Bicyclism

Pinarello's latest advertising is hardly subtle in conveying the thrill and importance of its new Prince carbon flagship. The new Prince is a statement of reconnection between Pinarello's illustrious past, always manifest within the old Prince, with this current and future era of high tech and big buck pro peloton cycling.  Pinarello are here to stay, always at the front and always offering racing bicycles that are statements of all those things that impress and enthuse us, the sport's excited entusiasts.  Isn’t t it amazing how the seeming sameness of the road racing bicycle can manifest in such such ideosyncratically different ways when foot meets pedal and lycra meets leather (or carbon). The diamond framed, 700c wheel sized, drop bar, spoked wheel, unsuspended road racer of today still retains its strong conformity with the bikes we were riding 25 years ago.  But subtle changes make a big difference to our race times, to our capacities to climb and to descend and to our continuing fascination with the art of the bicycle (bicyclism is the word to describe all this passion; see http://www.bicyclism.net to see what I mean).  

Before the 2007 Tour de France, I was an unremitting advocate of the Pinarello Paris carbon.  The bike of the 2006 Caisse d’Epagne team and of Alejandro Valverde as the ride for his 2006 Pro Tour victory.  A unique statement of nexus between bicycle tradition and progressive contemporary design and technology, the Paris is a winner on all fronts.  A statement of that wonderous Italian art of form-meets-function via the world’s most enlightened design culture.  Especially when set out with that equally stupendous Italian design statement: the Campagnolo carbon Record groupset.

I still am an unremitting advocate of the Pinarello Paris carbon.  It is a bicycle to match the multiple requirements of race tuned performance, stunning looks, magical finish and long-haul life-cycling pleasure.  You will still find me polishing my Paris two years into my connection with this, until now, top end offering of the Pinarello stable.  

I still remember the exact time it happened.  Sitting back relaxed watching one of those Belgian stage breakaways of the 2007 le Tour.  Gutierrez was in the leading group.  As they do, the motorcycle camera started panning the Caisse d’Epagne rider’s bike.  There in massive bold carbon defined print was the word 'Prince' down the seat tube.  Double take time.  What was that?!  As a self imagined leading disciple of the Pinarello stable, what is this?  Prince?  I know the Prince; its the aluminium bike recently deleted from Pinarello’s stable; a bike of massive historical relevance and huge historical standing.  The most famous bike they ever built.  The bike my Paris was really supposed to replace.  Why is Gutierrez riding that?  It does not look like a Prince.  Milliseconds later, I was logged onto the Pinarello web site.  A web site I used to know well.  But now the site, too, has morphed into a new dimension.  Just log in to http://www.pinarello.com and you will see what I mean. The site is now what only could be described as a Pinarello Prince fanboy site.  No visitor could possibly miss the status of this new bike in Pinarello’s self-proclaimed priorities.  I particularly cringed when reading the following words to explain how the Prince   sits with the Paris from Pinarello’s own perspective:

‘With the advent of the new Prince, the Paris FP Carbon falls, unavoidably in its shadow.’  

Knowing now that le Tour 2007 was to be the first real outing for the new Prince, I was now glued to both TV and website.  I had become enthralled with the boldness and high stakes of this latest release from one of the world’s uncontestably great bicycle artisans.  

Turning into an owner took only a month.  

After two weeks, I now have around 500km of connection with this mobile work of art; in the hills, on the flats, rough roads and not so rough.  With some good intervening rides on my Paris to keep my ride impressions grounded or benchmarked against what I had long thought was the best bike I had ever ridden.  

What’s Different

Like the Paris, the Prince is a monocoque carbon frame.  More than the Paris, the Prince is a design study in curves.  Just like the latest Apple makeover of its iPod range into curvey, rounded even more desirable toys, the Prince seems to have no straight lines.  The famously curved Onda forks are curvier than before, flattended and boadened, they are more aerodynamic than before.  The seat stays are also more curved than before, which means they are more curved than on any other bike.  The Prince head tube is fatter and more flared into the wider Onda forks.  This is all function driven.  All this fattening at the front is designed to improve downhill performance and tracking in criteriums.  

The top tubes are slightly shorter, with the bike’s geometry getting very close to that of the now curiously dispossessed Dogma (if the Prince is the new flagship of the range, where does the magnesium Dogma fit these days?)  The front end is lower to the ground thanks to a lower headset.  

The biggest change is the carbon they use.  Pinarello has secured a world exclusive on Torayca’s carbon fibre.  When not providing the black stuff for the next generation of jet planes, Torayca is keeping Pinarello supplied with some lovely ultra high modulus stuff.  The grade is 50HM1K.  Which means the Prince’s tubes are made from carbon that can withstand 50 tonnes of pressure per square cm, all dressed in only one wrap of external wrap for appearance and added structural integrity.  The Paris is made from 46HM3K.  The new stuff is lighter, stronger and thinner. And arranged very very strategically via a stupendous achievement in computer aided design that Pinarello proudly labels to be the product of its SOE (Simulation Optimize Evolution) Lab. All this appears to imply that this bike is the uncontested baby of Fausto Pinarello’s passions for computer aided cutting edge technological prowess.  The bike seems to be a statement that Fausto, son of founder Giovani, is now fully in charge.
 
This bike is thinner, harder and more delicate than the Paris.  It is also lighter, notably so. My size for both is the 57.5 frame.  My completely dressed Paris is 7.2kg.  My completely dressed Prince is 6.9kg.  I decided to go extreme on wheel choice, though.  My Paris has Ksyrium ES’s (lovely French Mavic aluminium wheels much used in the Pro Peloton).  My Prince has Fulcrum carbon Racing Light’s.  These are outrageously light carbon clincher rims designed for climbing (entirely appropriate for where I live).  Only the Campagnolo Hyperon clinchers are lighter (and more expensive). But my Fulcrum’s are one of the best and most expensive wheelsets on the market.  You can’t do better than this.  

My Prince is decked out as a Team replica. As you can see from the pictures, it is a stunning design study in red, carbon black and white.  I elected to go with Pinarello’s own branded compact cranks rather than the new and totally desirable Campagnolo offering.  That was a bit of an anguished decision. I love the technology of the new Campag cranks.  But these Pinarello cranks are equally high end. I suspect that they are custom made by FSA as they seem to be the new top end K Force Lights with ceramic bottom bracket bearings. Interestingly, the Pinarello branded offerings are made from 50HM1K carbon and  we have already noted that Pinarello has a world exclusive on this fibre. So, it seems, these cranks are custom made by FSA for Pinarello using this special carbon.  That’s why I decided to go with the standard offering here.  They are a lovely crank.  All the rest is Campagnolo carbon record.

The only other thing that I changed from standard is a refusal to accept Pinarello’s MOST integrated bar/stem unit.  I think that is plain ugly and I don’t like the notion of no adjustment of my bars. So I went for my favourite Deda Forza stem, Deda Electa bar combination which cost more, and probably weighs slightly more than the MOST offering. I have Deda gear on my Paris as well. Lovely stuff and just the right shape for my hands.

Last thing to note about the team replica issue is its MOST branded seat. This is actually a Selle Italia SLR Kit Carbon seat.  Very hard!  But surprisingly comfortable, even on extended rides.  I don’t even seem to miss the cut out of my Paris’s Specialized Toupe seat.  The Selle seat seems to do a great job of avoiding all numbness.  Maybe I will get one for my Paris as well.  It is a perch in perfect keeping with the rest of this new Italian wunderbike.  

And did I mention it’s looks?  You have probably seen all the saturation advertising Pinarello has decided to pile on this machine.  Full page spreads declaring that you should put your hand on your heart to check how your pulse quickens as you drool.  Sounds like marketing hyperbole.  But it is true!  This thing is totally gob smackingly georgeous looking.    It is an uncompromised purist statement of the road racing bicycle.  It is intended from design to execution to reside at the very peak of the high high end.  It is not cheap!  It is indeed, outrageously expensive. You can spend more, but not in any bicycle shop open to the public.

On the Road

So how does it go?

The Prince is dedicated only to one thing: going fast.  This is a racing bike.  It has no other purpose.  There are no concessions to anything else.     

With that in mind, it is quite severe on the road.  It gives a fairly harsh ride, at least compared with my Paris but not as harsh as the Time VXR I tested a few months ago.  It is a harshness that is totally desirable to cycle racers as it keeps us connected with the road; keeps us in tune with the medium we are using to stay in front.  It is necessary.  It is a harshness that never overwhelmes or reduces the desire to ride for three hours or more.  Pro Tour races go for six or more hours, don’t forget.  It is not a harshness to cause discomfort or the desire to retire.

The most obvious feature of this bike, that literally hits you first, is the stiffness of this frame.  Everything you have in your legs gets to the road.  This bike is a statement of efficiency.  My first reaction is that the three hundred grams of lower bike weight plus its total lack of frame flex is the equivalent of one gear, everywhere you go.  It feels like I am in a lower gear.  So, naturally, I drop down to a smaller rear cog and go even faster.  That’s the whole point of this new design.  

Descents are even more precise than before. And the Paris was renowned as a brilliant descender.  The Prince is even better.  The precision with which you can fly down hills is inspiring and miraculous.  You always feel totally in control. While the Time VXR shows some slight nervousness, the Prince shows no constraint.  

Hills are even more revelatory. The Prince is born for the hills. Perhaps my Fulcrum Racing Light’s are to blame to some degree, but these days, I look forward to the hills more than ever before.  This thing presents a veritable soundtrack for climbing.  

I can’t judge the Prince’s prowess for sprinting as a sprinter I most certainly am not.  But I merely note that the Caisse d’Epagne boys have no issues and seem to be doing OK in the frenzy of their 1000 watt plus forays to the finish line.

 
But does it put the Pinarello Paris in the shade as Pinarello’s own web site suggests?  I would say most emphatically not.  The Prince is the Yin to the Paris’s Yang.  The two intermesh as a perfect pair.  They are compliments not strict competitors.  If I were heading off to Europe on an extended tour of the French classic climbs, I would take my Paris.  If I were racing there, I would take the Prince.  This is a fairly outrageously lavish pair I will confess, but one does not love one’s oldest child any less when her new sibling arrives, does one!  These are two bikes with quite different personalities. One is unremitting perfection to the art of the race, to be relished when in need of speed and the other is there to be a more compliant companion to my ever aging human bio-frame.  I only hope that the 2008 le Tour offers no new surprises to challenge my new found two bike harmony.  

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