Score 9/10 Pros Fast

Aero

Lightweight Cons Expensive

Harsh ride Price as reviewed: £10,500.00

It is arguably the fastest bike available today winning the Tour de France in its first season. We found the Pinarello Dogma F12 to be fast, light and a true thoroughbred. There is no doubting it deserves a place in this years Editor’s Choice.

It has already won a Grand Tour, which adds to the large tally that Pinarello’s Dogma range already has. However, it isn’t a complete overhaul for the new bike, or a new way of thinking from previous models. It’s a number of subtle improvement over the last edition that makes the new Pinarello F12 one of the hottest bikes of 2019.

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It was launched relatively quietly earlier this year alongside the news of sponsorship change from Team Sky to Team Ineos. I’ve managed to spend some time with the racing machine over the last month and through that time, wished I had something like this to race a few years back!

>>> Pinarello range explained

As you can see, the new Pinarello F12 looks very similar to the previous F10, so what has changed? Well the headline figures suggest it is stiffer and faster than the F10 and I would agree with that.

The new Pinarello F12 and F12 disc have been two years in the making, according to Pinarello, and have been drawn from broad technical know-how, using complex studies involving Pinarello’s leading structural and aerodynamic knowledge – but no mention of passion yet: not very Italian!

Like the previous versions of the Dogma F family first seen back in 2014 with the F8, Pinarello says one thing had to be maintained from the previous version and that is its ‘all-round’ characteristics, ultimately offering a fast bike rather than an aero bike.

The frame

Aerodynamics of the new Pinarello F12 have been improved overall by eight watts at 40kph compared to the F10. That has been made possible with a new integrated handlebar and stem that now hides all the cables, which are routed internally straight into the frame – Pinarello claims a five per cent drag reduction here.

An all-new handlebar has been produced for this to happen from its in-house brand Most called the Talon Ultra. The frontal area of the bar making up over 20 per cent of the total exposed area at the front of the bike means it is a fairly important feature to get right.

A smart split spacer design will allow for easier servicing and finer tuning of fit, which of course helps hide cables from the wind via a similar design found on the Giant Propel.

The Pinarello Dogma F12 Onda fork and Torayca T1100 carbon fibre frame has also been reworked to save a further 7.3 per cent compared to the F10.

So, if my rough maths is correct that is around eight seconds saved every 10 miles, around half a kilometre an hour saved over the Pinarello Dogma F10.

Overall stiffness has been improved by 10 per cent thanks to a rework of the chainstay and forks. However, if this is anything like the difference between the F8 to F10, then we are in for a harsher ride.

You also now get direct-mount brakes for the rim version and a reworked fork for the disc version. This is music to my ears as braking with both the direct mount set up for rim and hydraulic disc brakes is far superior to just the single pivot rim brake design.

That means tyre clearance is upped to 28c, although you could just about squeeze 28s into the F10, and I reckon you could push it a little more on the F12 too.

The ride

Undoubtedly the Pinarello F12 is a racing machine. Having ridden the F8, subsequent F10 and now the latest and great model, there has been a small shift towards pure performance at each step. Stiffness is something mentioned a lot when it comes to performance bikes and that is what the Pinarello F12 has in the bucket loads.

It feels on the edge, nimble, hardcore if you will, and something I would have loved to race with a few years back. It leaves you with no doubt that it will help you go that bit quicker. I can see why Team Ineos use this bike and have stayed with Pinarello over the last few years. It works, its fast and can be used on all but the time trial stages.

Out on the road it is capable, and with a relatively shallow wheel the Pinarello F12 is useable both at the weekend and midweek. It feels robust and I wouldn’t worry about it being delicate. The forks are something to consider, they feel like they have such a wide stance that jumping out of the saddle offers an odd sensation compared to more traditional shaped forks. A few rides in and it’s not as noticeable.

That does come at a price though, and that is comfort. I dare say that there isn’t any comfort, despite wider tyres.

OK, maybe it is fair to say that the Pinarello F12 in unforgiving rather than offering a complete lack of comfort, as much can be changed with tyres, fit, components etc. However, to put it into context, Cycling Weekly‘s lunch time loop in Hampshire has a few rough roads shall we say, and never have I pinch punctured on that ride over past two or three years. 10 minutes into the first ride, BANG, first flat.

Of course this could be down to rather bad luck but it isn’t something I have experienced on a pair of Pirelli P-Zero’s only pumped up to about 80/90 psi. From there on in I made damn sure to missed anything that resembled a bad surface.

It is so quick though, and despite my lack of racing prowess over the years I happily kept up with tech counterpart James Bracey on our lunch time rides, where previously I had been dropped. I even scored some top Strava times! I even did some turns!

The bike supplied is probably one size bigger than I’d usually go for, so the position was particularly aggressive. But the bike is light, for a size 54cm it weighs under the UCI weight limit at 6.71kg and this is where I think Pinarello has made some great gains. A 52cm F10 did sit around 7kg. It may not sound like much, but a frame size bigger and being a pretty aerodynamic bike, it is very light.

Value… or lack of it

We’ve got to talk about price. The Pinarello F12 can be built up to £12,000. This one costs £10,500, an astronomical amount of money and something I could never imagine buying outright myself. Is Pinarello now verging on boutique? Has Pinarello now priced itself out of the common cycling market?

If we follow Dr. Hutch’s ‘Hutchinson’s second law’ it suggests roughly that a 10w saving costs around £1,000 and, looking at the headline figures coming out about the F12, that is roughly how much more the frameset costs compared to the F10.

>>> Buy now: Pinarello Dogma F12 Dura Ace Di2 from Primera for £10,000

You get Shimano’s top flight Dura-Ace groupset and a set of bling Fulrcrum racing carbon wheels so there isn’t much in the way of improvement componentry wise.

If you do want one of the fastest racing bikes in the world, you really do have to pay for it. Thankfully though, some of that technology is creeping down the Pinarello range at a more affordable price and Pinarello are even branching into other sectors like gravel.

So if the Pinarello F12 is out of reach for you, as it is me, then maybe something like the Prince or Gan would work for you, certainly will leave your wallet with some cash to spare!

Verdict Without doubt the Pinarello F12 is a fast racing bike and if you have the money and want to reap the benefit, do go out and buy one. However, it is rather expensive to say the least and a fairly harsh ride, which stops the Pinarello F12 being a 10 out of 10 bike.

Details

Frame: Pinarello Carbon Torayca T1100 1K Dream Carbon with Nanoalloy technology

Fork: Pinarello ONDA F12 with ForkFlap™

Stem: MOST Talon Ultra integrated

Handlebar: MOST Talon Ultra integrated

Groupset: Shimano Dura Ace Di2

Wheels: Fulcrum Wind 400

Tyres: Pirelli P Zero

Weight: 6.71kg

Contact: www.pinarello.com

