22.2 Ain’t Dead! A Look at the Paul Component Engineering 22.2 Boxcar 6-Bolt Face Stem – john watson | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

⌀22.2mm or 7/8″ bars were all they had back during the genesis of the almighty MOUNTAINBIKE. Riders would take the entire cockpit off their dirtbikes and flat track racers: Magura L363.20 bars, Magura brake/clutch levers, and even Magura grips, mounting them to SR or Cinelli quill stems. A lot has changed since the late 1970s but one thing remains: people love these small-diameter clamp bars for their mountain cruisers, klunkers, hardtails, and rigid MTBs. You know, the bikes that get ridden super hard!

Paul Component Engineering offers their normal Boxcar stem in a ⌀22.2mm clamp, but today they announced a 6-bolt faceplate Boxcar Limited stem ($147.50 – $166.50).

John got his hands on one before the drop and has some photos and thoughts below…

Standard ⌀22.2 Boxcar on the left, limited edition 6-bolt faceplate ⌀22.2 Boxcar, right.

Limited Boxcar Stem

So why the extra two bolts? Well, the answer is easy: why not? Why not make a faceplate a little bit stronger for those riders who like ⌀22.2 bars? Especially when you’re torquing down some 850mm wide DOOM bars! That’s the thing with ⌀22.2 bars; most are very wide. PAUL doesn’t have an issue with its 4-bolt faceplates but they thought it’d be fun to up the ante a bit more and beefen up the connection between the Boxcar and these wide-ass barz.

PAUL already uses 2024 alloy for its Boxcar stems. This particular aluminum has a higher fatigue and yield strength than 6061. Then, PAUL. made sure the clamp was extra thick in the 6-bolt design. Is all this effort and engineering overkill? Definitely.

To keep it niche, PAUL makes this stem in 35mm and 50mm lengths; i.e. the ideal extension for mountain bike riding. These are 0º rise stems.

As you can see, ⌀22.2 bars and this new, 6-bolt Boxcar stem can drastically transform the look of any bike. Including a cargo bike! More on that later…

This is why I love small makers. They can sense a demand for a niche product, for a niche community, and after some CAD work, machining work, and testing, they’ve got a super fun product you didn’t think you needed.

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