Only one other brand—and its one with a severe deficit of panache--can match the number of Tour wins by Pinarello in the past 25 years. That amazing run of success under some of the sport’s more storied riders—Delgado, Indurain, Ulrich--along with a history of innovation has made Pinarello the one bike that people walk in the door asking for above all others. Thanks to their completely unique silhouettes they’re also a bike that even your grandmother will ask you about.
We’ve had a ton of interest in the brand from Treviso’s new FP7, so we thought we’d throw a post up about it.
Sharing the same design silhouette as the now legendary Prince, the FP7 features the same 46HM3K carbon as its acclaimed (and more expensive) Paris bike. The FP7 was introduced as a step up from the company’s highly successful FP3. The FP7 has a swoopy ONDA FPK fork hanging off the front with a 1 1/8 to 1 ¼ tapered steerer. The dialed Pinarello geometry as well as the robust build of the FP7’s fork give the bike phenomenal confidence even in the most dicey situations. The chainstays are slightly asymmetrical, which help to give the chassis quick response and good pedaling efficiency without adding excess weight. While not the lightest frame to come out of Pinarello’s Northern Italian shop, a 54cm FP7 tips the scales at just 1050-grams.
We’ve ridden every major Pinarello frame going back to Alexi Grewal’s 1984 Montello with the rattle can multi-color paint (according to legend Grewal’s bike really was panted with spray paint in the days just before the road race in LA) and, as impressive as these details are, the ride is all that counts. Happily, the race-bred FP7 more than lived up to our outsized expectations. We’ll save the war stories for another post though.
The new Pinarello is available in 10 sizes – 44 through 59.5 cm and as a complete bike only (really) equipped with your choice of Dura-Ace, Red, or Chorus groups.
