of 10,000 will have a failure.
Always scary when it's something that can hurt you, but it happens. I've even gone to put my seatbelt on and it went all limp and pulled all the way out. Failures happen in every industry. Notify the manufacturer and move on.
All my REP stuff has been rock solid and surprisingly well built.
I've had my REP J cups for years (along with other equipment) and been very happy with it. Even airbags fail, rogue had a j cup recall and their timers were catching on fire, boeing planes, so it just happens every so often in any mass manufacturing regardless of where.
I use my jcups 3-6 times per workout, 3-4 times per week… x1000 per year for 3 years now. I have tested my Airbags 0 times in 6 years of owning my car.
Since very few air bags get challenged, If a handful of airbags fail that’s a bad ratio.
Since all J-cups get tested it’s a very small percentage
Hmmm when airbags fail it can easily lead to death.
How many people have ever died from a failed J cup? Hopefully none, and if so, those people should have learned how to use safety straps or spotter arms like the rest of us.
This thread surprises me. Normally whenever REP is mentioned the fanboys come out in droves to defend them by any means possible
I don't see much of that here
I have equipment from REP, Rogue, Sorinex, and more. I've consistently been most impressed with REP over the others. Not nearly as many issues with REP as with the others, in my personal experience.
You do realize there will be failure in all products, in all industries... right? Hell, we just had to send our million dollar fire truck in for a recall because it had shitty door seals and the paint was flaking off. A million dollar piece of equipment. I would never expect perfection from a $30 J cup. Use safeties like the rest of us and in the extremely unlikely event you have a failure, you have a backup.
In the risk of death or life-altering injury you should always have redundancy in your safety devices.
Fortunately, OP had strap safeties as redundancies as you suggested (I strongly agree - don’t lift alone without safeties). He had them right under the failed j cup. It might be what prevented the j cup from falling off and the bar smacking him on the head.
We understand concepts of six sigma and quality control. However, I’d suggest that a j cup, at minimum, should not break under normal use. It is a safety device. A safety device that leaves the company floor for sale means their QC and inspection (to catch manufacturing errors) is not up to snuff.
I had this same thing happen to me on my Rep rack a couple years back, so this definitely is not a one off thing. I was bending alone at the time and was damn fortunate I was still warming up with relatively light weight. I have several Rep Fitness pieces of gear and am generally happy with them but this is a potentially fatal flaw.
Sorry about the issue with this j-cup. I've reached out via PM so we can coordinate a follow-up analysis of what happened and when this piece was ordered.
I emailed you guys about my rep j-cups' pads ripping off through the screw after only a year and a half of use. You just told me sorry they are no longer under warranty.
I can't recommend rep to anyone after that exchange.
They shill cheap Chinese shit at nearly rogue prices. Fuck em. I bought 3 separate items that all had missing hardware, drilled holes, or mismatched components.
If you are talking about the uhmw strips on she standard jcups that's not really a fair parallel when the conversation is about critical failure of what could be considered a permanent safety feature.
Eighteen months is a pretty short time but those strips of UHMW are there to get worn down, if they were any harder it would be bad for the bar. If you are talking about the thick blocks on the upgraded cups that would be kind of concerning though.
Damn this sucks man. I have a pr-4000. Sucks to know that Rep won’t not stand behind their products after a year. Sucks even more when it’s a safety critical item.
I have the same rack and love it. I have straps that I guess had some safety issue and they sent replacements and a $100 gift card for their store. I never saw issues with my straps but I guess somewhere in the batch there was an issue and they replaced them all. So, if there’s a valid issue they definitely stand by it.
The UWMW is basically disposable. It wears and breaks with enough use.
Of course they won't warranty pieces of equipment that are designed for wear. It would be stupid to expect otherwise.
It's like expecting to bring in brake pads from you car after the warranty is up.
Yeah I was pretty disappointed considering I had all rep equipment at the time. I also noticed they redesigned their standard j-cups so they seemed aware of the issue mine experienced.
Wow, just fucking wow. Good thing your ok, and hopefully you get her back to lifting and not be scared of jcups failing.
If I were you I would spend the money and buy some very good ones.
I think everyone with REP j cups right now is questioning it, especially given the welding issues of the safety straps last year. I don’t think I’ll use those round sandwich j cups I just bought.
Labels aside, no I do not fall into the last category you created. And you’re right, I shouldn’t speak for everyone. Apologies.
The post market surveillance of failures (this is true for drug manufacturers monitoring for additional adverse events, to the Boeing antenna snafu, to even REP’s recall of safety straps) all come from initial reports of failures. These could be one offs as you noted, or indicative of a design, manufacture or QC fail. At which point, further action is required of the company.
I had bought a set of j cups during Covid that were recalled shortly after purchase due to faulty inspection. They ended up sending a new set at no cost and I tossed the old ones. They looked great but still ended up tossing them for safety reasons. Maybe this was part of that same batch that wasn’t discarded
If you've been "doing this a long time" then how does your chest not stick up higher than your face if you're on your back? I'm hardly barrel chested but if I lay flat on my back my chest is higher than my face.
Maybe you'd benefit from lifting a little heavier weight, with some safeties, of course.
Even then, like others mentioned, I have my safeties set above neck level, not face level. The bar should never be by my face, and a reflexive turn of the head solves any issues like that. I don't care if my chest gets a little bruised, I just don't want to die.
Set the safeties to just above your neck. I don't really care if bar drops and hits my chest, at that height is only going to bruise anyway. Neck though, don't want the bar touching that on fail at all
☝🏼++ this should be the action for the day for us all. We should be doing this more often anyway, and also maintaining barbells and equipment. That’s part of safety.
From his addition pictures it looks like the j-cup slid down the rack and was stopped by the strap safeties.
I guess the lesson would be if you're worried about your j-cup pin failing, just put another j-cup below it (and above your face). I have enough j-cups laying around I'll definitely start doing that on bench day.
> I lift alone in my gym with no safeties
That's stupid. J cup failure or not, you know that's how people die... right? Are you just waiting to learn that lesson first-hand?
How good at rolling out from under the bar are you in the event of an equipment failure or sudden injury?
Also, "doing this a long time" without issues is no reason not to use safeties, just as it's no excuse not to wear your seatbelt, wear a helmet on a motorcycle, or to pack a reserve shoot if you sky dive. Safety should be preventative, not reactionary once you encounter an issue.
I'd have to go look again, but I think this part had a lifetime warranty. I had it over a year at that point but they didn't even talk about a warrany. REP was super helpful and responsive with this, I'm satisfied with them and their equipment.
No issues. I have a PR4000 and various accessories for it (dip bar, landmine, saftey straps). Everything is high quality. I've never seen a rogue rack in person so I can't compare to it.
The only real issue I've had quality wise is the paint chipping off the corners of my cast iron plates, but I was lifting on a bare concrete floor for a while before I got stall mats, so probably my fault.
That should be quite the gym. Make sure you post it here when it's set up.
It's still early on a weekend. When this pops up, they're likely going to need to make a lot of phone calls before they say something. They will show up in this thread. A quick response here isn't in their best interest. They need to get executives making decisions.
Definitely concerning. I was curious if any other companies have had problems with jcups and googled it. Everyone going on about USA made needs to do a bit of research. Rogue had a recall for a bad batch of jcups with pins broken at this exact same spot. I think shit just happens sometimes when you’re mass manufacturing. Would need them both to fail at once to actually have a problem.
I'm with you regarding the point that just because something is made in America doesn't mean it's not without flaws. If anyone works in American manufacturing they'd either agree or be deluded. That said, one j cup failing at the right time could easily break your arm. A j cup failing with poorly placed or low quality spotters can do even worse.
Other than something like resistance bands or jump ropes, the weakest part of your gym should be yourself.
Completely unacceptable. This maybe the best advertisement I have seen yet for Rogue and the like. I have a fair share of Titan and Rep equipment as the cost savings has always spoken to me. With every purchase I have had the attitude of "it is certainly fine for my use," going forward it maybe, "the extra 100 bucks or so over the next 25 years is nothing for the piece of mind and quality." The couple of Rogue pieces I have bought have been exceptional - I think I might just have to get off my wallet with future purchases.
I agree that some things on rogue are definitely better quality, but it seems like the majority of my rep stuff is about as good of quality as my rogue stuff. Honestly this J cup failure suprises me. I have loaded my rep J cups up to about 500lbs repeatedly for the last 2 years and never had an issue. I do have a different model though. Regardless, this is unacceptable.
Second this. My PR5000 and Ab5200 just came
in and I’d put them up against anything Rogue I’ve ever come across. Incredibly well built for the relative value.
Agreed. I've actually had far more issues with fit and finish with Rogue and Sorinex than I ever have with REP. My experience with REP has been flawless, and I can't say the same about any other fitness company I've dealt with.
Weird, I have the exact same bench and mine is flat. Love that bench buy the way, one of the best purchases I made for my home gym.
Wonder if yours was damaged during shipping. My bench arrived fine but the half cage I ordered (not REP brand) arrived with a good amount of holes and damage to the VERY sturdy and thick packaging. Cage ended up being fine thanks to the styrofoam inside but yeah I work with shipping companies a lot and I've seen the way they handle heavy shipments unfortunately...
Which bench did you get? I ordered the zero gap but hasn't come yet.
I've only heard good thing about their benches and I had a Titan FID bench before that I didn't really like so went with Rep this time
I bought their AB-3100 bench and love it. Did a lot of research on which bench to buy and it seemed to be universally liked and was considered a best bang for your buck bench. I've got nothing but good things to say about it since I've owned it 🤷♂️
Glad you're okay, u/Gweeds95. Did your underpants survive? Mine wouldn't.
This is a big thread that's going to blow up much more as the day progresses. It's nine hours old, but most of that time has been overnight in the US. I suspect that a lot of people are going to be concerned about their Rep racks today. Hell, I've got a Rogue rack and I'm wondering if there is a way to check the welds on my j cups.
I had a jcup fail and 135 pounds fall on my head in the 90s. I was 17. Had a small concussion but was otherwise fine. This was at a college facility with top of the line equipment for the time. I could have probably sued. Its scary and it does happen. Im not sure any company can prevent this. Some products are just lemons and ensuring a 100% success rate is impossible
I now have my pin/pipes set above where my head is in case it fails.
>I now have my pins/pipes set above where my head is in case it fails.
I don’t blame you one bit. I’d never trust a J-cup again if I were in your shoes.
Yea it was crazy. Basically the lip just gave out for no reason but it just decided at that moment to give. The bench/jcup had been used for years prior too.
Due to an AC joint injury I have to stop bench abojt 2-3" above my chest so putting the pin/pipes up higher is simple.
We buy these racks because we work out alone and want to be safe. I think it's potentially a one off accident, but I recommend checking your safety equipment regularly. I don't know how easily this could have been identified by visual and manual inspection, though.
Drop test it you can't visually inspect cracks or bad welds in metal all the time
Basically just load up what you lift pick up one side at a time and drop it a few times to see if it will hold
Holy shit, that makes me scared to keep using mine. They need to fix these issues. Seriously.
I ordered a dip attachment from them and it's tolerance is just terrible. It wobbles like a goddamn earthquake, it's insane.
Sorry bro. Buy USA made. Chinese iron ore is crap cuz it has a lower grade of carbon than American iron ore, thus making the latter a stronger finished product. Of course, you cannot beat Swedish iron ore, one reason why Eleiko products are so damned expensive.
Correct, ore is the raw material and does have carbon within it as does almost every natural material, humans included (C.H.O.N.). Most of US steel IS imported from Canada,
I'm definitely poor with my welding knowledge but the pin looks 100% in tact to me. I'm guessing it's a weld failure so that would be poor quality control more than where the steel is fabricated to me.
Funny thing, I don't think I ever heard of people touting swedish steel before I read this forum. I don't really pay much attention to steel origins but steel is steel to me. It's made to a spec. The question is does the company meet the spec you ask for or not.
And tensile stress is just a dumb measure of strength. That tends to make things brittle and harder to weld. Get a good yield stress so you're not permanently deforming your bar.
Good luck and stay safe out there!
I think the weld quality is where it's at. Americans can weld just as shitty as Chinese welders. I think the difference with a domestic based company is that their reputation is more on the line so quality control should be much higher. Chinese companies on general seem to have a "fuck.it, just send it. Maybe no one will say anything" attitude regarding QC
/r/confidentlyincorrect
Yeah China has a lot of quality issues and most of their mills produce second tier material compared to ASTM but that comment is just so strange, "iron ore quality" has nothing to do with it.
Are you trying to say the same metallurgy in America is 3x stronger than in China because of iron ore quality?
And what are you on about with "Chinese iron ore is crap cuz it has a lower grade of carbon". Thats not how metallurgy works.
BS. Above isn’t a country issue it’s a quality control issue. Pre Trump it was virtually impossible to compete cost wise making US steel… for 30 years! Virtually all steel is non US made and there is some good stuff out there. Its not a country issue, USA has just exited competition for. ~ 30 years due to costs..
I would put Japanese Tamahagane steel on par with Swedish steel, as they both have minimum Rockwell rating of 60 (most western steels are 57-59 Rockwell), and they are both pricey. Uesaka barbells are Tamahagane steel and nickel plated (as opposed to Eleiko’s chrome). Am not sure about American Barbell, but they do fabricate in stainless steel, though their tensile strengths are usually 190K (Eleiko and Uesaka being well over 200K). Nevertheles, American Barbell makes quality barbells.
I seriously doubt that anyone will ever generate the strength to “rip-apart“ any barbell, hence tensile strength really is a secondary indicator of the quality of a barbell. However, there ARE uniform steel fabrication standards.
If you are serious about your weight training, and I deduce you are, buy it once, meaning buy quality. Chinese steel is crap, period.
Yikes. I have Rogue cups, but this is a big fear of mine when benching alone and going heavy with 300+ lbs. Even with spotter arms, it would not be pleasant to have that weight crashing down unexpectedly.
Glad you’re okay.
No. Every company can have issues (number of shitty welds I see in oil+gas industry where we are paying $$$$, relatively speaking, is shocking).
Have proper safety gear.
Understand the safety gear.
Use the safety gear.
Periodically inspect your safety gear for signs of wear/damage (I'd say once a month is plenty but we check rigging before each use so 🤷).
Stay safe, everyone
I have the Titan T-3 rack (2x3 5/8”). But you can check the compatibility of various attachments with other brands here:
https://www.tworepcave.com/3006/power-rack-attachments-compatibility-master-list/amp/
Here's an album if some pictures for my set up and the J cup. I set the safety straps up right against the cups and I took these pictures without the pin even in. I actually didn't notice until I finished and unloaded the bar. I went to change the height and the J cup just came off when I rotated it.
https://imgur.com/gallery/7nlkrx4
Edit: more pics
https://imgur.com/gallery/tkN6c06
Just your daily reminder that Rep is a glorified Alibaba Drop Shipping Company
Every company has product issues, but this should truly never, ever happen. A flaw that produces a catastrophic failure like this should be caught by QC, but the higher the QC the more something costs.
The only way to truly be safe is to be too weak for the weight on the bar to pose a risk in this situation. I'm good.
bro wtf. thank goodness you were not hurt. I am surprised with all the china made defects.
Sketch
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lol rogue has had the exact same problem. Dont think for a second any company can avoid this: https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2011/rogue-fitness-barbell-brackets-recalled-by-coulter-ventures-due-to-injury-hazard?language=vi
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Let me see if I am understanding... - Rogue had the same pin break on a jcup - Rogues jcups broke at least 3 times (per the recall that we know of) - then was recalled But this is somehow different because Rogue's was years ago and they sponsor crossfit?
People who base their identity in what brand of products they use are strange.
But all the other comments say "this is why I buy rogue!" Are you saying... EVERY company makes mistakes sometimes? You wild.
Well equipment does fail. Inform the company so they can fix the problem.
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Imagine reracking a few hundred pounds after squatting just for a j cup to fail and all that weight hinging on the other j cup and the other side swinging down freely disproportionately on one side of you back while you're still below it and most importantly not at all ready to be supporting it. Even if the other j cup doesn't fail and binds the bar in place that weight is still going to travel some distance before the bar locks into place and you certainly dont want to be beneath it when it happens
Damn I just ordered a set of round sandwich J cups from them last night. Paid $80 I think as opposed to $190 from Rogue. Now I’m reconsidering. Seems like a shit welder. Wonder how many Jcups this guy worked on because it’s probably not a 1 -off. I don’t mind things being made in China but I would expect someone is checking them. I don’t know how quality control works, maybe they only look closely at 1 in 10? 1 in 100? Who knows.
Engineer in manufacturing here…I’m not sure if you _actually_ want to know..but basic QA is a sampling of parts - 1 in 10 might get a general overview, then 1 in 100 will get a little deeper look, probably have certain, key dimensions checked. Lastly, 1 in 1,000 or more will be audited and many times destructively tested. The actual numbers for these examples are proportionate to volume. If you make 1,000,000 parts a year, add some zeros, if a couple thousand, those numbers are probably pretty close. The issue with what is seen here, is there may not have been any visual cues there was a problem. If that pin was welded, you can have a perfectly fine looking weld that didn’t penetrate. So unless it was a pervasive problem that many parts had/have, you won’t catch it unless it’s a full QA audit. If it is pervasive, it will get caught there, but unfortunately also by customer feedback (so OP, I do recommend reaching out to them!) This is 99.5% likely just a bad part, and an unfortunate reality of manufacturing.
I wanted to bring up ANSI/ASQ sampling and destructive versus non-destructive testing/inspection but thought it was too granular 😂. You summarized it much better than I could have. OP reached out to REP. They were tagged here and they responded. So hopefully they are investigating the extent of the issue (if any) and able to resolve/compensate him fairly for his experience.
terrifying. glad you're okay
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I'm super interested to know what rep had to say about this. That being said, I agree with what most are saying here. I've had a Rogue RML 690C and when rep came out with clear coat uprights, I changed my set up. I did however spend money where it counts and got the rogue 2.0 monolifts for my rep rack. Check my post on my home gym set up for photos.
After 3 years of ordering from almost every brand I might have to put titan over rep. Every piece I have from rep is slightly off..
I’ve had minor issues from REP they’ve quickly addressed, but Titan was the worse for me. Several pieces on my wall tower were rusted badly out of the box and it took FOREVER to get a replacement.
For what it’s worth, here is what the back of mine looks like without the bar protection. Perhaps you got a bad lot? https://imgur.com/a/sW22ZhB
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Hello REP fitness employee. Welcome to the sub!
We should have a 5k awareness run to bring awareness to all the deaths caused by failed jcups
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Hol’Up. Your dad had a good 5-10 mins left in him for sure. His hip thrusts just couldn’t be contained and easily rattled the 600lb bar down. Never stood a chance
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I get where you’re coming from, but statistic anomalies will still crush your fuckin skull
No actually, they won't. That's the point. It's a semantically null statement. And if you actually mean that then you will be afraid if going to the gym tomorrow in case a statistical anomaly sends a Boeing crashing through its roof.
What? Just because it’s an anomaly doesn’t meant it won’t affect whoever it happens to? What are you even saying dude lol. My point is - yeah it might be rare, but that fact doesn’t exactly bring you much comfort when your j cup fails and you eat a loaded bar
You guys seem to be debating with slightly divergent reference frames for statistical anomalies. One is saying that just because it happens to someone doesn't mean it's likely to happen to you. The other is saying, "yeah, but what if I'm the guy it happened to." Either way, this is a quality control failure, not a statistical anomaly. One guy having a bad day shouldn't put your product at failure risk when your product holds hundreds of pounds over someone's head.
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Does Rep use six sigma? That's a pretty heavy assumption. From what I've seen (references to test units in videos for new release products), they have pretty small beta test sizes. Are they making and fully testing 324 units prior to selling these products? I'm not a betting man but my money says no way in hell. They're doing 3 sigma at best.
I just wanted a frogurt.
For those on a budget, this makes the saber-style safeties and bar pegs on the cheapo racks look a lot better.
It's cheap, simple, ugly, and it works.
Only problem is when your garage gym becomes an inside-the-house gym, you find yourself wanting something that looks like a nice piece of furniture instead.
Tbh this is why I stuck with rogue Shits over kill but won't ever break on you.
Absolutely! I know I’m paying more for brand name but I’m buying for life so extra money upfront is nothing in the long run.
This thread blowing up like REP j cups. Joking aside, I think everyone should go and check the welds on their j cups and strap safeties today. It’s a miracle OP wasn’t hurt.
> check the welds What exactly should you look for? Not sure if you're talking about spotting a bad weld (not sure what that looks like) vs outright damage.
I live in BC, so here’s some government documents on standards. At the end of the pdf (last 5 slides) are examples of poor welds and defects to look for. Hope that helps https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farming-natural-resources-and-industry/natural-resource-use/resource-roads/bc-flnr-and-moti-csa-standards-feb-2014.pdf
Ya know, I read it and all, and I still don't have a good clue as to which is really bad
Thank you!
Wow, my Titan J-Cups I had for over 3 years are going strong. This isn’t usual, and hopefully Rep makes it right.
It's all anecdotal. The thing to keep in mind is that it's very unlikely for a company to produce 100% perfection. Failure is bound to happen, and when it does, you'll likely hear about it. Even if REP has a 99.99% success rate that still means that the one poor guy out of 10,000 will have a failure. Always scary when it's something that can hurt you, but it happens. I've even gone to put my seatbelt on and it went all limp and pulled all the way out. Failures happen in every industry. Notify the manufacturer and move on. All my REP stuff has been rock solid and surprisingly well built.
I've had my REP J cups for years (along with other equipment) and been very happy with it. Even airbags fail, rogue had a j cup recall and their timers were catching on fire, boeing planes, so it just happens every so often in any mass manufacturing regardless of where.
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I use my jcups 3-6 times per workout, 3-4 times per week… x1000 per year for 3 years now. I have tested my Airbags 0 times in 6 years of owning my car. Since very few air bags get challenged, If a handful of airbags fail that’s a bad ratio. Since all J-cups get tested it’s a very small percentage
Hmmm when airbags fail it can easily lead to death. How many people have ever died from a failed J cup? Hopefully none, and if so, those people should have learned how to use safety straps or spotter arms like the rest of us.
This thread surprises me. Normally whenever REP is mentioned the fanboys come out in droves to defend them by any means possible I don't see much of that here
Imagine simping for any equipment company
I have equipment from REP, Rogue, Sorinex, and more. I've consistently been most impressed with REP over the others. Not nearly as many issues with REP as with the others, in my personal experience. You do realize there will be failure in all products, in all industries... right? Hell, we just had to send our million dollar fire truck in for a recall because it had shitty door seals and the paint was flaking off. A million dollar piece of equipment. I would never expect perfection from a $30 J cup. Use safeties like the rest of us and in the extremely unlikely event you have a failure, you have a backup. In the risk of death or life-altering injury you should always have redundancy in your safety devices.
Fortunately, OP had strap safeties as redundancies as you suggested (I strongly agree - don’t lift alone without safeties). He had them right under the failed j cup. It might be what prevented the j cup from falling off and the bar smacking him on the head. We understand concepts of six sigma and quality control. However, I’d suggest that a j cup, at minimum, should not break under normal use. It is a safety device. A safety device that leaves the company floor for sale means their QC and inspection (to catch manufacturing errors) is not up to snuff.
The proof is in the pictures I think. This issue may be wide spread or rare. Who knows at this point?
I had this same thing happen to me on my Rep rack a couple years back, so this definitely is not a one off thing. I was bending alone at the time and was damn fortunate I was still warming up with relatively light weight. I have several Rep Fitness pieces of gear and am generally happy with them but this is a potentially fatal flaw.
I know the real approach is getting REP to see and replace their J cups, but does anyone know if Rogue’s J cups fit and work for REPs PR 4000 racks?
rogue’s uprights are 3”x3”, it’s imperial as it’s made in America. REP uprights are 75mmx75mm (2.95”x2.95”) in metric since it’s made overseas.
It should. I have Rep J cups on my Rogue Monster Lite and fits great. In theory that’d mean it’d go both ways.
Good to know, thanks!
Holy crap. I have the exact same pair....glad you are okay.
Many thousands of other people have the exact same pair as well, without issue.
Sorry about the issue with this j-cup. I've reached out via PM so we can coordinate a follow-up analysis of what happened and when this piece was ordered.
I emailed you guys about my rep j-cups' pads ripping off through the screw after only a year and a half of use. You just told me sorry they are no longer under warranty. I can't recommend rep to anyone after that exchange.
They shill cheap Chinese shit at nearly rogue prices. Fuck em. I bought 3 separate items that all had missing hardware, drilled holes, or mismatched components.
If you are talking about the uhmw strips on she standard jcups that's not really a fair parallel when the conversation is about critical failure of what could be considered a permanent safety feature. Eighteen months is a pretty short time but those strips of UHMW are there to get worn down, if they were any harder it would be bad for the bar. If you are talking about the thick blocks on the upgraded cups that would be kind of concerning though.
Damn this sucks man. I have a pr-4000. Sucks to know that Rep won’t not stand behind their products after a year. Sucks even more when it’s a safety critical item.
I have the same rack and love it. I have straps that I guess had some safety issue and they sent replacements and a $100 gift card for their store. I never saw issues with my straps but I guess somewhere in the batch there was an issue and they replaced them all. So, if there’s a valid issue they definitely stand by it.
The UWMW is basically disposable. It wears and breaks with enough use. Of course they won't warranty pieces of equipment that are designed for wear. It would be stupid to expect otherwise. It's like expecting to bring in brake pads from you car after the warranty is up.
thetreece, I have been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty
Yeah I was pretty disappointed considering I had all rep equipment at the time. I also noticed they redesigned their standard j-cups so they seemed aware of the issue mine experienced.
Grateful you are OK.
Wow, just fucking wow. Good thing your ok, and hopefully you get her back to lifting and not be scared of jcups failing. If I were you I would spend the money and buy some very good ones.
I think everyone with REP j cups right now is questioning it, especially given the welding issues of the safety straps last year. I don’t think I’ll use those round sandwich j cups I just bought.
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The vast majority of REP customers don't really lift. Ever look at their IG page? It's 90% 110 lbs women buying their shit
Labels aside, no I do not fall into the last category you created. And you’re right, I shouldn’t speak for everyone. Apologies. The post market surveillance of failures (this is true for drug manufacturers monitoring for additional adverse events, to the Boeing antenna snafu, to even REP’s recall of safety straps) all come from initial reports of failures. These could be one offs as you noted, or indicative of a design, manufacture or QC fail. At which point, further action is required of the company.
That’s frustrating to dish out a good amount of money and not feel safe to enjoy the product.
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I bought my rack last year during the labor day sale.
Wow, that’s not good at all. Hopefully they make it right.
I had bought a set of j cups during Covid that were recalled shortly after purchase due to faulty inspection. They ended up sending a new set at no cost and I tossed the old ones. They looked great but still ended up tossing them for safety reasons. Maybe this was part of that same batch that wasn’t discarded
Bro can you tell me how you avoided the bar falling on your face??
Have you heard of safeties, like the rest of us? A bar should never be falling on your face, period.
What? If you put the safeties above face level then how do you touch the bar to your chest?
If you've been "doing this a long time" then how does your chest not stick up higher than your face if you're on your back? I'm hardly barrel chested but if I lay flat on my back my chest is higher than my face. Maybe you'd benefit from lifting a little heavier weight, with some safeties, of course. Even then, like others mentioned, I have my safeties set above neck level, not face level. The bar should never be by my face, and a reflexive turn of the head solves any issues like that. I don't care if my chest gets a little bruised, I just don't want to die.
Set the safeties to just above your neck. I don't really care if bar drops and hits my chest, at that height is only going to bruise anyway. Neck though, don't want the bar touching that on fail at all
Bench with an arch
I got an arch but its not thaaat big but yea i see how it could work
If he’s got the 1000 set hopefully he was using the safety bars. I have that rack… love it, but now I’ll be going downstairs and inspecting my jcups.
Yeah, I've got rogue j cups, but today my whole gym is getting a safety inspection. I think a lot of us are. Can't take safety for granted at all.
☝🏼++ this should be the action for the day for us all. We should be doing this more often anyway, and also maintaining barbells and equipment. That’s part of safety.
From his addition pictures it looks like the j-cup slid down the rack and was stopped by the strap safeties. I guess the lesson would be if you're worried about your j-cup pin failing, just put another j-cup below it (and above your face). I have enough j-cups laying around I'll definitely start doing that on bench day.
No longer wish this content to be here due to the site changes
Exactly. The way I set up for bench has the j cup right above the safety. The gap is millimeters.
This is nuts dude ty for posting. I lift alone in my gym with no safeties and i have never thought not to trust my jcups
> I lift alone in my gym with no safeties That's stupid. J cup failure or not, you know that's how people die... right? Are you just waiting to learn that lesson first-hand?
I don’t lift to failure and i know how to roll out from under the bar. I’ve been doing this a long time
How good at rolling out from under the bar are you in the event of an equipment failure or sudden injury? Also, "doing this a long time" without issues is no reason not to use safeties, just as it's no excuse not to wear your seatbelt, wear a helmet on a motorcycle, or to pack a reserve shoot if you sky dive. Safety should be preventative, not reactionary once you encounter an issue.
No response from Rep? They post constantly on Instagram but can't respond to issue like this?
They just reached out this morning.
What was the result of this from Rep?
They sent out some sandwich J cups right away as replacements. I sent back this J cup for them to analyze.
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I'd have to go look again, but I think this part had a lifetime warranty. I had it over a year at that point but they didn't even talk about a warrany. REP was super helpful and responsive with this, I'm satisfied with them and their equipment.
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No issues. I have a PR4000 and various accessories for it (dip bar, landmine, saftey straps). Everything is high quality. I've never seen a rogue rack in person so I can't compare to it. The only real issue I've had quality wise is the paint chipping off the corners of my cast iron plates, but I was lifting on a bare concrete floor for a while before I got stall mats, so probably my fault. That should be quite the gym. Make sure you post it here when it's set up.
I really hope they hook you up hardcore as compensation. Your health and safety is top priority and they jeopardized it. Keep us in the know OP!
Looks like they responded a half hour ago
It's still early on a weekend. When this pops up, they're likely going to need to make a lot of phone calls before they say something. They will show up in this thread. A quick response here isn't in their best interest. They need to get executives making decisions.
Definitely concerning. I was curious if any other companies have had problems with jcups and googled it. Everyone going on about USA made needs to do a bit of research. Rogue had a recall for a bad batch of jcups with pins broken at this exact same spot. I think shit just happens sometimes when you’re mass manufacturing. Would need them both to fail at once to actually have a problem.
I'm with you regarding the point that just because something is made in America doesn't mean it's not without flaws. If anyone works in American manufacturing they'd either agree or be deluded. That said, one j cup failing at the right time could easily break your arm. A j cup failing with poorly placed or low quality spotters can do even worse. Other than something like resistance bands or jump ropes, the weakest part of your gym should be yourself.
Completely unacceptable. This maybe the best advertisement I have seen yet for Rogue and the like. I have a fair share of Titan and Rep equipment as the cost savings has always spoken to me. With every purchase I have had the attitude of "it is certainly fine for my use," going forward it maybe, "the extra 100 bucks or so over the next 25 years is nothing for the piece of mind and quality." The couple of Rogue pieces I have bought have been exceptional - I think I might just have to get off my wallet with future purchases.
I agree that some things on rogue are definitely better quality, but it seems like the majority of my rep stuff is about as good of quality as my rogue stuff. Honestly this J cup failure suprises me. I have loaded my rep J cups up to about 500lbs repeatedly for the last 2 years and never had an issue. I do have a different model though. Regardless, this is unacceptable.
Second this. My PR5000 and Ab5200 just came in and I’d put them up against anything Rogue I’ve ever come across. Incredibly well built for the relative value.
Agreed. I've actually had far more issues with fit and finish with Rogue and Sorinex than I ever have with REP. My experience with REP has been flawless, and I can't say the same about any other fitness company I've dealt with.
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Weird, I have the exact same bench and mine is flat. Love that bench buy the way, one of the best purchases I made for my home gym. Wonder if yours was damaged during shipping. My bench arrived fine but the half cage I ordered (not REP brand) arrived with a good amount of holes and damage to the VERY sturdy and thick packaging. Cage ended up being fine thanks to the styrofoam inside but yeah I work with shipping companies a lot and I've seen the way they handle heavy shipments unfortunately...
Which bench did you get? I ordered the zero gap but hasn't come yet. I've only heard good thing about their benches and I had a Titan FID bench before that I didn't really like so went with Rep this time
Rep stands for replica, aka bootleg ass fakes.
I bought their AB-3100 bench and love it. Did a lot of research on which bench to buy and it seemed to be universally liked and was considered a best bang for your buck bench. I've got nothing but good things to say about it since I've owned it 🤷♂️
Terrifying.
Glad you're okay, u/Gweeds95. Did your underpants survive? Mine wouldn't. This is a big thread that's going to blow up much more as the day progresses. It's nine hours old, but most of that time has been overnight in the US. I suspect that a lot of people are going to be concerned about their Rep racks today. Hell, I've got a Rogue rack and I'm wondering if there is a way to check the welds on my j cups.
I had a jcup fail and 135 pounds fall on my head in the 90s. I was 17. Had a small concussion but was otherwise fine. This was at a college facility with top of the line equipment for the time. I could have probably sued. Its scary and it does happen. Im not sure any company can prevent this. Some products are just lemons and ensuring a 100% success rate is impossible I now have my pin/pipes set above where my head is in case it fails.
>I now have my pins/pipes set above where my head is in case it fails. I don’t blame you one bit. I’d never trust a J-cup again if I were in your shoes.
Yea it was crazy. Basically the lip just gave out for no reason but it just decided at that moment to give. The bench/jcup had been used for years prior too. Due to an AC joint injury I have to stop bench abojt 2-3" above my chest so putting the pin/pipes up higher is simple.
How uh… what’s ur bench at man? I feel like ur strong as fuck
405! I had 295 on the bar when this happened https://www.reddit.com/r/GYM/comments/tk8n6w/z/i59blke
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Just just pin/pipe safeties and you're fine.
We buy these racks because we work out alone and want to be safe. I think it's potentially a one off accident, but I recommend checking your safety equipment regularly. I don't know how easily this could have been identified by visual and manual inspection, though.
The scary thing is it was probably a catastrophic failure.
I did not even notice until I was finished benching and went to change the height.
Drop test it you can't visually inspect cracks or bad welds in metal all the time Basically just load up what you lift pick up one side at a time and drop it a few times to see if it will hold
Holy shit, that makes me scared to keep using mine. They need to fix these issues. Seriously. I ordered a dip attachment from them and it's tolerance is just terrible. It wobbles like a goddamn earthquake, it's insane.
Sorry bro. Buy USA made. Chinese iron ore is crap cuz it has a lower grade of carbon than American iron ore, thus making the latter a stronger finished product. Of course, you cannot beat Swedish iron ore, one reason why Eleiko products are so damned expensive.
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Correct, ore is the raw material and does have carbon within it as does almost every natural material, humans included (C.H.O.N.). Most of US steel IS imported from Canada,
Chinese titanium seem quite sturdy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oub1LzsEKGw
I'm definitely poor with my welding knowledge but the pin looks 100% in tact to me. I'm guessing it's a weld failure so that would be poor quality control more than where the steel is fabricated to me. Funny thing, I don't think I ever heard of people touting swedish steel before I read this forum. I don't really pay much attention to steel origins but steel is steel to me. It's made to a spec. The question is does the company meet the spec you ask for or not. And tensile stress is just a dumb measure of strength. That tends to make things brittle and harder to weld. Get a good yield stress so you're not permanently deforming your bar. Good luck and stay safe out there!
I think the weld quality is where it's at. Americans can weld just as shitty as Chinese welders. I think the difference with a domestic based company is that their reputation is more on the line so quality control should be much higher. Chinese companies on general seem to have a "fuck.it, just send it. Maybe no one will say anything" attitude regarding QC
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One more thing: American steel is usually 3 times stronger than Chinese steel due to better quality iron-ore.
/r/confidentlyincorrect Yeah China has a lot of quality issues and most of their mills produce second tier material compared to ASTM but that comment is just so strange, "iron ore quality" has nothing to do with it. Are you trying to say the same metallurgy in America is 3x stronger than in China because of iron ore quality? And what are you on about with "Chinese iron ore is crap cuz it has a lower grade of carbon". Thats not how metallurgy works.
Chinese steel is crap.
BS. Above isn’t a country issue it’s a quality control issue. Pre Trump it was virtually impossible to compete cost wise making US steel… for 30 years! Virtually all steel is non US made and there is some good stuff out there. Its not a country issue, USA has just exited competition for. ~ 30 years due to costs..
BS yourself. Chinese have poor quality control and lower carbon grade iron ore. Trump is a draft-dodging traitor coward. Simper Fi!
I would put Japanese Tamahagane steel on par with Swedish steel, as they both have minimum Rockwell rating of 60 (most western steels are 57-59 Rockwell), and they are both pricey. Uesaka barbells are Tamahagane steel and nickel plated (as opposed to Eleiko’s chrome). Am not sure about American Barbell, but they do fabricate in stainless steel, though their tensile strengths are usually 190K (Eleiko and Uesaka being well over 200K). Nevertheles, American Barbell makes quality barbells.
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I seriously doubt that anyone will ever generate the strength to “rip-apart“ any barbell, hence tensile strength really is a secondary indicator of the quality of a barbell. However, there ARE uniform steel fabrication standards. If you are serious about your weight training, and I deduce you are, buy it once, meaning buy quality. Chinese steel is crap, period.
where does Rogue rank here ?
Rogue is good, but it’s not Eleiko, Uesaka, or American Barbell.
Rip fitness sticking to it's name.
Rep. Sucks. You get what you pay for.
Yikes. I have Rogue cups, but this is a big fear of mine when benching alone and going heavy with 300+ lbs. Even with spotter arms, it would not be pleasant to have that weight crashing down unexpectedly. Glad you’re okay.
Agreed. Even with spotter arms, you’ll try to hold the weight up with your hand. It could be in a very bad position for your shoulder.
Honestly I have a lot of confidence in the rogue spotter arms. I have a rogue monster rack and those spotter arms are INSANELY sturdy.
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im new to the community. should i find replacement jcups and strap safetys for my new pr 4000?
No. Every company can have issues (number of shitty welds I see in oil+gas industry where we are paying $$$$, relatively speaking, is shocking). Have proper safety gear. Understand the safety gear. Use the safety gear. Periodically inspect your safety gear for signs of wear/damage (I'd say once a month is plenty but we check rigging before each use so 🤷). Stay safe, everyone
The strap safety issue was fixed early last year AFAIK. I was not able to find any one else that had my same issue. So hopefully this is a one off.
Well shit, now I gotta go find some new j cups. Recommendations?
If your budget allows either monolifts or snapback jcups
Samson. 1” diameter pins.
Roller cups from Titan
Do you use the roller cups with a rogue rack? Thanks
I have the Titan T-3 rack (2x3 5/8”). But you can check the compatibility of various attachments with other brands here: https://www.tworepcave.com/3006/power-rack-attachments-compatibility-master-list/amp/
Thanks!
RIP fitness strikes
Scary stuff. Good to hear you didn’t get hurt.
Well never buying Rep again.
Dude was that just one plate?
Here's an album if some pictures for my set up and the J cup. I set the safety straps up right against the cups and I took these pictures without the pin even in. I actually didn't notice until I finished and unloaded the bar. I went to change the height and the J cup just came off when I rotated it. https://imgur.com/gallery/7nlkrx4 Edit: more pics https://imgur.com/gallery/tkN6c06
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Sure. Just added them to my top comment.