PNW Components Range Stem With Accessory Mount Review
The PNW Components Range Stem with built-in GoPro compatible mount works with action cameras, lights, or other somewhat reasonable items you’d like to attach. What about a banana you ask? With a little ingenuity, we bet you could figure it out. The MSRP is $64.00 USD and you can buy it direct from PNW Components.
Available in 40mm and 50mm lengths, the stem is made of a forged alloy that allows it to take a few licks and remain in place. The Range stem with GoPro mount fits on 31.8mm handlebars, and it’s compatible with a 1 1/8 inch steerer tube. Be sure your steerer tube and bars meet these specs.
We had to swap out the handlebars on our younger kid’s bike because the original bars were too fat. The four-bolt mounting system is just like most stems and that makes it easy to install with a 4mm hex key.
After installing the stem, be sure that it’s centered on the steerer tube, the bars are aligned properly along their proper x- and y-axes, and all of the bolts [including those for the brakes, levers, and grips] are tightened down to the proper specs.
To adjust the angle of the mount, there’s a small bolt in the center of it. Just loosen it with a 3mm hex key, slide the mount vertically in its desired position, and tighten the bolt.
The PNW Components Range Stem weighs in at 174 grams for the 40mm size and 210 grams for the 50mm version. The neutral black color of the stem blends in with most existing bars so your mountain bike will maintain its fashion and increase its functionality at the same time.
When we paired the stem with a GoPro Hero 8, it worked just fine. Our oldest likes to keep his cables long on the bars so he can spin them doing jibs and thus the cables are visible in his clips. I bet we could have temporarily cleaned these up by either adding an extension to the mount or getting them out of the way with a zip tie or two.
Our oldest discovered the mount was pretty durable. While learning how to backflip, he took a couple hard crashes without anything in the mount and it didn’t break.
Using the PNW stem with a light is a no-brainer. Its clean and useful design allows you easily adjust angle of the light to the desired position so you can see the trail ahead of you.
Summing Up The PNW Components Range Stem
Overall, we think the PNW Components Range stem with accessory mount is a great idea and we’ll continue to use it. It cleans up the cockpit by allowing you to utilize a part of your bike that’s already there so you don’t have an additional camera mount or light mount on your bars. By design, the mount is centered on the bike so it provides a balanced point-of-view for a camera and brightly floods the trail ahead of you evenly when you use the stem with a compatible light.
