Bowtech Black Knight 2 Review

Editors' review

Bowtech built the Black Knight 2 to chase one number - 350 feet per second - yet the bow it produced ended up on the target line as often as the treestand. This was Bowtech's early-2000s dual-cam speed bow, sold across 2001 and 2002 in two brace configurations before the name simplified to "BlackKnight Dually" for 2003. The draw is stout and the valley is shallow, exactly what you expect from a true dual cam tuned for velocity, but the surprise is how steady it sits at full draw: owners reached for it when they wanted to punch small groups, not just to launch a fast arrow. IBO speed (the industry chronograph rating at a fixed 30-inch, 70-pound, 350-grain setup) lands at 342 to 350 fps, era-leading numbers that Bowtech turned into its whole identity. Choosing between the Short and Tall brace is the real decision here - one leans into speed and the target range, the other buys back a little forgiveness for hunting. It is not a forgiving beginner's bow, and it was never meant to be. It is a fast, precise instrument for a shooter who already owns their form.

Finish

Bowtech did not document a formal finish palette for the 2001-2002 Black Knight 2 in surviving records, so this review does not assign it specific camo names it cannot verify. What is known is consistent with the era's Bowtech lineup: a solid dark riser fitting the "Black Knight" name for target and 3D use, and a Mossy Oak-style camouflage option aimed at the hunting buyer. The two audiences the bow served - the target shooter drawn to the Short configuration and the hunter drawn to the Tall - map naturally onto that finish split. Coating durability on machined-aluminum risers of this period held up well in normal use; the wear points owners tend to see decades later are handling scuffs at the grip and shelf, not finish failure. A buyer shopping the used market today should judge a specific bow by its actual condition rather than by any catalog finish list.

Riser

The Black Knight 2 is built around a long machined-aluminum riser, and that length is the quiet reason the bow shoots as well as it does - a longer riser spreads the shooter's hand and anchor farther apart, which steadies the aim and is exactly what owners describe when they call it easy to hold. Cable control is handled by a cable slide riding a guard rod, the standard approach of its day rather than a roller system. Axle-to-axle measured 36 inches on the 2001 bow and grew to 37.5 inches for 2002, a real re-geometry that pushed the bow further toward the long, stable end of the hunting spectrum. That extra length is a trade: it costs a little maneuverability in a tight ground blind but pays it back in how planted the bow feels at anchor. Everything about the riser geometry points the same direction - toward steadiness, not toward compactness. In my experience a riser this long is what separates a fast bow you can actually aim from a fast bow that just feels twitchy.

Grip

The grip is a period Bowtech design integrated into the riser, narrow enough to encourage a consistent, low-torque hand position rather than a bulky palm-filling shape. On a bow this reliant on shooter form, the grip does real work: because the Black Knight 2 punishes torque more than a forgiving long-brace bow would, a repeatable hand placement is what unlocks the accuracy owners report. There is nothing exotic here and nothing that needs fixing - it is a straightforward grip that rewards a relaxed, consistent hand. Shooters who prefer a particular grip feel can shim or replace it as they would on any bow of this generation. What matters is that the hand goes to the same place every time, and the slim profile makes that easy.

Limbs

The limbs seat into the riser pockets and are driven by the dual-cam system, with draw weight set by the limb bolts in the usual way - Bowtech specified 10-pound adjustment increments and no more than two and a half full turns off peak, so the working range is a defined 10-pound window per bolt setting rather than a wide sweep. The bow was offered in 60-70 pound weights for 2001, with a 50-pound floor added for 2002, covering most adult hunting and target draw weights of the day. Draw length is changed through a module system, one inch per module, a dealer swap rather than a rotating adjustment. Storing enough energy to push a hunting arrow past 340 fps IBO means the limbs are working hard near peak, which is part of why the draw feels as committed as it does. Across Bowtech's early-2000s lineup this limb-and-bolt arrangement proved durable; the practical caution on any bow this age is simply to have the strings and cables inspected and likely replaced before serious shooting.

Eccentric System

The heart of the Black Knight 2 is Bowtech's Speed Dual Cam, the period "Dually" - a true two-cam system, one cam top and bottom, built for velocity rather than a soft pull. It rates 342 to 350 fps IBO in the Short configuration - the model's headline speed - while Bowtech officially rated the Tall configuration a little lower at 331 to 339 fps; the 2002 speed chart shows the Tall reaching that same 342-to-350 ceiling one inch longer, at a 31-inch draw. Real-world numbers sit lower than IBO, as they always do: owners chronographing a light target arrow at 5 grains per pound have clocked 348 fps at a 29-inch, 63-pound setup, while normal hunting-weight arrows land closer to the high 280s to low 290s - still quick for the era. Let-off (the percentage of peak weight the holding weight drops to at full draw) is a modest 65 percent, which is the crux of the bow's character: you hold more weight at full draw than a modern 80 percent bow, and combined with a true dual cam that gives a shallow valley and a hard, defined back wall. Draw length adjusts by swapping modules, one inch each, done at a Bowtech dealer. Factory speed nocks sit close to each axle - three inches on the 2001 bow, 2.25 inches for 2002 - and Bowtech warned that adding or moving them only costs performance. This is a cam system with one clear priority, and it does not pretend otherwise - it trades the relaxed hold and deep valley of a forgiveness-first bow for raw speed and a wall you can drive into.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

Drawing the Black Knight 2 tells you immediately what kind of bow it is: the weight ramps up hard in the first third of the pull, stout for a two-cam bow, and it stays committed rather than melting away into an easy valley. When I draw a bow like this I feel the cam load early and then hit a wall that is genuinely a wall - solid, with no mush, the kind of stop you can anchor against without second-guessing. The valley is the flip side of that character: it is short, and if you let the string creep forward it will pull, so this bow wants a shooter who stays engaged all the way through the shot. The 65 percent let-off means you are holding real weight at anchor, which sounds like a drawback until you feel how it steadies the pin - a bow that holds weight holds still. That, plus the long riser, is why owners keep circling back to the same word: accurate. Post-shot behavior is clean for its generation, and the short brace is the honest cost - at 5.5 inches on the Short config the string sits close to the wrist, so form errors show up on the target and a loose sleeve can find the string on a treestand. Choosing the Tall configuration trades a hair of speed for a taller 6.5-inch brace and a little more margin. In practice this is a bow that rewards the shooter who brings good form to it and quietly frustrates the one who does not.

Usage Scenarios

The Black Knight 2 fits the shooter who values a steady hold and a fast arrow more than a forgiving, easy draw. On the target and 3D range it is genuinely in its element - the long riser and hard back wall let a disciplined shooter drive tight groups, and the short-brace Short configuration is the natural pick there. For hunting it works, and plenty of owners have taken deer with it, but the Tall configuration is the smarter choice for the treestand: the taller brace keeps the string clear of clothing and buys back a margin of forgiveness on a cold-fingered, adrenaline-rushed shot. Picture a 3D club shooter on a summer evening who wants a fast, flat-shooting bow that holds like a rock through a long stake-to-stake round - that is this bow's home. Picture instead a whitetail hunter who prizes a soft draw and a deep valley for holding at full draw while a buck works closer, and that shooter is better served by a forgiveness-first design. The bow does not suit a brand-new archer still building form, and it is not the tool for someone who wants to relax at full draw. It is for the shooter who already knows what a good shot feels like and wants speed without giving up the aim.

Versions

The Black Knight 2 was sold as one model in two brace configurations rather than as separate package SKUs. The Short (S) configuration ran a 5.25-inch brace in 2001 and 5.5 inches in 2002, the speed-and-target setup; the Tall (T) configuration ran 6.25 inches in 2001 and 6.5 inches in 2002, the more forgiving hunting setup. Both shared the same Speed Dual Cam, the same 65 percent let-off, and the same 342 to 350 fps IBO ceiling, differing only in brace height and the draw length at which they peaked. For 2003 the platform continued under the simplified name "BlackKnight Dually," with the brace growing another quarter inch per configuration. Bowtech's surviving records do not preserve a launch MSRP for the 2001-2002 Black Knight 2; for reference, the direct descendant BlackKnight Dually carried a $749 MSRP by its 2004-2005 model years. A buyer today meets this bow only on the used market, where condition and a fresh string-and-cable set matter far more than the original sticker.

Bowtech Black Knight 2 vs Mathews Switchback, PSE X-Force

Bow	Bowtech Black Knight 2	Mathews Switchback	PSE X-Force
Version	2002 (Option 1)	2007	2009 (GX Cam)
Picture
Brace Height	5.5 "	7 "	6 "
AtA Length	37.5 "	33 "	33.5 "
Draw Length	26 " - 30 "	25 " - 30 "	26 " - 30 "
Draw Weight	50 lbs - 70 lbs	40 lbs - 70 lbs	40 lbs - 80 lbs
IBO Speed	342 fps - 350 fps	318 fps	344 fps - 352 fps
Weight	4.25 lbs	4.34 lbs	4.2 lbs
Let-Off	65%	65% or 80%	75% actual
Where to buy Best prices online	$159 to $199.99 Compare prices	$300 to $600 Compare prices	$255 to $685 Compare prices
	compare more bows

Set against the bows a period speed-versus-forgiveness shopper actually cross-shopped, the Black Knight 2 stakes out the aggressive end. The Mathews Switchback is its philosophical opposite: a single-cam bow that became the mid-2000s benchmark for a smooth draw and a forgiving, quiet shot, the bow you buy when you want the shot to feel easy and self-correcting. The Black Knight 2 gives up that easy draw and deep valley for more speed and a harder wall, asking the shooter to bring the discipline the Switchback partly supplies for you. The PSE X-Force sits on the same side of the line as the Black Knight 2 - a short-brace speed specialist that carried the "fastest bow" torch into the next wave of the speed war - so a buyer chasing pure velocity is really choosing between two aggressive designs rather than between fast and forgiving. Against the X-Force, the Black Knight 2's edge is the steadiness owners praise: the long riser holds better than its raw speed spec would suggest. Within Bowtech's own family the bow also lives beside the original single-name BlackKnight and the later Allegiance, but those are lineage neighbors rather than true cross-shops. The decision comes down to priorities: the Mathews Switchback for the shooter who wants forgiveness and a soft draw, the PSE X-Force for the one chasing maximum speed, and the Black Knight 2 for the shooter who wants speed and a target-steady hold in the same bow.

Summary

The Bowtech Black Knight 2 is an early-2000s dual-cam speed bow that turned out to be a better aimer than its spec sheet promised. It rates 342 to 350 fps IBO, holds real weight at a 65 percent let-off, and stops against a hard, defined back wall - and the long riser turns all of that into the steady hold owners consistently praise, with real-world speeds in the high 280s to low 290s on hunting arrows and near 348 fps on a light target load. The cost is honest and up front: a stout, front-loaded draw and a short valley that demand disciplined form, plus a short brace on the Short configuration that rewards a clean release. Sold across 2001 and 2002 in Short and Tall brace configurations before becoming the BlackKnight Dually in 2003, it meets buyers today only on the used market, where a fresh string set matters more than the original price. In my experience a bow that holds this steady while shooting this fast is a rare combination, and it is exactly why the Black Knight 2 kept showing up on the target line. It is an excellent bow for the disciplined target and 3D shooter who wants speed without a twitchy hold, and a capable hunting bow in its Tall configuration. Buyers who want a softer draw and a more forgiving, self-correcting shot should look at the Mathews Switchback, while those chasing maximum velocity should also weigh the PSE X-Force.