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From the halcyon days of cycling's romantic past to the, um, unique profile of Big Mig's Espada Carbon, Pinarello has long occupied the pointy end of cycling's espada of design and innovation. Given that history, it's no surprise that the Italian firm's latest flagship model, which also bears the imprimatur of Jaguar, is one of the first top tier machines made available with disc brake compatibility. There are some changes involved, including a tweak to the internal lay up and reinforcement to the brake mounts, all of which are necessary in order to account for the extra load of disc braking forces. The changes also come with a slight weight gain, but Pinarello assures us that it's hardly more significant than the difference in weight between paint schemes. Disc brake compatibility excluded, this is the same frameset Pinarello designed in cahoots with Jaguar. While we aren't privy to the details of this partnership, it certainly bore fruit. The Dogma F8 improves on Pinarello's previous flagship bike, the 65. 1, by mating its Tour winning geometry with material upgrades and fresh tube shapes for a claimed 47% improvement in aerodynamics, a 16% more balanced feel, a 12% increase in rigidity all while losing a claimed 120 grams of weight.The Dogma F8's carbon fiber is provided by another proven industry partner, the venerable carbon geniuses at Toray, whose Japanese factory produces arguably the most consistent, highest quality, and safest carbon in the world. The F8 is made from an all new Toray masterpiece: T1100 1K Dream Carbon with Nano alloy technology. While the name is certainly impressive, its application is even more so. T1100 is the current go to outer skin for many modern aircrafts, and its stiffness to weight ratio is nothing short of stunning. Compared to a 54cm Dogma 65. 1 which was built with Toray's 65HM1K the F8's T1100K construction weighs nearly 80 grams less while retaining the same structural characteristics. The savvy engineers at Pi...
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