Meet the makers: How Pinarello created the all new X and F series

Pinarello has been making road bikes for seventy years. In this time the Italian brand has become synonymous with winning - it’s racked up thirty Grand Tour victories after all - and in doing so has created some of the most highly desirable race bikes imaginable. 

And therein lies a conundrum. 

How do you make that race-winning DNA and unrivalled pedigree more accessible? How do you avoid compromise but still create bicycles that will reach a wider audience? 

Pinarello asked itself these very questions. The end result of the self-examination is the F and X Series - two new road bikes that are quintessentially Pinarello, imbued with decades of expertise, and designed to meet the needs, and desires, of more cyclists than ever before. 

The Pinarello F Series is a stylish race bike designed for performance-driven cyclists. Its geometry is competition focussed but by offering the F in three options - the F9, F7 and F5 - and using different carbon layups - it’s more attainable and better suited to a greater number of riders. 

For those looking to own a slice of Italian cycling heritage, it’s all here, from Pinarello’s signature asymmetric frame design to the distinctive Onda fork. But the F is its own machine, too. It’s got clearance for 30mm tyres, a new ‘invisible’ seatpost clamp that’s both light and aero and electronic groupset batteries that are integrated into the bottom bracket shell for improved performance - and all this in a frame that weighs less than 1000g regardless of the model. 

The Pinarello X Series shares the elegance and responsive handling of the F but is delivered in a more comfort-oriented package. This makes it not only well-suited to experienced cyclists who like to ride all day and on less-than-perfect surfaces but to newer riders who are looking for their first premium road bike. 

While the endurance geometry, vibration dampening rear stays and clearance for 32mm tyres ensure a smooth ride the X is still unmistakably a Pinarello. This means an asymmetrical design, aero enhanced tube shapes and an ONDA fork, all delivered in lightweight carbon. Less fatigue, more fun. 

In the finished designs Pinarello has its answers; two bikes, available in nine different sizes, that are a continuation of all that has come before but that also present a future of enhanced access and opportunity for Pinarello fans old and new

However, to find out how these bikes came into being, we needed to ask a few questions of our own.

Federico Sbrissa, Pinarello’s Chief Marketing Officer and Maurizio Bellin, its Chief of Operations, headed up the team tasked with fulfilling a brief designed to both plug gaps in the brand’s road bike line up and help find a new audience. We spoke with both about the process.

“I led the product marketing and design while Maurizio led the R&D team,” says Sbrissa. “For the F and X Series the briefs came with the strategy to fill the strong market need to complete the range for all ambitious racers and competitive minded riders, or in the case of the X for those riders in need of a bike designed to enjoy longer rides without sacrificing comfort. 

We worked on the design and then after validation, Maurizio and the R&D team took over for the development of the frame, 3D design, features, moulds etc. Massimo Poloniato, our R&D Manager of road bikes, worked on the project with two or more engineers from our internal team. Of course there are a lot of iterations between departments, testing and development until the bike is finalised”.

A need to expand the road bike catalogue effectively and with focus was of paramount importance to the development of both bikes, as was the desire to create products for what Sbrissa calls a “very wide audience of cyclists looking into buying a Pinarello bike that never really could before”.

Many Pinarello race bikes have become legendary, tools of the trade for the Ineos Grenadiers and other teams before them, but clearly they’re not for everyone. For the F and the X to be successful the team at Pinarello would need to create a series of bikes that didn’t just exist beyond the shadow of its existing road bikes, but that were capable of casting one themselves. And to find the F and X their own silhouette Pinarello turned to the tried and the tested.

“We now have access to an enormous quantity of data,” says Bellin. “Whatever bike we are working on, the three pillars are clearly in our mind: weight/aerodynamic/stiffness. Those are the three pillars able to build a great bike, for whatever performance and kind of use you need.”

The choice of material was vital; the foundation for the pillars to sit in if you will. Both the F and the X use Toray UD carbon. Pinarello has a long standing relationship with the Japanese carbon makers and were able to select a range of layups to adapt the F and X ranges, for both performance and price. 

The top-tier F9 uses T900 carbon, as does the F7. The entry-level F5 is made from T700. The difference in weight is around 40g, with the F5 tipping the scales at 990g for an unpainted size 53. The X, offered in X1 and X3 models, uses T600.

More important than minimal weight discrepancies, the use of different grades of carbon allowed Pinarello to fine tune the bikes for a specific ride quality, and with it a group of riders.

“Toray T900 UD is our perfect choice for racing, with its blend of rigidity and reactivity,” says Sbrisa. “Toray T700 UD is slightly heavier, still rigid and reactive but with more focus on vibration absorption, which is why we used it on the F5, which is our entry level model. The X features Toray T600 UD, which again is more focused on vibration absorption and the perfect choice for endurance use”.  

Certainly, the F and X Series are forging their own path, but how much is each also informed by the team’s previous experiences of building bikes for elite cyclists? 

“The F is the clear result of our experience in designing race winning bikes,” says Sbrissa.  “Also on the X, of course, what we’ve learned in years of trials and developments has been used in the design of geometry, choice of materials and technical solutions.”

While the brand’s performance DNA is perhaps more obvious in a race-ready bike like the F, it’s also, vitally, there in the X Series, too.

“We can say that differently from other endurance bikes in the same category the X series keeps a very performance driven spirit and a very reactive and responsive ride feeling,” says Sbrissa. “For instance, we didn’t follow a market trend to add shock absorbing elements or things like that as this would have negatively affected the weight and responsiveness of the bike”.

He’s also happy to point out that the entire Pinarello workforce are cyclists themselves, which makes them expertly placed to understand the wide ranging needs of its audience, and in turn create the design nuances that make the F and X series stand out from the crowd.

“We are all cyclists, 100% of the people working in the marketing, design and R&D team are ex- Pro/U23 cyclists or very passionate amateurs. So clearly the personal experience of all the team is a key role of the design process,” he says.

 A key component of both the F and X Series is the attention paid to aerodynamics. The F was fine tuned in the wind tunnel, as you might expect from a model that Sbrisa calls a “true race bike”. It resulted in new tube shapes such as a thinner top tube, a tapered seat tube and a recessed downtube to cover the bottle, which is an area that typically generates a lot of drag.

But the X doesn’t miss out. It too benefits from plenty of aero optimisation. And, Pinarello believes, with good reason.

“Aero gains are applicable to all riders,” says Sbrissa. “While clearly essential for modern pro cycling where the speeds are getting higher and higher, but saving watts on the flats helps every rider to have more energy on the climbs even if they’re not competing to win. 

Both the F and X Series feature a lot of the learning we did with the Dogma race bike and Bolide time trial design, such as the internal Ticr cable routing, aero tubes shapes, aero seat posts etc. all improving the aerodynamic efficiency”.

So if the two bikes share some aerodynamic properties, what are the defining elements that separate them? Federico Sbrissa explains:

“The F Series focus is on speed, performance and weight so all the expertise from designing the most Grand Tour winning bikes in history has been put in there with a tremendous work on geometry and the rider’s position, thanks to the nine  sizes, aerodynamic advantage and weight keeping the promise of a bike that performs at it’s best in all road racing situations, whether it’s on a climb, a descent or the flat. It results in a perfect race bike available with different carbon fibres and different groupsets to be available for a broader range of cyclists”

And the X?

“Here we needed to create a bike for those riders looking to enjoy long road rides, also on tough tarmac so we focused on designing a geometry with a higher stack and a shorter reach, still available in nine sizes, to accommodate for a more comfortable riding position. Tyre clearance was increased to 32mm while specific carbon fibre layups and a new rear triangle shape were used to better absorb road vibrations, while still keeping a high performing and responsive ride feel”.

To create two clearly defined road bikes, each with its own character and ride quality, Pinarello has clearly had to dig deep. It’s drawn on its storied past and leant on its committed workforce, remaining steadfast in its belief that beautiful bikes should be experienced by all. 

The outcome is the F and the X Series. Pinarellos for sure. Just ones that more of us can enjoy.

For more information on the Pinarello F and X Series visit Pinarello.com