RKC Russian Kettlebell (Dragon Door)

Been training with bells for a few years now. My go to brand with the “King’s crest” is always out of stock. Only other brand whose name rang out to the point of me wanting to try one was RKC aka Dragondoor, and why not now that it’s time to go heavier.I can see what the fuss is all about, went with a 24kg my first go around and this thing is perfect all the way down to the finish, which has no nicks or burrs, especially around the handle.I love it, only problem now is the damn thing won’t stop talking, “pick me up, pick me up.” Sheesh.

Because I've gotten old, I decided to do my snatches with a lighter kettlebell. My 20 and 24 kg bells are RKB, but my old 16 kg bell was a different make, and it had been years since I used it to do snatches. When I started using it, I thought, this feels horrible. When I "catch it", it just didn't lay across my forearm correctly. At the time, a couple of years ago, I couldn't get a RKB kettlebell, their website just kept saying "out of stock". So I bought a new, different brand kettlebell that was suppose to be top of the line. When using it, it felt a little bit better but still not right. When I looked to see if I could now obtain a RKB 16 kg bell, I was pleased to find it on sale at Amazon. I bought one, the handle is as wide as the handles on my 20 and 24 kg bells. When doing snatches it feels much, much, much better. It makes a world of difference.

RKC is the original kettlebell brand breeding weakness out of the Russian gene pool for years. Except no imitations. Weight is dead on, feels great. Great finish and solid as expected. When you buy this it is the last kettlebell you will buy for that particular weight. It will outlive you and you can pass it down to the next few generations.

While I'm relatively new to the kettle bell scene, I own OFW, Ader, CAP, Yes4All KBs and have used plenty of other brands. I think Dragon Door's KBs are vastly superior. I can tell that I'm swinging a quality product, because it's actually single-cast so there's no frustrating seam on the handle, the paint is a great, grip-able consistency, the handle is wide enough, etc. If you have the money to spend on this, go for it. However, as long as you're not using your kettle bell as a cannonball, I'm sure you'll find OFW, Ader, or even Yes4All suitable. If you're bellin' on a budget, I'm sure you'll even do fine with CAP as long as you don't wildly mistreat the product.

This is the second RKC kettle bell that I have purchased. I have also looked at some of the lower cost kettle bells that are sold in the local sporting good stores. The lower cost bells seem to have a rougher cast that give a rougher grab with a distinct seam across the bottom and top of the handle. This is an issue when I am doing high reps, arguable just an annoyance, but I don't want the limit of my reps to be determined by how long I can tolerate the seam cutting across my palm. The RKC do not have this seam. Consequently, the surface is very high quality and comfortable to hold through the variety of exercises I have tried so far.

Works great but there are cheaper options that work as well, at least at my level of experience.

Great product

Not as described or as pictured, different look, different handle. Nothing special about this handle or the weight itself, sending it back extremely disappointed in the hype.