Two new Pinarello gravel bikes tested at Mammoth Tuff with Chris Johnston

The Pinarello Grevil F and Dogma GR are the two latest gravel bikes from the Italian brand. Chris Johnston of Outdoor Bros and I raced these bikes at Mammoth Tuff in Mammoth Lakes, California.

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Is an Italian gravel Greyhound tough enough? That’s what I’m here at Mammoth Tough in California to find out. This is the new Penel Grarevel F. It can handle up to 50 mil tires, which is what I’ve put on here. Some Italian tires, the Victoria T50s. I have never done Mammoth Tough here in the beautiful Eastern Sierra of California. I’m excited to do so. My buddy Chris Johnson is on another Pinerella bike, the Dogma F, which is more like a all-road bike to my eyes. is it can handle up to a 42, but it is a a gravel bike. He’s going to give it a go. He has squeezed some 45s in there. We’ll see what the insides of those chain stays look like at the end of the weekend. Bike comes in a number of different builds. This is the Force build. It’s got a 40 to. Normally, I’d like a 42ish for flatter racing. There’s a lot of climbing on tap, 8,000 ft or so over the 80 plus miles out here at high altitude. We start at 8,500 feet and descend down to this area where we are now. Chadago Canyon, which is where we are, these beautiful red rock canyons. I have no idea what is in store. That’s part of the fun of gravel racing, right? You put on your best guess for tires, fill up your bottles, give it a crack, and see how it goes. So, Mammoth Tough, is the Gravel Gravel Greyhound up for it? Is the old Gravel Greyhair up for it? Come along for the ride, and we’ll find out together. [Music] [Music] Baby [Music] Okay, then reset. Let’s go. Where’s a mullet when you need it? [Music] All right, that is mammoth tough done and dusted. bike generally great. I had two main issues though. The old engine not that great and the pilot is a chicken. But aside from that, enjoyed the bike. I’m gonna go clean up, get a milkshake, and then we’ll come back, talk about this bike. I’ll see if I can find my man Chris Johnson so we can talk about his experience on the Dogma GR. Hey everybody, Chris Johnson, Outdoor Bros on YouTube. If you don’t follow him, get with the program. How did your day go, sir? What did you think of the bike? I thought it was great. I really liked just how sporty the Dogman GR was. I really enjoyed kind of the little bit of flex that was here in the seat post. I felt like when it got really chunky out there today, felt like I was never really too fatigued, too uncomfortable, which was kind of surprising because I came into this thinking that this may be actually a little bit too aggressive of a bike for Mammoth Tough because we had the sand, we had the descents, we had some chunky stuff and actually found it to be quite comfortable. And as a guy who likes, you know, kind of the faster gravel bikes, yeah, I felt like it was uh pretty dang good. I was also pleasantly surprised by how cushy both this bike and that bike were. I rode that one at home and I don’t know why my expectation was this one was going to be firm, maybe like a old school bison against Pinella, thinking it was like a straight ahead race bike, but it was yeah, quite plush. Some that was the tires and a lot of it I think was the post. Um, Pinell claims this moves like a centimeter and that one close to and Yeah, I think so. 8 centimeters, I think. Yeah, 8 millime. 8 millimeters. Yeah, 8 centimeters. Yeah, it’s like the diverge SDR is a spin to rider. One thing that uh Pintero has done for years and continues to do particularly with the GR is slice the sizing very finely. There’s like I want to say eight or nine sizes I think so for that guy and and six for this and also bars. You can get them in a lot of different configurations. And I really loved how these bars felt. They were comfortable all day. Yeah. It’s like some like there’s a bit of give to it. And also just the dimensions. Like I love how integrated bars look, but if they don’t fit you, it’s like what’s the point of this? So like having a 42 110 dial. I think we got pretty similar fit sizes. I think you like 76 saddle height and Yep. That felt great. This one comes stock with a 46. You can specify other ones, but I felt a little bit tractor driving and then it flares out to 50 something. So, like the last, I don’t know, 20 miles I was riding by myself today and would try to get low and I’d be out here like this is not aerodynamically optimized. But that’s something you can change. This is a two-piece, but it’s internal. So, it’s not quite as easy as the old school design to change, but you can change both this and you can even specify when you’re buying a bike uh the cockpit on that as you should for the pretty penny that uh both of these, particularly that guy costs. Yeah. Another way they slice it very finely is the fact that there’s two pretty similar gravel bikes. This one is a little bit more all-road with a 42 specified clearance. Although I know you you push that. And then this, you know, goes up to a 50 with, you know, still probably 45 mil. What do you got in there? Okay. So, I think it’s actually Those are your 42s. Yeah. So, I think it’s 45 front and 42 rear. Yeah. And I went 45 front, 45 rear. Yeah. I’ve ridden out here a bunch and I just felt like with the soft sand, with the conditions, you know, thankfully it rained yesterday, but yeah, I needed as much tire as I could get. I screwed up the intro. I should have introed you as Mr. Mammoth Lakes, which is the beautiful place where you are. Chris lives in Costa Mesa. Been coming up here for how many years? Since I was a little kid. Yeah. Yeah. And now coming up here to ride bikes all the time. This is like Yeah. to set the set the stage for what the riding conditions are like up here. One of the things about Mammoth Lakes is it’s just like a lot of soft sand. It’s a lot of up, a lot of down. Right here in the mountain, I mean, everywhere you go, you’re going to hit this pummus stone sand and it is like thick almost like beach sand. And I think people who come from out of town and they come up here and ride, they don’t realize that uh it’s actually pretty tough to ride through. So that’s on the mountain side. And then you get into the valley side where we rode today and there’s even more of it. So, riding’s fantastic. Rolling hills on that side, a lot of up and down up here, but yeah, you definitely want uh you want to go pretty conservative when it comes to how wide your tires need to be. By conservative, I mean, you know, kind of push the limits as much as you can because you really need it out here in Mammoth. Air on the side of extra tire. Absolutely. More rubber, more better. Yes, sir. Yeah. I thought it was interesting to see men’s pro winner Caleb Butcher all the way from New Zealand riding straight up slicks. Yeah. And riding with Lance Hayden, who is one of the best bike handlers in the biz here in North America. And the two of those dudes not only dropped everybody in the pro group, but passed the lead moto on the first descent. And yeah, doing so on slicks. Just easy peasy. Well, I I I that’s not me. I I do like uh like middle slick tread for a lot of time, especially if I know where I’m riding. Like a lot of boulders dirt roads are exactly that. They’re dirt roads. But if I’m squealing down rough, loose, sandy, unbeknownst to me trails, a little bite up front, I’m with you. Airing on the side of a little stance and a little bite is the way to go. What do you think of these? Did you want more tire, less tire? Did you feel like it was just right? What would you have changed tirewise on your setup today? Probably just a little bigger in the front. Maybe a little lower pressure. Sure. Uh it was pretty rattly in parts. Yeah. Especially towards the end of the day as you’re like getting fatigued. And what was your tire pressure? You ran front and rear. Do you remember? Uh 25 26. And I’m like a buck 85 and with you know 20 lbs of bike and 2 liters of water. This is what the Silka tire calculator said for like the cobblestone setting. Like yeah there’s cobblestones here and perfect. That’s exactly what this is. Do it. Awesome. I really enjoyed the variety of the topography and the scenery. Like the scenery is just absurd. We’re in the eastern Sierra. Yose is just north of here. Yeah, we start at what 8,500 ft. 8,500 ft right now. And then the the course I did descends down to almost 5,000 ft and coming up through Chadago Canyon. Looks like Mars with the super cool red rock canyon area. How’d you feel about the gearing on the bike? Was it adequate? Uh, you know, I’m actually a fan of a larger front chain ring. Okay. So, with the Explore Group, of course, that’s kind of where you make the big changes because you only have a 1046 or a 1046. So, you I usually like to run a 42 or a 44. I felt like today I struggled a little bit on the descents because I was just out of gears. Yes. So, I would have liked something a little bit bigger. That being said, we may be sitting here having a different conversation. If I had gone with a 44, I may say, “Hey, I actually would wish I had a 40 or 42.” So, I felt like it was okay for the day, but if I had to come back and I could tweak equipment, yeah, I’d probably go with like a 42, maybe a 44 just because some of these hills are just rolling hills and you really want to go fast and get into like a decent rhythm. How about you? Yeah, I mean, like with the Dogma GR, this comes stock with a 40 and the one choice you can have the 1046. And I was out of rope on both ends at different points of the day. Our neutral descent, neutral descent, we were over 50 mph. Not that you were pedaling there, but um some people with doubles could pedal and I was just using my my natural resources to stay with the group there. And then at points in the day when it was, you know, double digit climbs, you know, there I remembered a couple times like coming up through Chiago Canyon looking down, I’m seeing I’m well over threshold at like, you know, 60 RPM and keep pressing the left lever looking for more and more. Yeah. So like a mullet would have been nice in a couple spots. So, like a lot of bike racers, you give me anything and I can find something to complain about. Like, if it was a mullet, I’d be like, “Oh, the jumps are too big.” And now this one’s got nice small jumps, but I could have used a little bit more gearing. But I hear you. That’s all part of the deal. I, you know, was able to stay on the bike and was not forced off the bike by the gearing. I was forced off the bike by a lack of nerves at one point. We had a super loose this palm of stone sand you were talking about and at an angle and the bike was doing this and I just started squealing and got to the point where I’m like you know I’m just going to walk and climbed off the bike and people are like zooming past me and I’m like I’m just walking like Delaney are you okay? I’m like yes I’m just scared and then yeah got back on and surf through the sand for like a mile or so. So front end Gio in my head I was thinking would a super slacked out mountain bike like ride give me the confidence to stay on the bike there. I don’t know like probably not but um it is interesting to see like this guy is like 71 like depending on the size it’s like 71.75 or so for the effectively size 57. Um a little steeper than this guy if I’m reading the charts correctly. How did you feel about the front end handling? I actually thought it was pretty good. Uh, I felt like it sometimes it was a a little bit tall in the front. I wish it was maybe a little bit shorter. And maybe that’s just me adjusting my fit, removing some of these spacers, but I never felt like I was, you know, out of control on any sections. I felt like it handled really well. I felt like the front end was never swirly. And I found that I actually appreciated it when we were in some of these rolling hills and even the flat pavement sections. And on the climbs, of course, it just Yeah, it felt fantastic. Yeah. What are you packing, man? What do you got in your uh Want to see? Yeah. What what you got in your down tube there? Well, let me show you. See, this is one of my favorite things about the Dogma GR is, you know, most down tube stoages are like, you know, just this big, right? We not the Doma GR. Hang tight. This drum roll on camera here. Birthday balloon in there, right? I mean, what is this? This is like a foot long sub. Yeah. So, what what are you packing in there? Well, funny. Just like the stock stuff. Stock stuff. I’ve got a pump in here. I didn’t have to use it. I’ve got some CO2. Got a tube in here. I’ve got uh some tire levers. I’ve got everything that I need. And I’d say there’s probably still another 4 to 6 in of storage in the down tube. So, if I needed to shed a layer or something, I could have just thrown it in there, which really impressive. I love that about it. Yeah. Yeah. I’m often running cameras front and rear like I had a camera on today. So, I definitely appreciated having the flat fixings in there. When we did a shakeout ride the other day through Chago Canyon, I had this packed too tight and this thing popped off. And I was appreciative of the fact that there’s a little boingy string on there so it didn’t drop the thing and then just got it configured so it did not pop out. So that’s that’s why we do shake our rides, especially when we’re changing bikes all the time. Totally cramming stuff in there and going out. It’s better to have that happen uh the day before the race or a couple days before the race. I also appreciate the positioning and that I can have my Hugs Manila Mango Shake, you know, held securely there and still open this. So, in addition to being able to access this while keeping your water bottle there, it’s also good, I think, structurally and that a lot of bikes have the cage mounted on the the door. And so, means like one of two things. One, like they have to effectively like overbuild this so it’s super heavy but secure for the cage. or this is like a little floppy because you’ve got so much weight on there. So, did you ever find that you felt the reach was a little bit too long to get to or did you feel like it was just in the right spot? The reach for the cages? Reach for the bottles? Yeah, they’re low for sure. Um, and I’m glad you asked. I just carried this bottle around with me all day. Did not take a sip of it. I had my Castelli jersey on that has a bladder in there, 2 liters. So, went through that, stopped at one of the aid stations way out there. kind gentleman helped me refill and get it back in which is always the challenge. Um so drank four liters but did not touch this at all. I do like how they sit low uh aside from the fact that it’s you know aerodynamically more efficient to be lower near the bottom bracket just because you can run a frame bag and you’re tall boy. So it’s like a cake and eat it too thing. I did not bring my cake though. Well, I’ve got like I don’t know how many frame bags at home and since I was wearing all kinds of layers like I had my Castelli Perfetto on and knee warmers and gloves and even had a headband like I was, you know, very cozy at the start because yeah, we were going 50 miles an hour downhill. It was like 40 degrees at the start. I like to be warm. So, I had all this stuff and then a couple hours in it was, you know, 65 degrees and I should have brought a frame bag to put my stuff in. Um, one thing I appreciate about this race, Amanda Nelman and David Chic, who run this do a fantastic job in so many ways. Agreed. Uh, having Drop Bags is one of the many ways they’ve just got it down. They’re races themselves. Amanda won Unbound back in the day, Gravel Hall of Famer now. Um, and they think about the details. So, whereas I don’t think about the details. So, being able to like drop a bunch of stuff in a buddy’s drop bag, thanks Scott, at the aid station where we filled up was a nice thing. But I like that this comes with rivets so you can have a nice tidy frame bag without velcro cuz like I’ve I’m kind of a wide dude, you know? I’m like thick in the legs and thicken the back end and like thicken the head. So when I’ve got velcro here, it’s like pulls on the shorts. I don’t like that. So having bags that are attached by bolts, nice thing. Just have to be smarter than the bolts and bring the bag with you. That’s actually something you have that I don’t I don’t have that bolt right here. Mhm. You can bolt on fenders though. That That’s I saw that. Yeah. So, I can bolt on a rear fender here. Yeah. In the event that that’s what you want to do with your Dogma GR. Yeah. Seems like, you know, close to Mesa. Have you ever Do you own fenders? I do not. Yeah. No, I don’t. No. But if it’s raining, I’m going to be on the trainer. Yeah. For those two days out of the year. Yeah. That’s exactly right. Yeah. For the two days. Yeah. What would you like to change if you were to come back with either of these bikes? What would you do differently? Okay. So, if I were to bring this bike back, I think I would number one make these a little more narrow. So, I wish that these were like a 40 or a 42. I like a little more narrow bar. I’d probably again change front chain ring. I’d go to a 42 just to try it. I don’t think I’d go all the way to a 44. Saddle was great. I felt like everything was dialed in pretty well. I think my one gripe would be tire clearance. If I could fit 50s on here, I think it would be great for Mammoth Tough. But, of course, 4545 was sufficient. I felt like it was plenty fast. But if Chris could design a bike could maybe kind of tweak a couple things, I’d go 50 front and rear and I think it would be fantastic. Okay, for the price, I feel like the the bike should come with a power meter. I use the Fava AIMO power meter pedals, which I like quite a bit. Saw Garmin just came out with a new version of the rally pedals, which I did not like the old ones, so hopefully they’ve improved they’ve improved those. Um, using the Shimano Sfire gravel shoes, which I love, have pontoons to just really have a firm pedal platform. You got to push down a little harder to clip in with these because the body is just like a scooch taller than Shimano pedals. Was talking to Justin from Shimano uh during the ride and he said his recommendation was just to loosen the pedals a couple clicks. Got it. So it’s like the nice sweet spot. But my preference would be an integrated power meter. Like let the pedals do their thing be pedals and then let a power meter be a power meter. And Shramm makes great power meters with cork. So, that is one thing I would like to see on a bike of this caliber in price is a cork meter. Especially this one being the higherend top-of-the-line bike. I thought for sure there’d be a power meter on here. So, I was a little surprised to see that. Yeah, you’re going to be taking this bike home from here. Saving me the hassle of breaking it down, putting in the bike box. Thanks for So, yeah, you’ll be able to taste test this with more tire clearance. So, be curious to hear your thoughts on that. Excited. If you want to hear his thoughts on this one, follow the guy if you’re not already doing so. Outdoor Bros. I’ll put a link in the video description below. Thanks. Great spending time with you. Great ride with you. Thanks for helping out and you’re the man. Making this video a lot more fun for sure. Hope this was helpful. Let me know what questions you have for me and for Chris. We’ll do our best to answer and whether you prefer the Dogma GR, the Grareville F, or something else. Just get out there and enjoy the ride. Okay, Ben, I do have another question for you. What is going on in this front bottle cage? Hydration’s important. By this you mean my my milkshake? I love myself a milkshake after an event. So we beline to Hugs in the village here. Got a Manila mango. Thanks Hugs for sponsoring this video. Should get a milkshake sponsor. Yeah, that’s exactly what we need. That’s a great idea. I mean, how funny would that be if you had just like milkshakes at the end of every thing and it was just like a milkshake product placement? Yeah. Oh man, I should do that. That is great.