It’s Gravel Time over at PNW Components with a new alloy cockpit setup, ticking all of the comfortable ride position boxes for your gravel bike at an affordable price. The Coast handlebar & stem definitely take an off-road approach to gravel with a compact fit, super wide bar, and plenty of flare to give the rider control over any terrain.
PNW Components The Coast gravel bike cockpit
We mostly know them for their dropper posts & mountain bike components, but the folks at PNW seem to be firm believers in the “all bikes are fun” mindset. You’re just as likely to spot them riding gravel through the river beds and into the hills outside of their Seattle base as any other off-road bike.
So they wanted a better gravel cockpit setup, designed to offer the comfort and control of a mountain bike for the longer distances and faster riding you can do on skinnier tires and drop bars.
PNW Coast gravel drop bar
We’ve seen plenty of “gravel-specific” handlebars, but what does PNW think is the best combination of tech features? They pretty much hit on: wide, shallow & flared. The dramatic 20° of flare is a good starting point for riders coming from a MTB background or just looking to take their gravel bike further off-road. Combined with two wide width options of 48 & 52cm (measured at the hoods), you should have plenty of leverage for control in any terrain, a comfortable attack position, and still enough hand positions to ride fast of through techy bits.
As for the smooth curved bend of the drops themselves, The Coast gets a shallow 105mm of drop & short 65mm of reach so you still have a pretty upright position from riding on the tops.
The Coast drop bar is made of 6061 alloy which is said to lend a smooth ride and keeps weight in check ( 346g for 48cm, 357g for 52cm) while allowing a reasonable $69 / 75€ price. It’s 31.8mm diameter has a 120mm wide clamping area to mount plenty of accessories, and conventional external routing channels keep simple cable routing in place under the bar tape.
PNW Coast gravel stem
To get your gravel cockpit setup, PNW has a matching Coast stem to go with it. Again aiming towards compact setups for technical gravel riding, the Coast stem comes in 60-100mm lengths. Those shorter numbers are designed specifically to work with the wide bars, since the wider position would require you to stretch out more than a conventional setup. The compact cockpit keeps your body in comfortable position ideal for mixed-surface riding.
The forged alloy Coast stem come in +/- 7° rise with a 31.8mm removable face-plate clamp. It also includes a removable face-plate GoPro style mount (which we haven’t seen yet) so you can bolt up an action cam or a compatible light to get more out of your gravel riding. All that, at the same $69 / 75€ price as the bar.
How to size a wider & shorter PNW Coast gravel cockpit?
PNW admits that it isn’t an exact science to resize your current gravel bike cockpit setup. They really feel that the wide & compact setup improves off-road control on a drop bar bike, but it’s up to each rider how wide to go and the final fit “comes down to personal preference and what feels right for your body”. Their basic guideline though once you pick your new bar width is… “for every 2cm wider your bar is, your stem should be 10mm shorter”.
That means that if you go from a common 44cm drop bar with a 110mm stem to their narrow 48cm Coast Drop Bar, you’d want to try their 90mm stem. Or if you go wider to the 52cm Coast Drop Bar, you’d want the 70mm stem.
Both Coast gravel bar & stem are available now direct from PNW, as is the unique PNW Coast gravel dropper that also doubles as a suspension seatpost!
