Blingy bike news alert! Today, Chico’s own Paul Component Engineering, known for its machining wizardry, and for manufacturing beautiful parts for bicycles since 1989, announced their new, limited 7/8″ (22.2mm) Boxcar Stem.
According to Paul Components, “7/8″ handlebars seem to attract the most abusive riders out there”. so they took their already popular Boxcar stem, and “beefed it up even further”. The new stems, as with all of their Boxcar stems, are made using 2024 alloy because it has a higher fatigue and yield strength than 6061.
Paul Components states that they prefer to let the function and material properties dictate the shape of the product. Sure, some of their products look different, but they say that’s because they want the product to “work as awesome as possible”.
So that being said, they made sure that the clamp was extra thick on this limited version. They also added two more high-strength, stainless steel T25 Torx-type faceplate screws. I have to admit, it looks super strong and utilitarian with the extra faceplate screws. They know it’s overkill, but they wanted to make sure this was the last 7/8″ stem you ever buy.
7/8″ Boxcar Origin Story
From their website:
“This stem was designed from the ground up to be stiff, strong, and light. We went through several design iterations and believe we’ve reached the best combination of these three principles. Extensive, real-world, and machine testing have proven this to be one strong stem”.
“With respect to torsion, the rounded box shape is some 25% stiffer than the competition. As for strength, we ran it through 1,000,000 cycles of above-normal use stress without a single problem.”
“How’d we get it so light, while still being so strong? We started with obsessive computer design time, then took the highest quality, American 2024 aerospace alloy and precision machined it to a .002” tolerance (that’s really tight for a stem). We use over 20 different end mills, drills, saws, and taps to make 1 stem”.
Features and Retail
Retail: $ 147.50 (all colors) $166.50 (polished)
Colors: Black, Silver, Purple, Pewter, and Polished.
Sizes: 35mm and 50mm
Technical Info
- Weight (including hardware): 180g (35mm), and 201g (50mm)
- Material: American 2024 Aerospace Aluminum
- Finish: Anodized and polished
- Anodized Color: Black, Silver, Purple, and Pewter
- Bar Clamp Diameter: 7/8″ (22.2mm)
- Length: 35mm or 50mm
- Stem Angle (deg): +/- 0
- S.H.I.S. Steerer clamp Diameter: 28.6
- Stack Height: 36mm
- Torque Settings: Steerer tube: 5nm, Faceplate: 4nm
- Face Plate Width: 46mm
