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TECH NEWS

Pro bike: Ben Swift’s Pinarello Dogma 65.1 Think 2

Team Sky's latest Pinarello with Dura-Ace Di2 11-speed

The Dogma 65.1 Think 2 is the bike being ridden by Team Sky’s young sprinter in the making, Ben Swift. One of his team bikes was on show at Shimano distributor Madison’s annual dealer and press show this week, one of the few chances we’ve had to get up close and personal with the latest Dogma.

It looks the same as the previous Dogma 2, with the distinctive love-or-hate wavy forks and seat stays and muscular shaped head tube, but underneath the black and blue Sky livery is an all-new carbon fibre layup. The goal with this updated frame was to make it a bit stiffer, and they’ve achieved that by using a 65-ton Torayca 65 high-modulus 1K Nanoalloy Carbon, which has a higher strength-to-weight ratio. The Dogma 2 used 60 Ton carbon fibre.

Torayca is a carbon fibre produced by Japanese company Toray, one of the biggest producers of carbon. They developed the 65-ton carbon for the new frame that is stronger and more rigid than the previous grade of carbon. This combines with Pinarello’s asymmetric design principles. There’s more carbon where it’s needed to resist the rear of the frame flexing when you stamp on the pedals. This also means they can use less carbon where it’s not needed, helping to reduce the frame weight.

As well as the new carbon fibre, Pinarello have worked on making it more integrated. As this photo shows, it will easily accept electronic or mechanical groupsets with new interchangeable cable stops. Looks very neat and tidy, and works with Campagnolo (as per Movistar’s team bikes) as it does Shimano.

A brand new Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 9070 11-speed groupset adorns the bike. Notice something, um, missing? Yup that’s right, there’s no battery. There is, it just now resides inside the seatpost making for a far cleaner frame. The control box can be used to charge the system, that small flap on the right lifts up.

Shimano’s own component brand PRO supply the aluminium Vibe 7S bars and stem, and it’s Pinarello’s own carbon seatpost propping up the Fizik Arione saddle. Shimano also supply Dura-Ace C35 carbon tubular wheels, with a low weight of just 1,339g. They’re wrapped in Veloflex tubular tyres. Elite supply the bottle cages.

Swift is 5’ 10” (1.79m) tall and rides a 56cm frame, with a 12cm stem, and a couple of spacers fitted.

Nice little Sky sticker to mark the saddle height.

Count them, 11-speed for Shimano's new Dura-Ace Di2 9070 groupset. Smart internal cable routing into the chainstay.

Plenty of carbon fibre flowing between the downtube and seat tube, this junction contributes hugely to the frames stiffness.

Shimano 1,339g carbon tubular C35 wheels, a good all-round choice that balance aerodynamics and weight.

It's UCI approved. Phew!

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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7 comments

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diana986 (not verified) | 10 years ago
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You can find this Pina bike at carbonroadbikesale.com

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diana986 (not verified) | 10 years ago
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very good

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Al__S | 11 years ago
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I wonder if/when we'll see stems with the control box for electronic shifting built in? At the moment they still look a bit kludgy

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zalamanda | 11 years ago
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I agree. You can only take 'vertically compliant' and 'laterally stiff' so far.

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Municipal Waste | 11 years ago
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Every article about a bicycle frame says that the manufacturer has put more material here and less material there... Come on! As if they're ever going to try and make a frame flexy at the drive-train and uncomfortably stiff at the saddle! There's no point wasting yours and every body else's time by writing about this any more  47

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David Arthur @d... replied to Municipal Waste | 11 years ago
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Municipal Waste wrote:

Every article about a bicycle frame says that the manufacturer has put more material here and less material there... Come on! As if they're ever going to try and make a frame flexy at the drive-train and uncomfortably stiff at the saddle! There's no point wasting yours and every body else's time by writing about this any more  47

Yes, but not all frames are built the same, and not all use the approach Pinarello are taking with their asymmetric approach.

I'm not wasting my time, and you don't have to read the article you know

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badback | 11 years ago
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Not a big fan of carbon but that is nice. (I think it's the hidden battery that's the clincher).

Interesting that Swifty has a spacer beneath his stem - not very sprinterish ! LOL.

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