Bells of Steel Manticore Rack Review: King in the North!

[@BELLSOFSTEEL]

Appreciate the VERY in depth review of our manticore power rack steve, we hope our gear serves you long and well! Also really appreciate all the feedback as well we will take this into account for the future to improve! Cheers - BOS team

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

Hey, thanks for that comment! It’s been a great rack for me and I love it!

[@KhaotiXPro]

Great review and love to see the perspective from a fellow Canadian. Subscribed!

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

Awesome, thank you!

[@lukeedwards2402]

This channel is going to do well.

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

@@lukeedwards2402 Hey, thank you so much!

[@sherflex6233]

Awesome video bud! Subscribed!

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

Hey, thank you!

[@Kingstur]

This is a great review! Awesome channel man! Subbed. Will be looking forward to seeing your awesome gym set up! Should do a current overview of your overall set up!

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

@@Kingstur Hey, thanks! I was thinking I might do something like that after I get a little bit more content out there.

[@Str8outofLES]

There aren't enough reviews of the Manticore system, and this one in particular was awesome! Love the attention to small details like noting the height addition with the Lat pulldown. I ordered a 6 post 72" rack for my short ceiling basement. Looking forward to seeing the adjustments you made to your set-up. I'll be taking notes! INSTA-SUBBED!

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

@@Str8outofLES that’s really nice to hear! I’m working on getting that next one out soon

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

The cable video is up!

[@Str8outofLES]

​@@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym 👍🏽 I have my Manticore setup! Within 10mins of using the Lat pull I noticed the cable scraping as well. 😅 not sure how much went into testing

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

@@Str8outofLES Yeah, I’m honestly pretty disappointed about that part of it.

[@DanielGalazzo-u9e]

Grear Video, we need this kind of content from a Canadian perspective, curious on the wall panelling you use to attach your accessories and your Bells barbell

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

Hey, thanks! The wall panelling is a Proslat hook kit that I got at Costco, and the barbell hanger is just a cheap rubber coated utility hook I picked up at Home Depot for a couple dollars.

[@digital_dilu]

nice review

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

Thanks!

[@digital_dilu]

@@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym welcome

[@willernst]

Awesome video and review! Now I'm considering one of these, but trying to figure out how much I can ship-in-a-bottle squeeze into my basement. The 84" would go fairly easy, but I might be able to squeeze in the 90" by strategic positioning and putting the uprights in the spaces between the floor joists. How much travel do you get on the 90" lat tower? My current shorter rack gets me a hair shy of 48", probably a long 120 cm.

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

Hey thanks! I get 53” of cable travel on the 90” tower with the weight stack, so I have a few short pieces of chain that I attach if I’m pulling from a position where I want to start a few feet out. I thought about doing the same thing between the joists of my ceiling when I wasn’t sure if this was going to fit! I would say definitely get the 90 if you can make it work, if nothing else then just for the extra cable length.

[@willernst]

@@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym Thanks! I started looking into BoS and see they are about to release the Kolossos, too. That's an option I'll have to consider, but it adds more height and would definitely limit me to 84". The 2:1 ratio would give a lot more travel, though; plus it's less fiddly, albeit bulkier. Decisions!

[@Scintillius]

Ive been researching the best rack to get for the past 2 months and came to the same conclusion. Anytime i would build a rack on their site, Rep and rogue's shipping cost would instantly kill any hope i had The struggle is real for us Canucks

[@HughLeFitness]

@@Scintillius same. I’d love a REP PR-5000 but shipping kills and BoS is the next best thing

[@HughLeFitness]

Just found this channel, insta-subbed. Great review and editing. I'm waiting for Black Friday to get the 4-post Manticore 90". I have 10 feet ceiling so height is not a concern. The only thing I'm concerned with is the 49" width instead of 47". I'm afraid there is not much clearance racking and unracking the bar especially since I also have the BoS barenaked powerlifting bar with extremely thin collars. Do you have that problem? I'm in Toronto, Canada so can drive to BoS for pickup. Looking forward to seeing the next video!

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

@@HughLeFitness Hey, thank you so much for that comment! I really appreciate it. Yes! I have the same bar and I was planning to address that in the video but just ran out of time, so I might cover it in a future video. It hasn’t really been a problem on my walk out as long as I’m careful, but I have tapped the plates on the rack a few times on a heavy squat when re-racking. Not enough where I’m hitting the plate straight into the rack and can’t get it on the cups, but just a little jarring tap as I step forward. If I were to do it again, I would potentially look at a different bar with a thicker sleeve collar. It’s not quite enough to make me change, and I feel like I could just probably improve my walk out and re-rack, but it definitely happens for me when combining the 49 inch rack with the Barenaked powerlifting bar. You could always get a cheap thin pair of collars off Amazon and put them on the bar before the plates to make up for the difference.

[@HughLeFitness]

@@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym Thanks, but if I'm spending that kind of money on a rack then I expect things to be perfect or close and shouldn't have to DIY a solution just to accommodate the rack. Nonetheless, I agree with you, I might invest in another bar as I only have one barbell at the moment. Cheers mate!

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

@@HughLeFitness Definitely a fair point! I’ve been eyeing up the Rep double black diamond bar. I’d be curious to hear what you end up getting.

[@CanadianBacon6ix]

How much of a discount do they give out on black Fridays? Thinking of picking up the manticore with the new kraken

[@HughLeFitness]

@@CanadianBacon6ix can’t remember last year but Black Friday is the best deal of the year. Is the Kraken ready?

[@danielstevenson7951]

I live in indy so i get the local pickup discount which can't be beat. I bought my light commercial before hydra/manticore came out. Really looking forward to that lat pulldown/low row functional trainer conversion. Been debating on upgrading with the attachments lagging just a bit with the 60mm racks but depending on what you show i may be able to hold off on that.

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

@@danielstevenson7951 Awesome! So you started with the same rack as me. These vids take way more work than I thought they would, but I’ll try to get that next one out ASAP!

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

I just posted the video with all the cable hacks I mentioned. Let me know what you think!

[@danielstevenson7951]

I saw that! Thanks! I'm definitely going to be using that hack but to add consistent resistance to my lever arm exercises. Only debate is to get the lat pulldown attachment or actually mount a cable tower behind my rack and use in a similar fashion

[@stevencavanagh4059]

Great review Steve. Any thoughts on how this compares to a similar setup from Xtreme Monkey? Not a ton of options in Canada so I’m curious since their offerings also seem solid.

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

@@stevencavanagh4059 I’ve never seen any of their stuff in person, and all the pictures on third-party resellers like the treadmill factory are just renders and not actual pictures. So it’s hard for me to say without any personal experience with it. There was another comment about their stuff and the best I can tell you is that I’d guess it’s a rebranded generic import. I’m always a little sceptical about stuff like that, but it could be an OK budget option. As for how it compares to the Bells of Steel gear, I would say BoS would likely be a little better built, more versatile with all the rest of their accessories and compatibility with other mainstream companies, and you have a local Canadian company standing behind it.

[@eternal2631]

Perfect timing was actually just looking at the manticore power rack, but have you heard of the xm fitness infinity rack? Its listed as a 3x3 upright with 1” pin holes and 2 inch from center knurl also is 11 gauge steel from their site and its listed at $999 in Ontario. Looking from the pictures the top and bottom part changes to 5/8th i think.

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

@@eternal2631 I’ve seen people mention it before, so I just had a quick look. Definitely not an expert but here’s my initial impression. Those small holes at the top and bottom are a lot smaller than 5/8” and are just for the mounting hardware which also looks like pretty small bolts, as opposed to the solid 1” hardware on the Manticore and PR-5000. Doesn’t seem like a very good use of space having those mounting holes come so far down. The crossmembers seem to only be using 2x3” tubing. Not having seen it in person, it looks to me like a fairly cheap rebranded generic import rack. It would probably work just fine, but one thing to consider is there really isn’t a company standing behind it, and it’s just being sold by third party resellers. It wouldn’t be my choice, and as far as I can tell it doesn’t come with any of the accessories but it could be a decent cheap rack. Those safety straps look pretty useless though for how much they sag.

[@HughLeFitness]

@@eternal2631 I’m also in Ontario, all the bolts are 5/8” to cut costs for that rack. I also hate the pull-up bar in front instead of the middle of the rack.

[@sherflex6233]

Also what are your thoughts on the BOS Kolosos?

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

I’m not totally sure yet. There are a lot of companies making these all in one units, but none of them can be customized like the way BoS has done it by adding the Kraken and Smith attachment to any rack, so I think that’s pretty cool. I haven’t seen the Kraken up close so it’s hard to say what I think about the design, but the price seems like it will make a great option for a rack mounted cable system. I’d love to test the cables side by side with my Ares. The Smith machine, however, is something I would definitely like to get my hands on to test out! If I can get both, I’ll try to build a Kolosos on my current rack as a fun review experiment :)

[@sherflex6233]

@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym That would be awesome to see sir!

[@acochet1]

How do you get the weight stack and plate horns?

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

@@acochet1 if you order the weight stack lat pulldown from Bells of Steel the weight horns are included. www.bellsofsteel.us/#a_aid=Steve42

[@vincentchang2763]

are you from Vancouver bc too ?

[@CanadianStevesUndergroundGym]

@@vincentchang2763 I wish! It’s beautiful out there, but I’m from around the Edmonton Alberta area.