Is Pinarello’s new Dogma F the next Tour de France winning bike? (And yes, you can still have rim brakes)

Italian bike maker Pinarello has announced the latest generation of its flagship Dogma race bike, calling it the Dogma F.

It’s an all-new superbike available in both disc and rim brake options, both boasting a long list of refinements over the previous Dogma F12.

Claimed to be lighter, stiffer, and more aerodynamic, the Dogma F will be the bike of choice for Ineos Grenadiers, and we’re expecting it to appear at the 2021 Tour de France.

The Dogma F will retail at £5,400 for a frameset, £11,000 for a complete bike with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, and £12,000 / $14,500 for one with SRAM Red eTap AXS. Other international pricing is to be confirmed.

Pinarello says it dropped the numerical naming system because “a Pinarello Dogma is an icon, it goes beyond a number or superficial classifications”. The idea seems to be to introduce a kind of timelessness to the platform.

Pinarello doesn’t differentiate between aero and lightweight for its Tour de France bikes and so, like the Venge-killing Specialized Tarmac SL 7, the Dogma F is intended to be the best possible race bike for all riders.

Pinarello Dogma F: stiffer, lighter and more aero

At a glance, you could be forgiven for thinking the bike has barely changed.

The overall look is very similar to that of the F12, with the signature Onda (wave) fork and very muscular curves. However, the Dogma F is entirely new.

Like previous Dogmas, its back end is distinctly asymmetrical to match asymmetrical pedalling forces, and Pinarello says the new bike is 12 per cent stiffer at the bottom bracket.

This is the bike we spotted under Richard Carapaz at the Tour de Suisse a couple of weeks back and, at the time, we noted a new down tube design, as well as tweaked seatstays.

The Dogma F is a fully integrated design with cables almost entirely hidden from view and a one-piece proprietary cockpit that sits on an exceptionally beefy, straight 1.5in fork steerer (the majority of modern road bike fork steerers are tapered from 1 ½in to 1 ⅛in).

Where previously the top of the down tube stepped down twice, the new version steps down and back up again.

At the back end, the seatstays extend away from the seat tube before heading towards the rear axle, rather than taking a direct line.

This is all to do with the aerodynamic development Pinarello has carried out and the brand says that while the F12 was already pretty darned aero, the F makes further savings, with the disc and rim brake models being 4.8 per cent and 3.2 per cent “more aero” than their respective predecessors.

For the Dogma F Disc, this translates to a 1.3-watt saving at 40km/h and a 2.6-watt saving at 50km/h.

While the press materials for the new bike are keen to stress that “on the road, it’s responsiveness and comfort that matter more than shaving off a few grams”, weight savings get a lot of attention.

Pinarello says the Dogma F Disc’s frame kit (frame, fork, seatpost, cockpit) is 265g lighter in total, with key savings at the seatpost, headset, fork.

The brand quotes weight reductions of 27g for the seat tube and 25g for the headset, along with a 35g saving thanks to a new SLM (Selective Laser Melting, i.e. 3D printed) titanium seat clamp, and 40g for the new Most Talon Ultrafast cockpit that replaces the previous Talon Ultra.

The new rim brake fork is said to be 58g lighter than previously, while on the disc model a new thru-axle design saves 20g.

There is a slight question mark over the weight of the frame itself. While there’s a weight savings theme to the whole launch, the claimed figures of 865g for an unpainted 53cm Dogma F Disc and 860g for the rim brake version are actually slightly higher than the figures of 840g and 820g Pinarello published with the release of the Dogma F12 back in 2019.

We’ve asked for clarification, but it appears possible that while the complete package has got lighter, the frame itself has gained a tiny bit of weight in exchange for aero gains – not necessarily a bad thing when aero almost invariably trumps weight for the purposes of racers.

In any case, Pinarello says a 53cm disc frameset built up with SRAM Red eTap AXS and DT Swiss ARC 1400 wheels will weigh 6.9kg without pedals, while one with Dura-Ace R9100 will be 6.8kg.

Adding pedals will likely push those over the 7kg mark, but that’s not unusual for a bike with significant aero features and discs. Rim brake models will apparently dip under the 6.8kg UCI minimum weight with ease.

On a practical note, Pinarello hasn't gone big with tyre clearances, and they're officially limited to 28mm for both rim and disc brake variants. The brand has also stuck – dogmatically, one might say – with an Italian threaded bottom bracket, presumably for reasons of tradition.

No “t-shirt” sizing

Pinarello says “we will never use t-shirt sizes to measure our bikes”, offering the Dogma in 11 different sizes from 43cm to 62cm.

That’s pretty unusual in the age of moulded carbon and it’s something to be applauded – moulds are expensive, so there’s a strong incentive for manufacturers to try and cover a range of rider heights with fewer sizes.

The Dogma F’s numbers are pretty standard for racy road bike geometry – a nominal 54cm frameset has 385mm of reach and 551mm of stack, while the angles are suitably steep and racy.

While Pinarello is generous with its frame sizes, riders are limited to a choice of 16 different variants of the Most Talon Ultrafast cockpit.

That might sound like plenty but, as it’s a one-piece design, that covers all available stem lengths and bar widths. Stems range from 90mm to 140mm, while bar widths cover 420mm to 460mm.

Given how focussed Pinarello is on aerodynamics, we were a little surprised not to see narrower bar options on offer – going narrower is one of the easiest aerodynamic gains you can make on a road bike.

However, Pinarello apparently measures it's bars outside-to-outside, rather than the more common centre-to-centre, so a 420mm bar will measure up more like a conventional 380mm-wide one, which is reasonably narrow.

These details are worth paying attention to – on a more everyday bike, you could simply look to the aftermarket for alternatives if the stock option doesn't work for you, but the Dogma F’s non-standard 1.5in steerer means that’s not a simple option.

It will be interesting to see if any Ineos riders are given options not offered to the buying public.

We've spotted Luke Rowe riding the new Dogma F on a training ride ahead of the Tour de France and he appears to be using a standard handlebar. Rowe has typically used an alloy, classic bend on the old Dogma F12, so it's likely Pinarello may be offering the option for Ineos riders once again.

Colour options and availability

At launch, the Dogma F will be available in three paintjobs called Plutonium Flash, Eruption Red and Black on Black.

Availability is from December this year, with Pinarello’s custom MyWay paint options to follow later.

Is this the next Tour-winning bike?

Is this the next Tour de France winning bike? With Ineos Grenadiers’ record, that’s entirely possible.

Whatever you think of the Dogma F, it’s certainly not boring – Pinarellos are arguably the most distinctive WorldTour bikes in the pro peloton.

We’d love to hear what you think of the new Dogma F, so let us know your thoughts in the comments.