Single test 2016: Pinarello Dogma F8 - Tour de France winning bike: Pinarello Dogma F8 on test

Viewed soberly, the Dogma F8 is a high-quality, modern racing bike. But who looks at an Italian racing bike without emotion? Especially when it's the model on which the Tour de France was won in 2015? Team Sky's Chris Froome's victory was the twelfth Tour success for the brand from Villorba since 1988. For many Pinarello fans, this alone is probably reason enough to give their heart to the Dogma F8 and open their wallets wide for it.

Subjecting a bike like this to a disdainful laboratory test almost seems like an insult to majesty. Despite all the awe, we couldn't get out of our skin in the end. How good is the Dogma F8 without Chris Froome? To find out, we put the bike through its paces in the TOUR lab and carried out an individual test in the GST wind tunnel on Lake Constance. A lot of effort for a single bike, but appropriate given the prominence of the candidate.

INDEPENDENT APPEARANCE

Pinarello remains true to form with the Dogma F8. The bike has that touch of extravagance that characterises many Italian bikes. This is not necessarily synonymous with elegance; whether the head tube, which is reminiscent of a ship's bow, or the step at the transition between the fork crown and head tube are elegant is debatable. The oppositely curved fork with the conspicuously widely spaced sheaths could also irritate fans of classic Italian frame construction. However, the somewhat unconventional shape is justified when you look at the wind tunnel result. 206.2 watts of resistance, measured at 45 km/h with a dummy rider, is a peak value.

Compared to other current aero racing bikes (see TOUR 1/2016), the Dogma F8 is a remarkably uncomplicated bike. It has normal side-pull brakes and a bottom bracket with an Italian thread. Not only professional mechanics, who save a lot of time during assembly, are happy about this, but also DIY hobby riders. Nevertheless, the Dogma F8 is the fifth fastest bike TOUR has ever tested in the aero category. In the overall ranking of the test in January, the bike would have finished fourth out of 15 competitors.

FAST, STIFF, HARD

The excellent frame stiffness also contributes to this good result; the Dogma F8 is exceptionally torsionally stiff and stable. The developers focussed less on weight and suspension comfort. A little over 1,000 grams for the frame in size 55 and an additional 409 grams for the extremely stiff fork are comparatively heavy, but this is rather unimportant in view of the intended use. The test bike weighs 7.0 kilos with the complete Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, handlebar-stem unit and time trial wheels from Mavic with 60 millimetre high rims. With a few modifications - especially lighter wheels - the bike can easily be brought down to the 6.8 kilos that the UCI prescribes as the lower limit for competition bikes. However, the CXR-60 wheels are an important factor for the good aero result. In the comparative measurement, the Dogma F8 is even a blink of an eye faster than the reference Zipp 404, but in practice you will probably rarely see the bike with the CXR 60. With medium-height rims, the bike is more agile, climbs more easily and reacts less to crosswinds than with the CXR 60. What is also noticeable on the road is the pronounced hardness of the handlebars and saddle - certainly the bike's biggest weakness. That's why the Dogma F8 is so much fun when you really let it rip. Thanks to its enormous stiffness, the bike is extremely stable on the road. On fast descents you feel very secure, on long straights against the wind you can clearly feel the aero advantage. On the other hand, rolling at a relaxed pace somehow doesn't work - the bike seems to constantly force you to go fast.

EXPENSIVE SPONSORSHIP

Making friends with the Dogma F8 is not difficult - until you find out the price. The German sales partner FPO asked us to only publish the price for the frame set; the price for the complete bike, as we were able to ride it, is probably not too far off the 15,000 euro mark. Obviously, FPO itself is a little uncomfortable with the calculation given from Italy. However, Pinarello probably has to charge a five-figure price for bikes of this calibre, after all, as a comparatively small manufacturer they sponsor Team Sky, one of the most expensive racing teams in the professional peloton. Because Pinarello knows how important the image of the winning brand is for the company's success, the supplier contract with Sky was recently extended prematurely by four years. It is more likely that a Pinarello rider will win the Tour again than that the price of the Dogma will fall to a pulse-lowering level in the foreseeable future ...

CONCLUSIONCompetition bike without compromise. Super aerodynamic, extremely stable, excellent power transfer, many frame sizes. Hardly any suspension comfort, high price.

OVERALL GRADE 1.6

Price 4,999 Euro (frame set)
Weight 7.0 kilos
Info www.pinarello.com

Weight frame/fork/steering bearing* 1,019/405/82 grammes
Frame sizes** 42, 44, 46,5, 47, 50, 51,5, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57.5, 59.5, 62 cm
Seat/top tube/head tube 540/555/158 mm
Stack/Reach/STR*** 564/391 mm/1.44

Drive/brakes Shimano Dura-Ace (50/34 t.; Italian thread)
Circuit Shimano Dura-Ace Di2
Wheels/tyres (Weights) Mavic CXR Ultimate 60T/Mavic CXR Ultimate Powerlink/Griplink 23 mm (tubular tyre; f./h. 1,084/1,476 grams)

* Weighed weights.
** Manufacturer's specification, test size bold.
*** Stack/reach projected vertical/horizontal measurement from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the head tube; STR (Stack to Reach) 1.36 means a very stretched, 1.60 an upright riding position.