Double Black Diamond™ Power Bar

REP’s Double Black Diamond Power Bar is a 20kg, 29mm IPF-spec power bar built for squats, bench, and deadlifts – the sharper-knurl half of REP’s two flagship power bars, and the current version of the line that replaced REP’s discontinued Deep Knurl Power Bar EX. Every independent source agrees this bar and its sibling, the Black Diamond Power Bar, are otherwise identical in spec – 29mm shaft, 200 ksi tensile strength, bronze bushings, center knurl, 1,500lb static rating – and differ only in knurl pattern: this bar’s “deep mountain” cut is REP’s most aggressive, versus Black Diamond’s milder “deep volcano” knurl. An independent owner comparison (haihoangtran.com) adds a wrinkle worth knowing: finish also shifts how aggressive the same knurl pattern feels in hand, ranking bite from mildest to sharpest as Cerakote Black Diamond, stainless Black Diamond, Cerakote Double Black Diamond, then stainless Double Black Diamond as the sharpest of all four.

That aggressive mountain knurl is the whole reason to pick this bar over its sibling: Garage Gym Reviews, BarBend, and Breaking Muscle all independently land on the same read – grippy enough for max-effort pulls without crossing into “returned it, too aggressive” territory, and sharp enough that reviewers flag it as better suited to lifters with already-calloused hands than to beginners. It’s also, per a REP employee’s own comment (surfaced in a r/homegym thread), the direct successor to REP’s now-discontinued Deep Knurl Power Bar EX: REP describes the EX as sharing “deep mountain style knurling” with this bar, but says the Double Black Diamond’s “overall construction, materials, and design” were built to surpass it – so if you’re comparing against an older EX listing elsewhere, treat this as the newer, improved version of that bar rather than a separate product line.

The trade-offs: like its sibling, it’s powerlifting-only – every independent source flags it as a poor fit for Olympic lifts or CrossFit-style cycling that wants a faster-spinning, less-aggressive bar – and the knurl itself is explicitly called out as uncomfortable for lifters without built-up calluses, with some buyers reportedly returning it over that. Reviewer coverage is also solid but not deep (a handful of scored editorial reviews, one direct owner comparison, one dedicated video), and REP’s on-site and GymRadar-style ratings run near-perfect (5.0/5 and 4.97/5) in the self-hosted way this catalog treats cautiously, versus the more measured 4.3-4.5/5 independent editorial consensus. Buy this over the Black Diamond if your hands are calloused enough to want the sharper cut and the fastest bar-path stability for max-effort work; buy the Black Diamond instead if you want the same spec sheet with a friendlier knurl for daily training.