Pinarello Dogma F10 revealed

The Pinarello Dogma F10 is the Italian company’s new flagship road bike. The organization, founded in Treviso, Italy in 1952 by Giovanni Pinarello, has worked on building on the strengths of the Dogma F8 to deliver a lighter and stiffer all-around race machine that will debut under the riders of Team Sky this month.

The most notable differences between the F8 and F10 include a wider, concave down tube and a “fork flap” that reduces drag at the front end of the bike. Increased integration comes in the form of E-Link, which puts the junction of the new Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset in the down tube making it easily accessible. In all, Pinarello claims the F10 is 6.3 per cent lighter and 7 per cent stiffer compared to the F8

Pinarello’s development of the new bike was a refinement of the F8 ensuring the F10’s frame has a good balance of stiffness, low weight, aerodynamics and handling. The esthetics of the bike were also important during the design process. The geometry didn’t undergo any changes, but thanks to improvements in the frame, Pinarello is confident it has delivered a bike that’s handling is precise and improves a rider’s control.

When working on the aerodynamics of the new Dogma F10, Pinarello analyzed the data from the development of Bradley Wiggins’s hour-record Bolide and the Bolide TT bikes. Two key changes to the F10 frame are the introduction of a concave down tube and the fork flap.

Pinarello says that the down tube contributes roughly 15 per cent of the overall drag. By making the down tube wider and concave, the company was able to improve the performance of the entire frame in the wind tunnel. The newly shaped down tube not only performed better in the wind tunnel, but also improved the flow of air across the whole frame according to Pinarello’s testing. The concave down tube allows air to move more smoothly along the water bottles and seat tube, areas which on the F8 created more air turbulence. Pinarello says the drag within the area between the down tube, seat tube and bottles was reduced 12.6 per cent by these changes.

The fork flap was originally developed on the hour-recor Bolide in order to reduce drag on the fork. The lever on a quick-release system may make it easier to perform a wheel change, but it affects the aerodynamics of the fork adversely. By adding more material around the dropout, Pinarello says its has reduced drag on the fork by as much as 10 per cent.

Additional improvements were made to address asymmetrical forces on the frame because of the position of the groupset on the right side of the bike. Since 2009, Pinarello has been studying these forces, which has resulted in frames designs that feature tubes on the right side of frame and fork that are larger than on the left side. Pinarello made structural refinements to better address this asymmetry. These modifications are intended to make the bike feel more responsive, especially when the bike is under a lot of stress during sprints or while climbing out of the saddle.

The primary carbon used on the Dogma F10 is Torayca T1100 1K which has a very high tensile strength. By studying the forces acting on the frame, and the properties of the different carbon used, Pinarello’s engineers have further adjusted the carbon layup to get the desired strength and feel in different parts of the frame. With strength and stiffness improved thanks to the shape of the tubing, the frame weight drop to a claimed 820 g from 875 g on a size 53 frame.

For easy integration, Pinarello uses E-Link, which puts the junction box of the new Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset in the down tube where the unit is easily accessible for recharging the Di2 battery or for adjustments the system while remaining hidden from view. The frame has internal cable routing, compatible with mechanical or electronic groupsets, an integrated Twin Force seat clamp and room to affix a battery inside the frame.

Pinarello has provided Team Sky with bikes since the British team’s inception in 2009 and will continue doing so until 2020. The new F10 will make it debut in January 2017.

The frame’s Canadian MSRP has yet to be announced. Pinarello Dogma F10 frames are arriving in Canada later this week. For more information on availability, check with your local Pinarello dealer.