This Beautifully Asymmetric Race Bike Leans on a Surprising Discovery to Help You Go Faster

Sometimes, no matter how vividly you imagine something, reality just can’t live up to the daydream. Take, for example, my recent summer trip to Italy’s glorious Dolomites.

Storied Italian bike maker Pinarello had graciously invited me — along with three dozen much more qualified journalists who cover cycling full time — there to test ride the latest edition of its legendary Dogma on the famed Sellaronda, a 52-kilometer (32-mile) loop characterized by punishing ascents and heart-pounding descents. 

The pedigree of this bike is truly unassailable — 7 of the last 11 Tour de France winners have ridden some version of it — and in my mind I was cresting those mountains and bombing those downhills like the great Egan Bernal himself, feeling the rush of wind in my face, the warm summer sun on my back and probably even hearing Giuseppe Verde’s “Il trovatore” in my head as I earned a melt-in-your-mouth pasta dinner with my dominance.

In reality, however, I felt much more like a Rigoletto. Those climbs totally kicked my ass — and so did Mother Nature. The skies opened up halfway through the ride, assaulting us with rain, then hail as I gritted my teeth and prayed my hands would not be so frozen I couldn’t squeeze the brake levers on some snaking descent, hopelessly meeting my maker in a roadside ditch. When I finally did finish the loop, it took me a good half hour in a robe and under a hot shower before I simply stopped shivering. 

But while the ride — through no one’s fault but the clouds — could not rise to my fantasy, that is not to say the bike itself does not ascend to the vision of its makers. The reality on that front is that the Dogma F is one helluva bike.

So while I’m hardly an expert on high-end racing rides, here are some key things I’ve learned about the research and development that went into creating it, the tiny tweaks introduced to improve performance in the smallest margins and the admirable artistry of premium bike building. Oh, and my own impressions after riding the dang thing up and down giant hills in a damn downpour, of course.

Driven by physics

First, just a bit of history. Founded by Giovanni Pinarello in Treviso, Italy in 1953, Pinarello has been crafting beautiful bikes blending function and form for over 70 years — and variants of the Dogma nameplate for the past 22.

The brand rolled out the acclaimed Dogma X last year, but while that model is oriented toward endurance, the Dogma F is a pure speed machine, pointed in every way toward Grand Tour podiums for Ineos-Grenadiers race team members, with we consumers lucky beneficiaries of the staggering amount of R&D that goes into this build.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but one effect of that approach is that money is essentially no object. For example, Pinarello does not blink slapping a $14,500 price tag on the variant I tested, featuring a Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset.

Pinarello

Another effect, however, is that Pinarello’s engineers and designers spare no expense exploring ways to make these bikes as fast as possible. With this latest edition, they drew upon a performance window study of one of the team’s top racers, Geraint Thomas during the 2022 Tour de France, examining everything but time trial stages to see where power gets lost during race.

The headline finding? Aero power and climbing power represent the vast majority of power loss. More importantly, they calculated that over the length of a Grand Tour, a 0.2% improvement in coefficient of aerodynamic drag is equivalent to 175 grams of weight savings.

In other words, relatively speaking, aerodynamic gains are worth more than weight reductions. From that point forward, everything in the design, complemented by computational fluid dynamics simulations, was pointed toward that 0.2% goal.

In the end, the project resulted in a bike that is still 108 grams lighter than its predecessor, but more importantly carries a number of micro adjustments that subtly improve its aerodynamic qualities — and together add up to one really fast bike.

Dialing in details

Now, without boring you to tears, here’s a quick recap of the notes I took during the pre-ride presentation, where Pinarello’s team dished on all the little tweaks they made…

New carbon fiber layup, Torayca M40x: An exceptional tensile module. Next level of lateral stiffness performance. Designed to support one rider in racing performance, riding one bike that is a perfect balance, able to excel at all types of riding.

Down tube: Reduced thickness improves frame’s frontal aero performance and reduces overall drag

New aero-keel bottom bracket: Bent 3.5 degrees forward, improves aero performance of bottom bracket area by 1.2%

Head tube: Slimmer, faster nose, 8mm reduction in volume and width, improved frontal aero penetration

Pinarello

Headset: Lighter, new elliptical shape, wider on the bottom and narrower at the top, with improved cable routing, through the front rather than the sides

Thru axles: Shorter, more aero. Right side bolt integrated into fork, eliminating external hole. Same on the frame, integrating the rear derailleur dropout.

New Onda fork: Slimmer faster better performance, 47mm rake improves handling and speed on downhills

Integrated seat post clamp: Smaller, cleaner, lighter, fully integrated into seat tube, limiting dust and sweat getting inside

New Talon Fast integrated cockpit: Lighter faster more aero — drops slightly flared for easier, safer aero grips

Asymmetric frame: Like all Pinarello frames, the Dogma F’s is in fact asymmetric to balance the higher forces being exerted on the chain side while pedaling

Safe to say, the team put forth a metric shit-ton of effort to make this silhouette sing, both in appearance and in action.

First ride impressions

Let’s get down to brass tacks: All of those little modifications don’t mean a helluva lot if the bike isn’t noticeably light, lively and lightning fast when you actually ride it, right? I got a 32-mile trial run — with 5,545 feet of elevation gain (and loss) — to get a feel for what it all adds up to, and here are my topline thoughts.

1. The Dogma F is built to race
If you haven’t already gathered, the new Dogma F is no casual cruiser. Similar to the Grevil F — Pinarello’s race-ready gravel bike I reviewed a couple years back — every element is pointed toward performance.

Toward that end, it is incredibly responsive to your direction. From a shifting standpoint, for example, the Di2 setup is lightning-quick, enabling smooth transitions from, say, an epic descent into an even more epic climb — not at all uncommon on the Sellaronda.

Just as an F1 car demands every bit of concentration, input and passion from its driver, this bike implores you to lock in and give as much as you are getting. That’s not a bad thing.

However, if you’re the type to enjoy regular social rides as well as challenging centuries, you’re gonna want a separate set of wheels. (I’d say if you have the cash for this particular rig, you can probably spring for a little beater bike on the side.)

Pinarello

2. It’s a climber’s dream. (Or this climber’s dream, anyway.)
Considering that I live in Man-flat-tan and spend most of my time zipping around on a fixie, I am probably not the best qualified to comment on the Dogma F’s slope-ascending qualities.

However, as I’ve alluded to earlier, the Sellaronda is a pretty potent showcase for any bike’s go-up-ability. And considering how unused to climbing I am, anything less than excellent might have meant a lot of huffing and puffing followed by a transition to the support van.

But on the Dogma F, I was able to throw the self-doubt in the back seat and steadily gain confidence in my climbing with each successive hill. That came in really handy when I was getting absolutely drenched halfway through the ride.

That’s thanks in no small part to the truly feathery weight of this bike. Pinarello says that number is just 6.63kg (roughly 14.62 lbs) for the lightest full build in a size 53. Everything else aside, simply knowing how lean my steed was felt like a built-in power boost.

3. I think it’s pretty damn fast
Here’s where we get to the tough part. As great as the Sellaronda is at revealing climbing prowess (and descending capability), it does not offer a single sustained stretch of flat road on which to really put a bike’s straightaway speed to the test.

Consequently, I have to rely on a. What Pinarello says and b. The fleeting moments I had to mash pedals and feel the wind rush by. Therefore, I can only really say that the Dogma F is certainly not slow (or average), and considering all that TDF pedigree, I’m inclined to believe that in the right circumstances, one could positively rip.

Interestingly enough, where this bike made the biggest impression on me was during the downhill portions of the ride. As you might guess I don’t have a ton of experience with that kind of riding either. (On a fixed gear, any serious downhill is a battle against momentum, as you push back on your pedals in a desperate attempt to hold off the natural inclination of your wheels to take total control and accelerate you toward certain doom.)

The steep, winding downhills of the Sellaronda are exhilarating, a well-deserved reward for the long and sometimes painful climbs. It was in those spots that I most deeply felt the joy that a bike can bring you, because it really is a kind of flying, and with its aero shaping and general demeanor, nothing could slow the Dogma F down.

Pinarello

4. In the tough going, it won’t let you down

However, that joy turned to jitters on the last couple of descents, when the road was slick with rainwater and my fingers were so cold in my sopping wet gloves that fully engaging the brake levers became an exercise in willpower.

It was at this point, as I nervously hydroplaned in and out of downhill chicanes, that I began to truly appreciate the Dogma F’s virtues.

The precision of the MOST Talon Ultra Fast handlebar, the grip of the Continental GP5000 S TR 700c x 28mm tires and above all the responsiveness of the Shimano Dura-Ace BR-R9270 disc brakes most certainly saved me from drizzle-driven death in the Dolomites.

Which I guess is pretty ironic, considering the braying response I got when I commented to one of the veteran cycling journalists that the upside of the forecast was a chance to assess this very fancy bike’s resilience in the face of inclement weather: “Dude, no one’s riding this thing in the rain.”

Form meets function

I can’t end this review without making a quick comment on one quality Pinarello delivers at an unassailably world-class level. Lots of brands make noise about creating products that work just as nice as they look. Many fall short in one way or the other.

Pinarello

But like several other Italian brands that build wheeled contraptions — Cinelli, Colnago, Ducati, Ferrari, Lamborghini — Pinarello nails the form/function equation, with frame shapes that are simply dazzling, thanks to unique and unmistakable contours.

Pinarello

Only the engineers — and perhaps the top Tour riders — can be totally sure if all that aerodynamic drag vs. weight savings math checks out. But the aesthetic wonder of bikes like the Dogma F is something everyone can appreciate with little more than a glance. And that doesn’t cost a penny.

Availability and pricing

The 2025 Pinarello Dogma F Dura-Ace Di2 is available now with an MSRP of $14,500.

Editor’s note: You can find the Luxter Gold colorway, pictured above, dotting shops across Internet — typically packing a Power Meter and costing $15,500.

Pinarello

2025 Pinarello Dogma F Dura-Ace Di2

• Starts at $14,500

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