On the eve of another Paris-Roubax, Pinarello takes the electronic eDSS suspension debuted on the Dogma K8s to the next level, with an all-new carbon road race bike featuring the HiRide suspension fork we discovered last spring. Together, the Pinarello Dogma FS gets front & rear DSAS as the first smart, electronically-actuated full-suspension system for road bikes. Theoretically always open and active when needed, then locked out on smooth tarmac, Team Sky has been testing the new Dogma FS and is set to give it a race debut this weekend on the brutal cobbles rolling into Roubaix.
Pinarello Dogma FS electronic, full-suspension carbon road bike
It has been four years since Pinarello first raced the lightweight, rear-suspended Dogma K8s. Two years ago it finally added the more hi-tech with HiRide eDSS electronic auto damping controls for consumers, but now adding in an electronically controlled suspension fork it is the new Dogma Smart Adaptive System (DSAS) that takes over automated suspension control, front & rear. We detailed the fork concept & its prototype application last spring in discussions with HiRide directly, but now Pinarello makes it real (and commercially available) in the new Dogma FS.
It isn’t the first full-suspension road bike to be raced on the cobbles of Roubaix, but it will be the first to be automatically, electronically actuated, promising that Sky riders will always be in the perfect suspension setting based on live updated damping settings controlled by a number of frame & fork sensors.
Fausto Pinarello thinks of the new Dogma FS as “the perfect combination between the best road frame on the market today and the best electronic technology at the service of a bicycle” for a race like Paris-Roubaix where bike control and the bike itself can be the deciding factor for a top rider’s victory or defeat.
The idea behind the full-suspension Dogma is obvious, maintain Pinarello’s pro road race winning handling on the smooth sections of road, then seamlessly add comfort & control on the roughest section of pavé. Riders stay fresher longer, they maintain better control on the most technical secteurs, and don’t have to remember to open or close the suspension in the heat of the racing.
The new Dogma FS can be controlled directly by the rider opening or locking out the suspension, or left to fully automatic controls.
Dogma FS Suspension tech details
The new full-suspension road bike uses a fork almost exactly as we saw from HiRide last spring, although interestingly Pinarello & Team Sky have opted to stick with rim brakes still for the time being. Pinarello says the 20mm travel suspension fork features less rake for smoother telescopic fork travel. The frame also needed a wider & shorter headtube to fit the electronic front suspension, and needed to be reinforced to handle the additional loading, now using a 1.25″ upper headset bearing, together with a 1.5″ lower bearing.
The DSAS fork is based on an internal metal coil spring, together with an electronically controlled hydraulic damping media that can almost instantaneously be changed from fully active to fully locked-out by the system’s sensors & CPU.
The flexing chain & seatstays carry over from the K10s placing the HiRide rear shock in place of the monostay for 10mm of rear wheel travel. The rear shock is based on an internal elastomer, again with a electro-hydraulic system that can be quickly opened or locked-out.
The Smart Battery Pack inside the frame’s seattube acts as the CPU, processing inputs from the on-board accelerometers’ & gyroscopes’ data streams with its own suspension control algorithms. That let’s the CPU identify & react to various road conditions, and also based on speed, independently open & lock each suspension component in sequence.
A rider interface with status LEDs also allows the cyclists to move between manual & automatic modes to manually lock or unlock, or even alter the threshold at which the suspension actuates.
The HiRide suspension also includes Bluetooth LE &ANT+ communication that lets the suspension be controlled and monitored via smartphone app. Its collected data can be analyzed, settings fine tuned, it can even connect to a Garmin head unit with a Garmin Connect app for system status update & basic controls.
Conventional tech details
The new Dogma FS for the time being sticks with a direct-mount rim brakes, although we have to suspect a disc brake version is also in development based on imagery HiRide gave us a year ago. The bike uses T1100 Torayca carbon with Pinarello’s 1K Dream Carbon weave and Nanoalloy tech resins. The frame uses classic Pinarello curving & asymmetric aero tube shapes, with aero transition around the suspension in the fork. The Onda suspension fork gets Pinarello curved styling, and the aero ForkFlap tips at the QR axles.
The Dogma FS features internal cable routing, an oversized downtube E-link port that fits a Di2 controller & the new DSAS controller, an Italian threaded bottom bracket, and an aero seatpost with rear-facing 3-bolt TripleForce seat clamp. The frame fits two standard bottle cages, with a two-position downtube mount to optimize aerodynamics when racing with a single bottle.
The new full-suspension race bike is available in just four frame sizes (53, 55, 56 & 57.5cm) and has a max tire clearance of 28mm. No word on retail pricing, but the UCI approved bike is now in Pinarello’s regular 2019 product lineup, and is available through Pinarello dealers.
Full-suspension road bike, faster over Roubaix cobbles
Pinarello claims that electronic DSAS on the new Dogma FS is “able to absorb in average 42% of the vibration coming from the ground” resulting in a direct improvement in rider comfort, traction & control. While several companies, like Specialized with their new Roubaix, have avoided adopting more conventional suspension layouts in their endurance road race bikes citing losses in efficiency, the automatic DSAS solution ensures the suspension is only active when impacts are detected, much like in previous Lapierre E:i Auto mountain bike systems or the more recent Fox Live Valve tech.
Those control gains were said to give the Dogma FS a 15 second advantage over the 2km section of Carrefour de l’Arbre cobbles, when Pinarello tested the bike against their comparable rigid road bike.
