Pinarello Dogma F12
As chosen by editor-at-large Stu Bowers
I’ll come right out and say it: I have never been a fan of the Pinarello Dogma aesthetically. It’s just not my cup of tea. I simply don’t find all those wavy tube-forms appealing, and all the pomp and circumstance surrounding Team Sky/ineos Grenadiers serves only to turn me off even more. So why, then, would I put it forward as my contender for our ‘best all-rounder’?
The answer is two-fold. First, and most importantly, despite wanting to dislike it I cannot deny that every time I have ever thrown my leg over a Dogma (several versions over the years, from F8 to F10 to this latest F12 Disc) and ridden it in anger, I’ve been reminded just how brilliantly it rides. The other reason is merely that it would be foolish to ignore this bike’s run of success on the world stage.
As a pro, company founder Giovanni Pinarello might have been best known for coming last at the 1951 Giro d’italia, but bikes bearing his name are world-renowned for quite the opposite reason. A Pinarello has been first across the line in more than half of the Tours de France since 1992. But the ‘Dogma era’ really began in 2012 with Team Sky and Bradley Wiggins. Since then this bike has won seven out of the past nine Tours. That is no small feat and is the reason this bike is as much an icon in its own right as the brand itself.
History in the making
While the Dogma can trace its roots back to metal in 2002, it was the 2009 Dogma
60.1 that launched Pinarello’s new toptier carbon race bike into the stratosphere. The standout features were its asymmetry – designed to compensate for the drivetrain forces on one side – and the funky, wavy tube shapes that aimed to absorb road buzz.
Next came the Dogma 65.1 Think 2, as ridden to Tour victory by Wiggo in 2012, followed by the F8 in 2014, which introduced aerodynamics and had a claimed frame weight of 860g. In 2017 the F10 arrived, boasting less weight and more stiffness, only to be superseded two years later by the F12, which surprisingly saw the waviness creeping back into the tube shapes.
The current F12 actually looks a lot like the Dogmas of old, and Pinarello says the speed gains largely come from the new bar/ stem combo and fully internal cabling, plus the slightly more svelte 840g frame.
In our hunt for the best all-rounder, Pinarello has one compelling argument for the Dogma. Unlike other brands, Pinarello’s sponsored riders rarely switch bikes for different types of races. Cannondale and Trek, for example, both have distinct bikes in their stables that pros can choose on any given day: a climber’s bike for mountain stages; an aero bike for flatter races; a cobbles bike for the spring Classics. But look back at Team Sky/ineos on practically any day or at any race over the last decade and you’ll almost always see the flagship Dogma as the riders’ weapon of choice. That, for me, is the mark of a true all-rounder.
Feeling like a pro
My own rides aboard the Dogma have left me in no doubt about its capabilities either. One memory in particular stands out – my first time on the F10. I rode it at a groupset manufacturer’s launch event, and remember being mildly annoyed to have been handed the F10 over a host of other top-flight race machines lined up in the bike rack. But that disappointment was short-lived.
The F10 was, in fact, superb. Far from being dealt a bad hand, I found myself aboard a rocket ship that impressed me no end, handling with absolute precision while never being anything other than agreeable to ride.
The F12 evoked a similar reaction years later. Pinarello has created something that feels just that little bit more refined, and with those claimed aero gains I’d wager it’s not likely to be toppled from its Worldtour dominance anytime soon – and not just because some of the fastest riders in the business are doing the pedalling. Dogmas, however, don’t come cheap, so you’d better get on the phone to your mortgage lender before you step foot in the bike shop.
It would be foolish to ignore this bike’s run of success on the world stage