Pinarello Dogma F Dura Ace Di2

The new Pinarello Dogma F Dura Ace Di2 sits at the top of the range. It's more about refinement than a complete relaunch but the subtle tweaks have honed the performance, handling and efficiency to a level that it really can't be faulted, and at around 13 grand there are certainly no excuses for that not to be the case.

> Buy now: Pinarello Dogma F Dura Ace Di2 for £12,600 from Sigma Sports

Check out our guide to the best road bikes, from under £1,000 to what more than £10,000 can get you…

Pinarello Dogma F Dura Ace Di2: Ride

The Dogma F is ridden by the pros at the highest level, so it's no surprise that its main focus is on stiffness and efficiency, with comfort less of a consideration. That's to say, the Pinarello offers a very firm ride indeed, something I'm fine with, even as a non-racer these days, but if you are riding a lot of miles on typical UK roads you might find the vibration a touch jarring after a while, and be better off with Pinarello's endurance version, the Dogma X.

I certainly can't knock its performance, though. The whole frame is really tight, without a whiff of flex anywhere at all, and especially stiff around the bottom bracket area.

The front end is also very stiff thanks to the large head tube junction, and the fork matches the frame. It handles hard cornering or braking excellently, with no flex in the fork legs or understeer when pushing the bike into bends at speed.

With the weight knocking on the door of the UCI's minimum limit, it's going to come as no surprise that the Dogma F feels nimble and very responsive. I don't really enjoy climbing, but the Pinarello definitely made it more bearable, and getting out of the saddle to give the pedals a dig is definitely very rewarding.

On smooth roads the Dogma F allows plenty of feedback from road to rider, which does give you a lot of confidence to hold speed on descents or to throw it into a roundabout or corner without fear of writing off your pride and joy. It's not the best at it, though, as the immense stiffness can alienate you a bit on rougher back roads. I was riding the Canyon Aeroad CFR at the same time as the Dogma F and I'd say that has the better quality and road manners.

Pinarello has made some tweaks to the front end geometry on this iteration of the Dogma F, but as I haven't ridden the previous one I can't say how much of a change it has made.

I did find this Pinarello handled well, though. On fast-flowing downhills it feels very planted, while the steering feels quick but with a hint of neutrality to it, which keeps thing in check. A couple of times after heavy rain I entered a tight bend to find gravel and grit washed out onto the road and a dab of the brakes and a change of line at speed never upset the Dogma's behaviour. It remained rather composed, in fact, which was reassuring.

With all of the aero tweaks and designs it won't surprise you that this feels like a quick bike when you get to open the legs up on a flat section. Admittedly, the frame and fork make up such a small amount of the package compared with the rider that any wind-cheating abilities are going to be marginal, but it certainly feels efficient. The geometry allowed me to find a great position on the bike for getting out of the wind and getting the power down, plus all of that stiffness around the bottom bracket made putting the effort in very rewarding.

Pinarello Dogma F Dura Ace Di2: Frame & fork

As I said above, this latest Dogma F has seen some tweaks and refinements over the previous model that we reviewed last year, rather than being a complete redesign. And to be fair, that is a good thing as Aaron called it a 'perfectly balanced, superfast thoroughbred race bike'.

One of the biggest changes is to the carbon fibre composite used in the frame's construction. Previously it was Toray's T1100, but that has now changed to its M40X. Toray developed it some time back and Pinarello says that it carried out loads of testing using it on its X-Light models and the team bikes used by Ineos Grenadiers.

It's said to have increased tensile strength and tensile modulus in the carbon fibres. Basically, you can build just as stiff a frame with less material and therefore lower the overall weight, or have a frame of the same weight but stiffer.

Aside from the material change, the Dogma F has seen lots of small tweaks to make it more efficient, reducing CdA (aerodynamic drag, basically) by 0.2% apparently as a weighted average over different yaw angles.

The head tube 'nose' area has been reduced in size, with the width dropping by 8mm to create a more streamlined frontal area. This has also meant a new tapered headset design where the internal hose/cable routing has been moved from the sides of the fork's steerer tube to the front.

The down tube has also been redeveloped to reduce the thickness to improve frontal aerodynamic performance, according to Pinarello.

The bottom bracket area is huge on this frame, and by taking things learnt from its Hour Record bike, the down tube shape has been fettled here to improve the aero performance of the BB area by 1.2%.

This newest design of the Onda fork is slimmer to improve aerodynamics and now comes with a 47mm rake, which was tested by the pro riders who claimed it improves handling and speed on the descents.

Other neat little details include the way the thru-axle threads are incorporated into the frame and fork, so you have a completely smooth finish on one side.

The overall design of Pinarello's top-end bikes has always met with a variety of opinions, and I don't see this Dogma F being any less divisive. I love the Luxter Blue paintjob, mind.

While most brands will produce around five different sizes in a carbon bike, Pinarello offers a whopping 11. Each size is named after the length of the seat tube, kicking off with a 430 and finishing with a 620. Those equate to effective top tube lengths of 500mm to 620mm.

Our bike is the 550, which has a 557mm top tube, and stack and reach numbers of 561mm and 389mm respectively. The head tube length is 147mm and sits at a 72.8-degree angle, while the seat angle is a little steeper at 73.4 degrees.

Pinarello Dogma F Dura Ace Di2: Groupset

As the name suggests, this model comes fitted with the latest Shimano Dura-Ace 9200 Di2 groupset which we've reviewed separately, if you want to go into more detail. To summarise, though, it's incredibly smooth and very fast, with probably the lightest action at the levers across all of the groupsets on the market.

Truth be told, its benefits over Ultegra Di2 are marginal, but if you want to emulate the pros or only the best will do, its premium price can be justified.

Our bike came fitted with the compact 50/34-tooth chainset paired with an 11-34T cassette, so more pro looks rather than pro performance. It worked for my amateur legs, and it's a good spread of gears that doesn't limit you to any specific kind of topography.

The battery life is good overall so there is no need for any range anxiety, and when the need arises the charge times from flat are short, a couple of hours maybe. The charge port is on the rear mech, so you have to charge it on the bike as opposed to being able to remove the batteries like on 'true' wireless systems like SRAM AXS or Campagnolo's electronic Super Record WRL, which have no wires at all. (Shimano has wireless shifters but the frame battery is connected to the mechs by wires, meaning you have to charge the battery in situ.)

If you wanted either of those instead of Dura-Ace, the Dogma F is available with SRAM Red and Campagnolo Super Record WRL.

Braking power is impressive in all conditions, and the modulation is very easy to control.

Pinarello Dogma F Dura Ace Di2: Finishing kit

The rest of the kit is similarly top end, all coming from Pinarello's Most in-house component brand.

The integrated handlebar is the Most Talon Ultra Fast, which Pinarello says is lighter and more aero than its predecessor. Something I am a fan of are the flared drops; they aren't as extreme as you'll find on a gravel-specific bike, with just a subtle kick out either side, but it's enough to give you a slightly wider hand position when in the lower sections of the bar, which slows the handling down a touch and gives more confidence on wet roads.

I found the bar comfortable when riding on the hoods, as I did the flat aero design of the tops when climbing with my hands closer to the stem. As with all aero integrated bars, you won't be able to fit anything to it, so Pinarello has included an out-front mount for your computer, although if you want to fit a front light you'll need one that'll use a GoPro-style mounting system so it can fit underneath the handlebar.

The seatpost is frame specific and has a very narrow aero profile. Pinarello has painted it the same colour as the frame, which looks very smart indeed. The only downside is that if you have to adjust it for height it can get scratched easily, which never looks great on a bike as expensive as this.

The saddle is a short-nosed design called the Ultrafast Superflow L Carbon, which has carbon fibre rails and base, and a cutout to reduce any kind of numbness. I liked it a lot and found that the short shape gives plenty of comfort when crouched over using the drops.

Pinarello Dogma F Dura Ace Di2: Wheels & tyres

Pinarello hasn't scrimped on the wheels, with a set of Princeton Carbonworks Peak 4550s. I reviewed a set of the Evolution versions back in April, and at 1,220g they are incredibly light, but they are a lot of money for no huge performance gains that I could tell.

Those used here aren't the Evolutions, and they have quite a narrow internal rim width compared to many modern wheels.

Pinarello has chosen some excellent tyres to wrap around those wheels, though: Continental's GP 5000S. These are some of the best tyres out there for performance without giving much away in terms of reliability and durability.

They have a supple feel, which adds to feedback, and the amount of grip on offer lets you push any bike they are fitted to hard through the bends.

Pinarello Dogma F Dura Ace Di2: Value

Pinarello offers the Dogma F in a range of builds and finishes, with the most common listed on its UK website. A Shimano Ultegra Di2 build with Most C40 wheels is £9,500, and a Campagnolo Super Record wireless build with Bora Ultra wheels is £11,900.

A Dura-Ace build with a power meter crank and Fulcrum Speed wheels is £13,200, while this one with the Princeton Carbonworks wheels and no power meter is £13,000. While it's not outrageous compared with other top-level, race-ready machines from other large brands, it is at the more expensive end.

I mean, you'd never call Specialized's S-Works Tarmac SL8 a bargain, but a Dura-Ace build similar to the Dogma F costs £12,000, so it's £1,000 cheaper, and it also includes a 4iiii power meter, making it even better value. I haven't ridden the SL8 (I did the SL7, though), but when Jamie reviewed it he reckoned it was narrowing in on perfection and called it the new race bike benchmark.

Scott's Foil RC Pro is similar to the Dogma F, being an aero road bike which also manages to be light enough that it isn't restricted to the flats. When Aaron reviewed one back in 2023 he reckoned it was possibly the best all-round aero road bike available, and the Dura-Ace build is a lot cheaper than the Dogma F at £8,899.

Canyon's Aeroad is also a stunning bike and one of the most impressive I've ridden this year. The CFR is the top-level model, and with a Dura-Ace build weighs in at just over 7kg. The wheels aren't quite as bling – a set of DT Swiss ARC 1100 Dicuts – but it does get a power meter, which is impressive considering the £9,299 price.

If your new bike has to be Italian, then probably the Dogma F's most direct rival is Colnago's V4Rs. I reviewed one last year and there was a lot to like. The Dura-Ace build (including wheels) was £12,999.

Pinarello Dogma F Dura Ace Di2: Conclusion

The Dogma F sits at the top of the hierarchy of road bikes designed to be the lightest, stiffest and most efficient available, capable of helping the best riders in the world to win major races, so with my amateur legs aboard it you won't be surprised that there is definitely nothing I can criticise it for in that respect.

As a bike for the general roadie, though, for the price it doesn't quite hit the spot for me. I think that is down to how ruthlessly stiff it is, which doesn't really go hand in hand with the condition of UK roads. It's very quick, aero and efficient, but it didn't set my world alight. I'm saying this as a rider who has ridden many of the top carbon bikes available in the last couple of years, and – as mad as it sounds – the Dogma F wouldn't be the one I'd grab from the garage if I had all of them to choose from.

> Buy now: Pinarello Dogma F Dura Ace Di2 for £12,600 from Sigma Sports

Verdict

Incredible performance and characterisitics, but there's tough competition for a lot less cash