York Barbell Vintage Roundhead Dumbbells

These definitely look cool and will make fan bois swoon from across the gym. If aesthetics are your main lift, you’ll be happy. In actual use though, the handles are fairly thin and completely unknurled, which can make heavier sets feel less secure, especially with sweaty hands. Accuracy is also an issue: my “100 lb” pair tipped the scale at 108 lbs, which is a pretty big miss if you care about consistent loading or progressive tracking.

Having a full set of York Roundheads is something any vintage weight fan would love to have. They are a 5/5 on the cool factor. The USA stamped bigs tend to be more accurate than the non USA stamped ones but most people seem to prefer the older non USA stamped ones. I personally sought outs 80-100 in USA stamp. You can’t be an asshole and drop these from shoulder height or they will bend, but the cool factor is 2nd to none.

These are my all time favorite dumbbells. But they are not without their faults. The handles can bend. The heads can get loose or even snap off. The handles are not knurled (which I don't mind). The handles are also fairly small diameter (which I also don't mind). These dumbbells have a classic look that can't be matched. Some sizes can be hard to find since you can't buy them new, but common sizes really are not badly priced on the used market.