Must Go Faster! Pinarello Dogma XC Mountain Bike Review

Most cyclists do not associate Pinarello with mountain biking. But with its win in the Paris Games by Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock, the Italian brand grabbed the spotlight after decades of almost exclusively focusing on road racing.

The Dogma XC is stunning, with its unique asymmetric rear triangle and gold and multicolor paint scheme. But looks don’t win medals, and I wanted to know if Pinarello’s long-standing winning streak in the top echelons of road racing would carry over to the dirt. And, considering the equally elite pricing of Pinarello’s bikes, I wanted to discern the value of the $13,000 carbon fiber steed that landed on my doorstep.

I rode the Pinarello Dogma XC as hard as I could for 3 months, focusing on faster trails indicative of modern cross-country mountain bike races. My area is predominantly hard-pack narrow trails. Limestone boulders of all sizes, from baseball to basketball, are everywhere. Ledges are plentiful and range from a few inches to almost 3 feet.

As any racer would, I paid attention to how this bike chased speed more than comfort. Given the price and the brand’s racing pedigree, I was very critical.

In short: If speed is the goal and racing is the vessel, the Pinarello Dogma XC delivers. The bike wants to go fast at all times. It works better at the limit of fitness, as its stiffness and suspension characteristics convert effort into the most possible speed. It’s not a bike to cruise trails in comfort. It’s a rocket that can fly across race courses and faster trails. This, of course, only applies if your wallet can shell out the 13K.

Pinarello Dogma XC Mountain Bike Review

Specifications

The Dogma XC can win races at the highest ends of the sport, so Pinarello graces it with a no-holds-barred list of go-fast goods.

The carbon fiber flex-stay frame has the best parts of the flagship mountain bike groupsets from SRAM and Shimano. Pinarello specifies a SRAM XX SL Eagle Transmission drivetrain. It mates this to Shimano XTR brakes and a DT XRC carbon wheelset with Maxxis Recon Race rubber.

The frame is fully integrated for the hydraulic brake hoses. Pinarello uses the highly regarded M40J carbon fiber from Toray of Japan to form the frame.

A FOX 32 Factory SC 100mm fork with Kashima coating handles front suspension duties, and a FOX Float SL Factory with Kashima shock controls the rear of the Dogma XC. The Pinarello Dogma X can also accept a 110mm fork and 100mm shock without changing the kinematics.

The front cockpit is Pinarello’s Talon Ultra XC one-piece carbon bar and stem. The saddle is a Lynx 2.0 XC, and it sits on a FOX Transfer SL with Kashima coating and a 100mm drop.

My large test sample weighed a verified 24 pounds with the included bottle cage and tubes in the tires but without pedals.

What About That Frame?

Once I got past the striking paint job, it was hard not to notice the unique rear triangle. Astute cycling fans have seen the asymmetric design on Pinarello’s road racing bikes.

This design incorporates separate right and left halves that differ from each other to better handle the different stresses on each side. On most bikes, the left and right halves of the rear triangle are mostly mirror images of each other, and the rear triangle is a single piece.

On the Pinarello Dogma XC, the two halves of the rear triangle are drastically different. The most notable difference is the droop in the non-drive side just ahead of the brake caliper. The drive side’s chainstay is bullet-straight. Pinarello claims that the design effectively counteracts the forces acting on the drive side of the bike.

Another striking difference on the Dogma XC frame is the “triangulated” bottom bracket area. It has a “crossbar” that connects the down tube and seat tube above the bottom bracket. It creates a small triangle around the bottom bracket that drastically reduces the leverage of the bottom bracket on the down tube and seat tube.

And typical of Pinarello road frames, the Dogma XC’s frame has artistic swoops and curves not present in any other brand of frame I’ve ever tested.

Trail Manners

Pinarello’s only goal with the Dogma XC is to win races. Knowing that, I stuck to trails that fit the racing profile. This means they were faster and didn’t require me to huck huge gaps or drops. I had to navigate rock gardens, tree roots, and ledges, but I never needed more than the very short travel suspension on the bike.

But what I did need was more fitness. One look at the almost comically low handlebars (nonadjustable) and long top tube, and I knew this bike demanded that I ride at or near the limit of my aerobic capacity. And I obliged. Because I was at the edge of my ability, I stuck to trails I’ve ridden for nearly 40 years.

I was rewarded with the most speed I’ve felt in a full-suspension bike.

Chassis Efficiency

Racing is all about energy efficiency, and the Dogma XC’s frame has the attributes to turn every watt into forward motion.

The “triangle in a triangle” tube configuration around the bottom bracket did what it visibly portrayed. The bottom bracket was amazingly stiff laterally and rotationally. The carbon SRAM XX Eagle Cranks also added to the sensation that every muscle cell in my aging body was transferring energy into the chain and rear wheel.

Even standing and applying all the torque I could muster, I never felt any appreciable movement in the bottom bracket. I also felt this way about the head tube. I could force the front wheels through the angular openings between boulders in the numerous dry creek crossings on my usual haunts. The carbon one-piece Talon UItra XC bar and stem, as did the DT XRC wheels, added to the feeling of torsional rigidity and control.

Flex-stay designs have never felt that smooth to me, but they are efficient with rider power. The Pinarello Dogma XC was the same. Combined with the stiff bottom bracket and relatively short chainstays, I had to relearn how to apply power on the downstroke when climbing steep or dry sections. The immediate and direct transfer of pedaling forces to the rear wheel forced me to concentrate on body position and smoother pedaling to keep the rear tire biting.

Sprinting out of turns felt as efficient as some of my gravel bikes. The sensation of immediate acceleration, on demand, was astounding and fun. The 2.25″ wide tires, with their relatively large volume, helped maintain a secure feeling in the faster, higher-speed turns, and they also helped quell chatter while on lean.

Pinarello Dogma XC Suspension Dynamics

Pinarello aimed the Dogma X to World Cup-style cross-country mountain bike racing, so it set the suspension up with speed and precision at that speed, not comfort. With those criteria in mind, the suspension performed as expected.

Rear Suspension

The last thing a mountain bike racer wants to feel when chasing the rider ahead is the sensation that suspension movement is sucking up pedaling energy. Any wasted wattage going into the fork or shock compressing is not driving the rear wheel. The Pinarello Dogma XC was among the best at transferring pedaling forces into the rear wheel and not the suspension.

In the fully open position on both the fork and shock, the suspension didn’t “absorb” bumps but rather attenuated the effect of either tire hitting an obstacle. I could keep driving the bike forward, in an aggressive position, as long as I jockeyed my body correctly for the terrain.

Being a lazy, passive passenger didn’t work. I had to move my body around and use my limbs and joints to help the suspension work. I had to “race,” in my opinion, and not just ride. The prize was speed, which was continuously possible because the bike took the sharp edge of any hits.

Front Suspension

The reverse crown FOX 32 SC fork was the first of the style I’d ridden. I found the initial travel quite supple, but then it ramped up very quickly. The shock action was firm throughout its travel. Both ends of the bike held up well to larger terrain obstacles, and I never once felt like either collapsed unpredictably.

Damping Adjustments

I tried the middle damping positions a few times but disregarded them for most of the testing period. The differences between open and middle were drastic, and with the limited suspension travel, I never felt it was worth it.

The locked-out position was very stiff, and I only engaged it when standing, riding on the roads between trails, or on hardpacked, dual-track flat sections where I could hammer the largest gear without worry. Again, the suspension “rounded” sharp edges reduced the abruptness of each hit, and my body did the rest. It reminded me of tightly suspended sports cars, not standard passenger vehicles.

Pinarello Dogma XC Handling

The front of the Dogma XC is relatively steep, while the rear triangle is horizontally short. As one could guess, the bike was snappy and quick to react to any rider input.

It took me a day to learn how quickly and precisely the Pinarello Dogma XC reacted to inputs. It required attention while cornering but rewarded me with extreme precision. But I have to reinforce that it required precision input from me. When I was fatigued, the bike let me know by reacting to any sloppy riding with instant reactions. At times, that meant missing the intended lines.

The short chainstays made climbing steep angles a joy as long as I kept my torso down and head over the front. The bike could tractor up short, abrupt pitches that I could not do on other bikes.

But the short rear end made fast descending more difficult. Like cornering, I had to be mentally and physically stay on point while descending the steep, short, and rocky downhills I frequent. The back of the bike was prone to skipping out more than longer models, and I had to keep my weight deliberately spread out between the two wheels.

Other Performance Factors

Pinarello graces the Dogma XC with top-of-the-line components, even splitting groupsets to cherry-pick the best-performing parts. For a racer, these choices left little to be desired.

Shifting

The SRAM XX SL Eagle Transmission was exceptional. Once I had the ergonomics of the AXS shifter pod positioned perfectly, I didn’t have to consciously do anything about shifting.

I didn’t shift ahead of time, nor did I take pressure off the pedals while shifting on climbs. I hit a button, and the shifts occurred reliably and with a confident “clunk” without the chain dragging between cogs. Up or down, the drivetrain on the Dogma XC was as slick as could be for a mountain bike.

Braking

I applaud any bike brand for bearing what is most likely an extra expense for not mounting complete groupsets. While I’ve never had issues with SRAM Transmission, I have sometimes desired better braking performance from the matching brakes. Seeing the XTR brakes on this bike reinforced the belief that Pinarello was after every performance gain it could attain, regardless of cost.

As per usual with XTR hydraulic disc brakes, I found the performance top-notch. XTR brakes have always provided the best initial bite, progressiveness, and power, and it was no different aboard the Pinarello Dogma XC.

The Rest

I never noticed the DT XRC wheels except for their responsiveness, tightness, and stiffness against front axle rotation. They felt like extensions of the frame and reacted accordingly. After countless impacts with rocks at high speed, they rolled as true as they did the first day.

For my mostly hard-packed area, the Maxxis Recon Race tires were exceptional. They rolled amazingly fast, had great grip at all angles, and I never felt the tires squirm. But if I had to navigate even slightly softer terrain or mud, I would definitely switch tires.

The FOX Transfer SL dropper post worked every time I actuated the left-hand lever. There were no issues whatsoever during the testing period. Only time will tell if FOX has squashed the sticking issues I’ve had with older, longer-term dropper posts.

Finally, the fit isn’t for everyone; it’s long and low. If you come from a road racing background, you will feel right at home. But if you’re used to trail bikes, the front dimensions of the Dogma XC might feel overly aggressive.

Final Word

Pinarello didn’t try to span any gaps between mountain bike categories. It didn’t put 120mm suspension on it (although this bike accepts it), and try to call it a downcountry bike. It didn’t slacken the geometry to make the bike more lenient, nor did it raise the bars up to accommodate anything but flat-out riding.

The Pinarello Dogma XC is decidedly one-dimensional; it’s a race bike. And like a race car, it’s not allocating any resources to comfort and puts all its chips down on pure speed.

The Dogma XC delivered instant, on-demand power transfer, precise and lightning-quick steering, low weight, and a spare-no-expense parts specification. Yes, it’s absurdly expensive. But if you want to ride as fast as you can on a machine that responds instantly and precisely to every input, it’s going to be hard to top this machine.