I rode the new Pinarello Dogma X in the Prosecco hills, about 20 km north of the Italian bike maker’s headquarters near Tevisio. It was quite the spot for parsing the features and performance of Pinarello’s latest premium endurance bike, all while the company’s chairman circulated within the pack of assembled cycling media on his own Dogma X. (It’s blue because that’s Fausto Pinarello’s favourite colour and the original colour for the company started by his father.) I couldn’t help but gawk at the 781-year-old Castello San Salvatore as we passed it multiple times on our 13-km loop. But the new bike, the Pinarello Dogma X, kept drawing my attention. It was the reason I was there.
A Pinarello Dogma X with Shimano Dura-Ace components, a Talon Ultra Fast with 100-mm stem and 40-cm bar (closer to 39 cm hood to hood) and DT Swiss ERC 1100 DiCut 45 wheels with 32c Continental Grand Prix 5000 S tires
The endurance-bike conundrum and Pinarello’s take
The next day, when I spoke with Massimo Poloniato, the Pinarello R&D manager, about the Dogma X, he contradicted himself somewhat. He and I, as well as product manager Ilaria Chiodi, sat at a table not far from a bunch of new bikes. I didn’t call him on his contraction, and I’m not going to hold it against him now. No, his stumble actually speaks to the difficulty many brands have in conveying the qualities and benefits of high-performance-but-not-for-the-WorldTour bikes.
I asked him if he’d call the Dogma X an endurance bike. “It’s not an endurance bike because it’s not a relaxed bike,” he said. But as he made comparisons with Pinarello’s race bike, the Dogma F that you are seeing in the Tour de France right now, well, the idea of a more mellow geometry resurfaced. “We have the Dogma F that is a pure racing bike without compromise, and the Dogma X, that is more relaxed, an easier Dogma, let’s say.”
On the climb to Castello San Salvatore. Image: Courtesy Pinarello
Let me present Poloniato’s case as faithfully as I can. The Dogma X is not as edgy as its sibling, the Dogma F, but it is more race-like than some endurance bikes that have slower steering. It’s “Pinarello relaxed,” which is still pretty darn zippy.
Where I would challenge Poloniato is the broad characterization of other brands’ endurance models as bikes that aren’t so reactive. Sure, there are some chill endurance bikes, but ones by Trek, Cervélo and Giant don’t lumber around corners.
I’m simply going to call the Pinarello Dogma X an endurance bike. (Heck, that’s how the company classifies it on its site.) I’ll unpack how that plays out in its design and how it felt on the roads. But first, what makes a Dogma?
In the Dogma pack
Comparisons between the big-ride-focused Dogma X and the pro-grade Dogma F are natural. At Pinarello, the Dogma designation means the bike is at the top the line in whatever category it’s in.
Both of these frames use the same carbon-fibre formula, Torayca M40X. While maximum stiffness is not the priority of the Dogma X, the M40X allowed for the construction of a light frame with a high stiffness-to-weight ratio. Pinarello says the frame weighs in at less than 1 kg, and the fork is 400 g. The company found a size 53 frame outfitted with a Shimano Dura-Ace group and Princeton Grit wheels had a mass of 7.06 kg.
The Dogma X, like the Dogma F, uses a fork with an elliptical steering tube. That design allows the brake hoses to be run toward the front of the head tube. On the Dogma X, the head tube shaping, the increased taper of the down tube and the “keel” at the bottom bracket all come over for the Dogma F. The endurance bike even has the drive-side front dropout covered, like the race bike, to improve aerodynamics.
The Pinarello Dogma X draws some design features, such as the down-tube shaping, from the Dogma F.
When it comes to firm CdA improvements to the Dogma X, Pinarello doesn’t have any figures at the ready. Both Poloniato and Chiodi said that honing aerodynamics wasn’t a priority with the Dogma X. But the endurance bike is likely benefiting from the aero touches that it does have.
Because of that elliptical steering tube, the Dogma X has to use the F’s one-piece bar/stem, the Talon Ultra Fast. It’s available in a whole bunch of size combinations, stem lengths ranging from 80 to 140 mm and bar widths (which are taken at the bottom of the bars) going from 40 to 46 cm.
The geometry and fit of the Pinarello Dogma X
Pinarello began its current foray into endurance bikes five years ago because the rider position on race bikes kept getting more and more extreme. The company’s R&D led to the first iteration of the Dogma X. The new bike continues with almost the same geometry as its predecessor’s. The stack and reach numbers are the same. One tube, however, was adjusted.
The latest Pinarello Dogma X has an increased head-tube length compared with the previous generation.
“We increased the head tube a little bit. A lot of amateur riders have a lot of spacers under the stem,” Poloniato said, and then noted that the boost in head-tube length meant more riders could run fewer spacers. “The Dogma X has about a 10 to 15 mm higher stack, depending on the size, compared with the Dogma F. The Dogma X has a slightly slacker head-tube angle just so the bike would be less nervous, let’s say, less nervous than a racing bike.” The reach of Dogma X frames are roughly 5 mm longer than their Dogma F equivalents.
At the press event, when I found the Dogma X on the rack with my name on it, I thought there’d been a mistake. The frame was a size 560. The Dogma F I tested a few years ago was a size 540. Surely the Dogma X in 560 was too big. Well, it wasn’t. I’m 175-cm tall and set my saddle to about 76 cm. On proper race bikes, I usually like around 2 cm worth of spacers. With the Dogma X, I didn’t need anything added under the stem. The fit was good—not race-bike but still powerful.
X still marks the seatstays, somewhat
In 2023, when the first Dogma X launched, it sported seatstays with two attachment points each at the seat tube as well as an X-like bridge at the top of those stays. The new bike, with its X-Stays 2.0, has the forked seatstay ends, but with some notable changes. For example, that X bridge is gone.
The first-generation of Pinarello Dogma X with its X-shape bridge between the seatstays.
“We had to try to simplify the frame a little,” Poloniato said. “That’s why we got rid of the X brake bridge that we had previously.” The change led to some weight savings.
Compared with the first-generation X-Stays, version 2.0 have a more acute angle, attaching to the seat tube lower down. This design allows for more seat-tube flex, adding to the vibration management offered by the forked stays. The sharper angle also increases the lateral stiffness of the frame.
The Pinarello Dogma X’s X-Stays 2.0 have a lower bracing angle than the first iteration of this design.
Did Pinarello consider adding an elastomer or some form of suspension, as the company did with the Dogma K8-S or K10-S? “All of those systems had a lot of weight and a lot of compromises,” Poloniato said. “Of course, they are good, they can work, but the evolution of the market with the bigger tires and tubeless tires allow us to improve vertical compliance without complicated mechanical systems.”
The Dogma X has 35 mm of tire clearance. That might seem a bit stingy if you conduct a wide survey of endurance and all-road bikes. But, Pinarello didn’t want to go bigger, or wider, because the bike would have then needed even longer chainstays. They are 422-mm long to accept those 35-mm treads. Going longer would have affected handling and decreased lateral stiffness.
Stiffness gains and stiffness loses
There’s some give and take you’ll notice or if you’ve been keeping score, if you will, with the stiffness profile of the Dogma X. Pinarello hasn’t provided any numbers, but the company has noted that the Torayca M40X keeps things quite rigid. The lower seatstays also increase the stiffness, as does the beefy down tube and bottom bracket. Yet, there are some features that can’t help but open the door to more lateral movement.
The Dogma X uses the same Talon Ultra Fast bar/stem as the Dogma F.
Poloniato said there is a smidge more flex in the Dogma X compared with the Dogma F. “A little bit, yes, because of course you have more stack on the front end,” he said, “so it is a little bit more flexible when you are sprinting. Also, the rear chainstays, due to the tire clearance, we needed to reduce the section of the chainstays, which means a little bit of more lateral deflection.”
Will the pros ride the Pinarello Dogma X?
During the press event’s main presentation, Pinarello chief marketing officer Federico Sbrissa spoke about why you won’t see the Pinarello Dogma F in WorldTour races, even if Tom Pidcock liked an early prototype.
“The teams have the pure freedom to choose to race whatever they want,” Sbrissa said. “We’d never push them to take this bike to Paris-Roubaix or the Ardennes Classics.
Vineyards and Pinarello Dogma Xs. Image: Courtesy Pinarello
“In general, one of the most important things right now for the athletes is the geometry and the position they have on their race bikes. Asking one athlete to change bikes for a one-day race or for one stage of a Grand Tour, it is something that no one wants to do at the WorldTour level. Even a small adjustment on the geometry impedes their performance. This bike, as I mentioned, has a different geometry than our Dogma F. In particular, it’s about an 11- mm higher stack, which, trust me, for an athlete, is a thing. They don’t want to go higher, they don’t want to go shorter.
“That’s why this bike is not designed and used by any team. It’s more like a race bike for amateurs.”
Pinarello Dogma X top tube.
Sbrissa comments track. Think of the modifications Cervélo made to its most recent version of the R5. Its geometry changed so that it fits pros the same way as their aero S5s. But, even then, it seems members of Visma-Lease a Bike stick with their S5s, even in the high mountains. Bike consistency—it’s a thing.
Where are the Pinarello endurance bike fans?
I asked product manager Ilaria Chiodi if she was seeing growth in the endurance bike space. She said it depended on the market—not so much in Italy and Belgium. “Those markets are really focused on racing and race culture,” she said. It seems that in those countries, it’s pro racing that gives a bike its seal of approval.
“In Germany, where you don’t have the same kind of cycling culture as in Italy and Belgium, we see more of a demand for those bikes really,” she added, also noting that the U.S. has received endurance bikes positively.
First impressions of the new Pinarello Dogma X
My test bike sported Shimano Dura-Ace components, a Talon Ultra Fast with 100-mm stem and 40-cm bar (closer to 39 cm hood to hood) and DT Swiss ERC 1100 DiCut 45 wheels with 32c Continental Grand Prix 5000 S tires. The Prosecco hills test loop featured a few punchy climbs, quick descents and a 3.2-km stretch of gravel. I rode for about 2.5 hours and covered about 55 km. Chiodi had said the bike was designed for rides of six hours or more. Clearly, my testing was compressed, but it still revealed a few things about the Dogma X.
As I mentioned, the fit of the bike was great: I felt I was getting the most out of my pedal strokes. Although the bike has handling that isn’t as edgy as the Dogma F, I still found the Dogma X nimble and smooth in the corners. As for stiffness, it’s plenty rigid for this rider and, I’d bet, anyone else without a pro contract. On the gravel, I’d say the 32c slick treads were capable, but things were hair toward the underbiked.
Another thing Chiodi, who was also on the ride, had said was that this bike is for “real-world performances.” I could see that, but don’t mistake “real world” for “mundane.” The Dogma X is a bit of a rarefied machine.
Next up for me is some riding on less dramatic terrain: my roads in Southern Ontario. A Dogma X is on its way so I can put a proper amount of kilometres on it.
Availability of the Pinarello Dogma X in Canada
Soon you will be able to purchase a Pinarello Dogma X frameset for $9,999. The Talon Ultra Fast bar/stem is sold separately. It’s best to work with your local bike shop to build up the right Pinarello Dogma X for you.
Pinarello Dogma X. Image: Courtesy Pinarello