So it is finally official: There is a new Pinarello Dogma F – something which won’t come as a surprise if you saw coverage of this year’s Critérium du Dauphiné.
As is always the case, the new bike is reportedly lighter, more aero, stiffer, and, as a result, claimed to be faster than the model it supersedes.
Naturally enough, this new Dogma F also comes about as changes in UCI regulation, made some 12 months ago, have offered up wind tunnel verified aero gains – something which several bike brands have already taken advantage of.
Aerodynamics vs weight
In the launch material Pinarello points out that “Over the course of a Grand Tour, a 0.2% improvement in the coefficient of aerodynamic drag (CdA) equates to a 175g saving on the bike.”
To validate that theory, INEOS Grenadiers’ performance team measured Geraint Thomas’s performance data from the 2022 Tour de France. The team reportedly studied the average energy Thomas was expending and balanced that with the potential savings he could make in different riding situations i.e. on the flat, climbing, descending.
The result: Minor improvements in CdA and rolling resistance (tyre choice, not frame tube shapes) were found to be more valuable than saving weight. How much benefit came from which attribute we are not told.
Expanding on this, and relating it to riding of the kind paying customers will undertake, the brand points out that in Grand Tours, just like daily rides, it’s not always an uphill time trial (which G will also be pleased to hear).
Terrain constantly varies, even when riding in the Alps, Dolomites or Pyrenees.
Examined objectively, Pinarello concluded that aerodynamic gains are worth more than weight savings, and, so we’re told, that’s why, with the new Dogma F, the brand didn’t focus solely on saving weight.
Hence, whilst the new model is 108g lighter than the previous edition, the primary concern was to reduce the bike’s CdA by 0.2%
Here we are counting on the likes of Alex Thomas – aka Peak Torque – to share some independent engineering insights. Keeping the name-dropping theme going, it would also have been interesting to know how much input former Hour Record holder, fully paid-up aero geek, and full-time INEOS Grenadiers’ staff member, Dan Bigham, had in the development of the new bike.
New M40X Carbon Fibre
The Dogma F’s M40X carbon fibre is said to be the result of countless hours of testing on its X-Light models, and on INEOS Grenadiers’ bikes. Pinarello points to a “ground-breaking lay-up (which) has an exceptional tensile module that has enabled us to take lateral stiffness to the next level”.
What we know for certain is this – Torayca M40X – is the same material which a certain German brand used to build what was, at the time, its lightest-ever hardtail XC MTB. Good enough for MvP. Definitely good enough for you and me.
Bike weight (size 53, no pedals, no bottles)*
- 6.63kg – SRAM RED Etap AXS Princeton Peak 4550 wheels
- 6.77kg – Shimano Dura Ace Princeton Peak 4550 wheels
- 6.88kg – Campagnolo Wireless, Bora WTO 45 wheels
Pricing
- Complete bikes (with top end specifications) start at 14,500 EUR, 14,500 USD and 12,600 GBP
- Framesets (including fork and seat post) start at 6,700 EUR, 6,950 USD and 5,500 GBP
*As provided in the launch materials
