Rep Deep Knurl Power Bar EX

The Rep Fitness Deep Knurl Stainless Steel Power Bar EX is a remarkable piece and competes with bars twice as expensive. The bar’s only significant let down is its god awful name. It seems to me they completely forgot to name the bar and just decided to use the description of the bar as a stand-in. Rep’s marketing team really mailed it in on this one.

Specs

• Bar Type Powerlifting
• Bar Weight 20kg
• Tensile Strength 200 KSI
• Bar Diameter 29mm
• Bar Length 220cm
• Shaft Length 130.8cm
• Plate-Plate Distance 137cm
• Sleeve Length 41.5cm
• Sleeve Texture Smooth
• Bushing/Bearing Bushing
• Collar Width 3.1cm
• Center Knurl 12cm
• Knurl Marks IPF (81cm)
• Warranty Lifetime

What’s Good

Knurl

As the bar’s name might suggest, its knurl is special. It’s cut in a mountain pattern, 75% deeper than standard knurling, and it’s not coated in anything like chrome or cerakote which would dull the knurl. All of this makes for a very aggressive knurl. However, it’s not so sharp that it cuts up your hand; the “peaks” of the knurl are slightly blunted and just dense enough to prevent this. Furthermore, as you can see in the image above, the knurling is incredibly consistent across the entire bar including the center knurl. Out of all the bars I’ve ever used (including the infamous Ohio Power Bar), I think this bar’s knurl feels the best.

Stainless Steel

This bar is stainless steel from end cap to end cap and in my opinion, this is the ultimate barbell material. Why? There are generally two alternatives: a bare steel bar and a coated bar.

Compared to a bare steel bar, a stainless steel bar doesn’t require as much (if any) maintenance. This is because bare steel rusts. To prevent a bare steel bar from rusting, you’ll have to oil and brush it regularly. This is 15-20 minutes of work every couple of weeks and while it doesn’t seem like much - it’s a pain in the ass. Even if you religiously brush and oil your bar, it will develop a patina that, in my opinion, detracts from its appearance.

Compared to a coated bar, stainless steel typically has better knurling. This is because a coating can round off the peaks and fill in the valleys of knurling making it much less effective. While manufacturer’s can cut a deeper knurl to compensate for this, they typically don’t. Additionally, coatings wear off and chip. This exposes bare steel that you now have to regularly brush and oil to prevent rust. Worn off/chipped coatings also look terrible, especially colored coatings.

If you want a barbell with high quality knurling that will look great for a long time with minimal maintenance, you want a stainless steel barbell. The only downside to using stainless steel is that it is more expensive.

Price

This bar retails for CA$405.99. Unfortunately, shipping it to Toronto is expensive and costs $85. With taxes included - that will cost you CA$546.90. For some context, the only other fully stainless steel power bar available in Canada at the moment is the Ohio Power Bar (OPB). To ship the OPB to Toronto it costs CA$831.06; that’s nearly $300 more expensive for a bar that in my opinion is only marginally better.

Another price point to consider is that of the Bells of Steel Barenaked Powerlifting bar - probably the best value bare steel powerlifting bar on the market right now. It costs CA$339.18 to ship to Toronto; the Rep Deep Knurl Power Bar EX is over $200 more expensive. But for that $200, you don’t have to worry about regular bar maintenance to prevent rust. I think that’s well worth the money.

Rep has really delivered on a great price here.

What’s Bad

Knurl Feathering

There really isn’t much bad to say about this bar. The only thing I noticed is some feathering where the knurl terminates but this is completely cosmetic and hardly noticeable. The other 99% of the knurling is pristine and I haven’t noticed any double tracking in the knurl so this is a very minor complaint from me.

Notes

Smooth Sleeves

The sleeves of the Rep Deep Knurl Power Bar EX are smooth as opposed to ribbed. Smooth sleeves are generally quieter when loading weights onto the bar; Ribbed sleeves can make a “zipping” sound with certain kinds of plates that some find annoying. The “benefit” of ribbed sleeves is that they help prevent weights from sliding around. It’s supposed to be useful for warm-up sets where you may not be using barbell clips. I personally don’t notice any difference in noise and slippage but if you do have a preference, know this bar has smooth sleeves.

Stainless Bushing

Another thing to note about this bar is that it has one stainless steel bushing and this kills the spin of the sleeves. I think I’ve seen fully rusted bars spin better. However, I wouldn’t consider this a bad thing because the Rep Deep Knurl Power Bar EX is a power bar. It doesn’t need good sleeve spin. With that said, if you intend to do some olympic lifting, I would look at another bar.

12cm Center Knurl

The bar’s center knurl is also only 12cm long. This is a relatively short center knurl which is neither a good nor a bad thing. A shorter center knurl is great if you have a narrow deadlift stance as it won’t cut up your shins. A longer center knurl is generally better if you squat low bar as it provides a better grip on your back. This helps prevent the bar from sliding around during the lift. That said - the shorter center knurl isn’t a concern with this bar because the knurling is so aggressive. In this context, 12cm is plenty.

Overview

Despite its garbage name, the Rep Deep Knurl Power Bar EX is an incredible power bar. Fully stainless steel with an extraordinary knurl at a very affordable price point. This bar is my daily driver and my first recommendation to any powerlifter in Canada. Here up north, I don’t think you’ll find a better value power bar.

Value Rating: 4.5 / 5 bananas