Ineos Grenadiers race new Pinarello Dogma at Dauphiné

A new Pinarello Dogma road bike looks set to be released after Ineos Grenadiers riders were spotted on an updated model at the Critérium du Dauphiné in France.

The bike appears to have a deeper head tube than previously, a slimmer down tube, and a totally redesigned section of frame around the bottom bracket.

The existing Pinarello Dogma F was introduced just before the Tour de France in 2021 and some familiar features remain on the updated model. The fork and seatstays still wave slightly, for example, the top tube kinks a little, and the seat tube is cutaway slightly around the leading edge of the rear wheel. The tabs behind the fork dropouts designed to reduce turbulence are still there too.

> Pinarello launches Dogma F in time for Tour de France

However, there are changes up front, the head tube appearing to have a deeper profile than previously and a less pronounced bump at the front. Pinarello has given us no details, but we'd speculate that it's trying to improve aerodynamic efficiency in this important area. We couldn't say for certain, but the fork legs look marginally straighter than previously, and the crown looks a little less integrated into the frame.

The new Dogma looks still to have tubing with what Pinarello calls its Flatback shaping. In other words, the profiles are truncated aerofoils designed to offer an aero advantage, cut off square at the back to stay within UCI rules.

In the past, the down tube has been shaped specifically to work aerodynamically with a water bottle in place. There was a depression in the tube designed to accommodate that water bottle. Although still there, it looks like Pinarello has reined in this aspect of the design a little. 

As mentioned, the seatstays retain a slight waviness, but they look far shallower than previously. The usual reason that bike brands give for moving in this direction is to improve compliance and ride quality. We wouldn't swear to it, but it could be that the seatstays join the seat tube marginally lower than before too.

> Check out our review of the existing Pinarello Dogma F 

The other big change is the bottom bracket shell. This area was pretty chunky on the previous Dogma F, but it looks like Pinarello has super-sized this whole section of frame. As well as being a whole lot larger than previously, there's a lot more shaping going on here.

It reminds us a little of the BMC Teammachine R in this respect, as well as several time trial bikes. BMC worked with Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT) on its design, and took advantage of the UCI’s updated equipment rules. It said that the down tube was melded more seamlessly into the bottom bracket shoulders to reduce turbulence. Plus, the bigger bottom bracket area was designed to reduce the distance between the frame and the rear wheel, helping to keep airflow attached to the rim as opposed to being separated by the tyre.

We'll be interested to hear whether Pinarello's rationale for its new shape is similar.

Like Canyon with its updated but yet-to-be-released Aeroad, Pinarello has covered the driveside end of the dropouts so the ends of the thru axles aren't visible. When BMC did this on its Teammachine R last year, it said that the idea was to “keep airflow tidy” so we expect Pinarello to come from a similar angle.

It looks like Pinarello has stuck with the principle of asymmetric frame production, the idea being that this takes account of the differing forces applied to the two sides of the bike. Pinarello modifies tube profiles and adds reinforcing carbon to take account of the drivetrain’s positioning.

Although the wavy stays and fork legs have been dialled back over the years, the new model is just about recognisable as a descendant of early Dogmas. 

> Read our review of the Pinarello Dogma F Super Record EPS 2023 

The existing top-level Pinarello Dogma, the Dogma F, was launched in June 2021. At the time, Pinarello said that its priority was on handling rather than shedding weight. That said, the Dogma F’s frame was 9% lighter than that of its predecessor, the F12. Pinarello also claimed it was 12% stiffer around the bottom bracket, and the disc brake version was said to be “4.8% more aerodynamic” than the equivalent Dogma F12.

When most other brands offered a lightweight road bike and an aero road bike, Pinarello always had a single road bike at the top of its range. Brands like Specialized, with its Tarmac SL7 and SL8, have moved back in this direction over recent years.

At the launch of the 2021 Dogma F, Pinarello said, “This is a bike that is perfect for every type of rider and every terrain, because real-world riders aren’t specialised.

“You need a bike that can climb and descend with equal flair, attack every corner and make every watt count on the finishing straight. The Dogma F is designed to do just that, no matter the circumstances.”

> Pinarello launches Dogma F in time for Tour de France

We don’t expect anything to change in this respect with the new Dogma. The one-bike-for-everything ethos is central to Pinarello’s approach.

We can’t tell you how much the new Pinarello Dogma weighs but you can betcha boots it’ll be lighter than the current Dogma F because, well, this is cycling. Pinarello claims a raw (unpainted) frame weight of 865g (size 53) for the existing Dogma F, and that a built-up disc brake version hits the scales at about at the UCI’s 6.8kg minimum weight limit for racing. The complete Pinarello Dogma F Super Record EPS that we reviewed came in at 6.9kg on the road.cc Scales of Truth.