It's safe to say we love the Range Handlebar KW Edition, and no it's not just because they're our product, but because they truly help keep us comfortable on long rides. We developed the Range Handlebar with the help of PNW Squad member Kyle Warner with a few goals in mind: improving ride quality/comfort at an affordable price while giving back to the community we all love. Watch the video below to hear from Kyle about how we went about achieving that goal!
You can follow Kyle on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.
Photos by Trevor Lyden: Instagram, Facebook, Website
For those of you that would rather read about what Kyle has to say, here is the transcript from the video:
Hey whats up guys my name is Kyle Warner. Today we're out here at Eagle Bike Park in Boise, Idaho doing a little bit of riding and also talking about these PNW Components Handlebars that we've been working on. These handlebars are called the Range Handlebar KW Edition, which is my signature handlebar. I'm really excited to be part of this project with PNW.
We've been working on this handlebar for about the past year or so and what we really wanted to work on the most and focus on was rider comfort. I personally have two really bar wrists, so what we really wanted to try to do was experiment with some different rises and back sweeps and see if we could try to alleviate some of that pain. After playing with a bunch of different handlebars we actually settled on this bar with little bit more back sweep than I've ever ridden, and that allows your wrist to open up on the inside which gives you a little bit more straight line push through. It's not taking quite as much abuse on the inside of your wrist. After we went to this handlebar, longer days don't really give me quite as much pain anymore and on really rough trails it seems like it's helped that a ton as well.
Another thing we wanted to think about when we were doing this handlebar was what material we were going to choose. I prefer aluminum [for two reasons]: 1. From a waste stand point, and 2. from a rider safety stand point. Over the years of riding I've seen way too many failures with carbon bars and so I just wanted to do something nice that was aluminum, a little bit safer, really good ride quality, and still comes it at a great price point. We're able to hit just under $70 which is really cool, and we chose a 2014 aluminum, which is an alloy thats in the middle between a 6061 and 7075 which is what you'll mostly see companies use. I felt like this was a great balance of stiffness and compliance.
Basically what you want in a handlebar is that it can absorb the small chatter bumps that your suspension isn't going to be able to handle, those high frequency vibrations that are kind of like washboards on a road. With too stiff of a handlebar you get a lot of that vibration coming through into your wrist, but with this alloy it seems to absorb a ton of that while also giving you enough stiffness when you're pushing into a corner and trying to dig your tire knobs into the dirt to get traction. It's still stiff enough to allow you to get that feel that you're looking for. So I felt like it was a really good compromise. Between the back sweep that we chose and this material, I've been in love with these bars, they feel so good. It's been a huge game changer for me and it's definitely something that I'm really excited about and I want to pass this on to people that do have wrist injuries or are looking for a nice quality handlebar at a good price point.
So the absolute coolest part about these handlebars is the fact that 5% of all proceeds go towards N.I.C.A. (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) which is the high school mountain bike association here in the United States. The crew at PNW Components love cycling, Aaron and Emily, the owners, are great people, and they just want to continue to invest in the sport. We chatted amongst each other and instead of myself pulling a small royalty off of these bars, we're basically just rolling that towards donations for N.I.C.A. At the end of the year we're going to have a lump sum check that we're going to give to N.I.C.A. that will help pay for staffing, coaching, getting kids on bikes and everything else you can think of. So basically, what better way to invest in the sport that you love than through the next generation.
That's what we wanted to try to do with this bar: give people something affordable, that rides great, and does something for the community. So if you're in the market for a handlebar, definitely check these out. The PNW Range KW Edition Handlebar comes in 780mm length, 30mm rise, and like I said we really focused on the rider comfort so I think you guys will be happy. It comes in a grey, teal or orange, so no matter what color scheme you have on your bike we should have one that works. If you want to just get out and rip then get a handlebar like this on your bike and it should help you out!