Safly Fun Gymnastics Bar for Kids

Bought this for my two younger girls who want to flip and swing like monkeys and pretend they are in gymnastics until we can get them enrolled in a class. Thought it would be a great addition to the rock wall we just installed for them as well. It is super easy to assemble and fold up, and is a fun color for my girls, and I think would be ok for smaller kids. This kip bar, however, is not made with very good quality steel bars or with durability in mind. Listed below are the three biggest issues we found with it that made us ultimately decide to return it. 1.) The steel crossbar that is for swinging is pretty thin and hollow which will not be durable over a long period of time. I haven’t found a way to just replace any particular part so if this crossbar were to bend or break then we’d have to buy an entirely new kip bar. 2.) The “key” that screws into the pole to lock the crossbar into place at the preferred height is pretty thick but there are no holes in the pole to receive the key so this cuts down on safety, and durability as well. So, instead of having a hole the key can nicely screw into to add strength, it just butts up against the pole which is already made of a cheaper quality steel. As the kids kip and flip, the natural rotation back and forth will cause that key to loosen making the bar more likely to slip down further causing a balance issue and possibly cause injury. I have a photo reflecting where there really should be holes added. 3.) The bar has legs at each end to aid with stability and, although they keep the kip bar from flipping over (at least for my girls who are 8,5), they don’t keep it from feeling like it’s going to flip, nor do they keep it from sliding all over the floor. I think this may be easily remedied with a rubber mat underneath for grip, or maybe even on carpet. But we didn’t like that is slid all over the place. I do think this would be great for smaller kids, like 5 or less because they don’t typical swing really hard, and weigh less, but don’t think it would be really great for kids that are heavier or older. I do think if a rubber mat was added underneath to keep it from sliding around and adding in your own holes for the key to screw into, this kip bar may be a winner though. For us, we decided to return it and spend a little more money on a better quality kip bar.