The Paul Components Boxcar Stem is the perfect combination of stiffness, strength, and light weight. Designed from the ground up to be stiff, strong, and very light, the team at Paul Components went through several design iterations and real world testing before landing on this superior combination of the three principals.
With respect to torsion, the rounded box shape is some 25% stiffer than the competition. As for strength, they ran it through 1,000,000 cycles of above normal use stress without a single problem. How’d they get it so light, while still being so strong? They started with obsessive computer design time, then took the strongest and highest quality alloy made (American 2024), and precision machined it to .002” tolerance (that’s really tight for a stem). They use over 20 different end mills, drills, saws and taps to make 1 stem.
The stems come in a zero rise and a +/- 15-degree rise, and in 110mm length they are available in +/- 7-degree rise. Lengths are 35, 50, 70, 90, and 110mm. All screws are the same pan head T25 Torx type screws in stainless steel. Why Torx? To encourage torque wrench usage and avoid strippage (People tend to overtighten faceplate bolts). Also, the Torx head is wider, distributing stress better, and is the same wrench size as the ubiquitous rotor screws all makers use. Also, SRAM has made a switch to T25 screw heads in almost all their products, which is a good sign.
As usual, by letting the function and material properties dictate the shape of the product, the team at Paul Components have come up with another one of their often complimented and purposeful designs. Yes, it looks a little different, but there is always one good reason for this: to make it work as awesome as possible.
This product was added to our catalog on August 14, 2020
