GCN Presenter Bike | Alex’s New Pinarello F7

Alex has a new team bike: the Pinarello F7, a bike that boasts Dogma-level looks and performance at half the price. We dive into his custom setup, including a Ceramic Speed OSPW with 3D-printed titanium pulley wheels and a chain waxed purely with Silca Speed Chip for maximum marginal gains. Alex reveals the full details, a freehub soundcheck, and weighs the bike as he prepares to chase a 47-year-old cycling record.

Chapters: ⏱️
00:00 – The All-New Pinarello F7
01:26 – Paint Job Reveal: Alabaster White Shiny
01:53 – The Wheels: Princeton Carbonworks MAC 7580
03:09 – The Dura-Ace Crank Miracle & Ceramic Speed Bottom Bracket
04:05 – OSPW Bling & Chrome Marginal Gains
06:39 – The Silca Speed Chip Chain Wax Experiment
08:16 – Pinarello Talon Ultra Fast Cockpit
09:57 – Frame Tech Breakdown (Carbon Grades & Aero Keel)
11:34 – Why Alex Chose the F7 (Performance vs. Price)
12:28 – Full Bike Setup, Measurements, and Final Weight

Useful Links:
GCN Tech Uploader 👉 https://gcn.eu/techuploader
Subscribe so you don’t miss a thing 👉 https://gcntech.co/subscribe
Insurance: Viewers in the USA and UK can explore GCN Insurance products 👉 https://gcn.eu/GCNinsurance
Sign Up To The GCN Newsletter 👉 https://gcn.eu/Newsletter
Visit the GCN Shop 👉 https://gcn.eu/gcnshop
GCN WhatsApp Channel 👉 https://gcn.eu/GCNwhatsapp
GCN Instagram Broadcast Channel 👉 https://gcn.eu/instagrambroadcast
Join the GCN Club on Zwift and ride with us! 👉 https://gcn.eu/GCNClubRides

Alex claims his Pinarello F7 is cooler than Ollie’s Pinarello Dogma. Do you agree? 👇

Watch more on GCN Tech…
📹 https://youtu.be/KxdRxzaXDVU
📹 Watch our Editor’s Choice Playlist 👉 https://gcntech.co/EditorsChoice
📹 Watch the latest GCN Tech Show 👉 https://gcntech.co/GCNTechShow

🎵 Music – licensed by Epidemic Sound 🎵

#gcntech #gcn #cycling #roadcycling #roadbike #bike #bikes #bikelife #biketech

📸 Photos – © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Sprint Cycling Agency

Brought to you by the world’s biggest cycling channel, the Global Cycling Network (GCN), GCN Tech is the only channel you need for all things bike tech – past, present and future.

Simply put, we’re obsessed with tech: we seek out and showcase the best in bikes, components, tech, accessories, upgrades and more from races and events, tech shows and product launches across the globe to bring you the best in road bike technology.

We’ve got great maintenance videos to help you get the most from your bike; pro-bike tours from all the biggest races; special features and the weekly GCN Tech Show!

Thanks to our sponsors:
Canyon Bikes: http://gcn.eu/-Canyon
Orbea Bikes: http://gcn.eu/Orbea
Pinarello Bikes: https://gcn.eu/Pinarello
Topeak Tools: http://gcn.eu/Topeak
CamelBak: https://gcn.eu/Camelbak
Pirelli Tyres: https://gcn.eu/Pirelli
Vision Wheels: http://gcn.eu/Vision
Wahoo Fitness: http://gcn.eu/Wahoo-Fitness
Park Tool: http://gcn.eu/-parktool
Selle Italia: https://gcn.eu/SelleItalia
Zwift: https://gcn.eu/Zwift
Silca: https://gcn.eu/Silca
MET Helmets: https://gcn.eu/methelmets
Core Body Temperature: https://gcn.eu/corebodytemp
Precision Fuel & Hydration: https://gcn.eu/precisionhydration
Elitewheels: https://gcn.eu/Elitewheels
CeramicSpeed: https://gcn.eu/GCNCeramicSpeed

Watch our sister channels:
Global Cycling Network – https://www.youtube.com/@gcn
GCN Racing – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnracing
Global Triathlon Network – https://www.youtube.com/@gtn
GCN Italia – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnitalia
GCN en Español – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnenespanol
GCN auf Deutsch – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnaufdeutsch
GCN en Français – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnenfrancais
GCN Training – https://www.youtube.com/@GCNTraining
Global Mountain Bike Network – https://youtube.com/@gmbn
GMBN Racing – https://youtube.com/@gmbnracing
GMBN Tech – https://www.youtube.com/@gmbntech
Electric Mountain Bike Network – https://www.youtube.com/@embn

I have a brand new bike. [Music] [Applause] [Music] The Pinerello F7. A bike that looks every bit as good as a Dogma, but about half the price. In this video, I’m going to tell you everything that you need to know about this bike, including why I chose this exact model, the setup and tweaks I’ve made compared to its original standard, and I’m also going to do a free up sound check and weigh the bike. Right, show you the bike. [Music] [Music] So, this is actually the third Pinerella. I’ve been lucky enough to call my own here at GCN. 5 or so years ago, I had a rim brake Dogma F12 and I absolutely love that bike. 2 years ago, I had an F9 and I absolutely loved that bike, too. And now I have this, the allnew F7 from the allnew F series arrange. Now, I absolutely love the look of this bike, but as of yet, I’ve not had the opportunity to ride it. But in the coming weeks, myself, Ollie, and Sai are going to be trying to beat a historic cycling record. I’m looking forward to riding it. But can we just take a moment to appreciate just how amazing this paint job is, and then we’ll start talking about some of the details. It’s called Alabaster White Shiny, which is a pearl white with these black inlays on certain areas of the frame and these beautiful rose gold and copper logos. Honestly, it’s one of the nicest color bikes I’ve had for absolutely ages. In fact, I think my bike is cooler than Ollie’s Pinerella Dogma, but you can let me know in the comments. Now, a large part of what is helping to make this bike look absolutely boss are the wheels. Now, these are Princeton Carbon Works Mac 7580. Now, as the name suggests, these have a waved rim profile that are 75 mm deep, undulating to 80 mm. Now, these are some absolutely serious aerocarbon fiber wheels. The wheels bit up with DC Swift 180 hubs with a ratchet free hub in there. More of that later on. Um, and in terms of the rim, well, let me tell you some of the stats. You got 22 mm internal hooked rim width. And then the rim bed on the inside doesn’t require any tubeless tape. is completely sealed and just is a raw carbon fiber finish. It’s honestly super cool. Fitted to the wheels are PL P0 Race TLR RS tires set up tubeless as we’ve all come to expect from me. Now, these are a 30 mm wide because that’s what I found in my own testing that I prefer and also sort of strikes the perfect balance between weight, aerodynamics, and rolling resistance for almost all riding. And um I got to be honest, in this sort of retro tan sidewall, they look absolutely boss on pretty much every single bike out there. Now, this bike is built up with Shimano Altegra 12speed. Now, as I’m sure many of you will have already noticed, there appears to be a Jura Ace crank already fitted onto this bike. Honestly, I know you were probably all expecting this, so I didn’t want to disappoint, but honestly, I really just don’t know how this has happened. Let me tell you some backstory here. So earlier on I was trying to fit a new ceramic speed alpha bottom bracket which is actually tucked underneath this durace crank here. I had a plan to use an Altegra crank shorter crank arms what was fitted to this bike originally which were 160 mm long which I had technically borrowed from Chloe my wife’s bike without telling her. Anyway, I went to change the cranks put the old Tega cranks down fitted the bottom racket turned around. Would you believe it cranks were just changed to durase. I honestly don’t know how it happened, but perhaps it was some kind of miracle. [Music] Okay, let’s talk about what’s going on at the back of the bike here. Starting with the rear derailia. So, this bike, apart from the crank, is Shimano Altegra because I really feel like it fits with the ethos and idea of what this bike is all about, offering much of the performance of Dur, but at that far more affordable price point. Still, that isn’t going to stop me making some cheeky upgrades, is it? So, as you will have seen here, we’ve got this absolutely off thecharts OSPW from Ceramic Speed. This one takes things to a whole another level, though, because it’s got 3D printed titanium pulley wheels with coated hybrid ceramic bearings inside, but also this one has been anodized with this really cool oil slick color and finish. And it looks blooming so cool. Also, because we know all like all the little blingy parts, I’ve got this really cool chrome direct mount derailia hanger from Frames and Gear. This literally turned up in the post earlier. So, I’m super lucky to get that on the bike in time. It looked kind of cool, although part of me inside is thinking I need to decide whether I go with shiny chrome effect or the iridescent oil slick finish because at the moment they’re not really working well together. So, I’ll fix that problem at some point in the future. the crank, the crank length, and the gearing in general on this bike is something that I’m going to probably change and tweak, and it’s going to evolve over time as I get to grips for using this bike. And the reason for that is really because myself, Ollie, and Sai are going to be trying to beat a 47year-old cycling record for the fastest 25 mile time trial. Now, this was actually set by Alfers, as I said, 47 years ago. And this is something we’ve been planning to do for a little while now. Apart from it just got slightly harder to beat, even riding as a team of three because in the last couple of months, the record was not only beaten, it was beaten by around 2 minutes. So, we really have got our work out trying to achieve those kind of speeds. As such, I feel like it’s likely that I’m going to probably want to use a 54 to chain ring, maybe a one by setup, and then the cassette at the back. Well, I’ve already changed it from the 1134, which is what the bike came with, which is what I would tend to normally use, but I moved to an 11 to 30 just to have that sort of slightly closer ratios and jumps between the gears because when you are trying to really optimize for a narrow margin of speed and power, it really helps have those closer ratios. So, we’ve got the marginal gains from the ceramic bottom bracket. We’ve got marginal gains from the OSPWS with ceramic bearings inside. and more marginal gains in the form of a wax chain. But unlike what I would usually do, and that is wax the chain with Silka’s super secret hot wax chain blend, this time I’ve actually done something which is kind of going to sound a little bit crazy to most people. So if you cast your minds back, Silker actually launched a product called Speed Chip, which is a bit you add into the normal wax to boost the speed of it. What I’ve done here on the advice of Josh Porner from Silka is to wax the chain purely with speed chip. Now, there are obviously some downsides to this because the longevity of the wax is going to be severely reduced, but it does give you that tiny little speed boost in terms of the efficiencies of the chain. Now, Josh tells me that by waxing the chain with just the speed chip only, it’s probably only really going to be good for around 100 to 150 km. But that doesn’t matter because the 25 mile record we’re trying to break well really only equates to I think it’s 40.25 km. So should be good for a couple of attempts really. Now using the speed chip only to wax the chain is something that Josh tells me some of the Silka sponsored pro teams have been doing for some of the World Tour time trials over this past race season. So if it’s good for them, it’s going to be pretty good for me, isn’t it? While those trick little bits and bobs are going to help save a few watts here and there, the biggest savings are going to come from my body position. Now, the geometry of this all new F7 is a carryover from the previous models, but there’s quite a few little tweaks and changes throughout to help improve the speed of this bike. One of those things being that it’s using the EICR headset cable routting. This is technology taken from the range topping dogma. By using this new internal headset design, it now means this bike features the Talon Ultra Fast Bar, which was again off the range topping dogma. It’s a one piece carbon handlebar and stem combo. And the size I’m using on this bike is 130 mm in terms of the stem length and 42 cm from the outer of the drops. But because this handlebar features a 7 degree flare and I have my lever hoods angled in ever so slightly, it means up here when you’re riding in that arrow tuck position, it measures just 33 cm wide. That is going to help a lot when I’m trying to ride over 30 mph for 25 mi. Also, as you can see, I’ve got some absolutely box fresh white handlebar tape on here from Urggon. Let’s be honest, it’s probably not going to stay looking that fresh for very long, but it looks super cool nonetheless. And another little feature actually, which I don’t very often mention, is that I have my brake levers wound most of the way in because that’s just how I prefer to ride. And you do so just using a little hex key underneath. And you can wind the position of the lever to suit your hand shape and size. Other little tweaks and details that I made to this bike are well, I’m using the latest 3D printed SLR saddle, which is a recent switch for me. Haven’t used the Novas Boost Evo for absolutely ages. Also got my Topi carbon bottle cages, although I’ll probably take those off for the time trial because, you know, Aero gains. Also got a really cool 3D printed titanium out front mounts holding my Wahoo from Sturdy Cycles. I’ve also got Aero Wahoo pedals with titanium axles. Okay, so I want to talk about some of the updates that have been made to this frame compared to the previous model. Now, first thing we should talk about is tire clearance has been increased. It’s now up to 32 mm, an increase from 30 on the previous model. The down tube has been slimmed down. The fork has been slimmed down. We’ve now got a 47 mm rate. And then down here at the bottom bracket is featuring a design which Pinarello call the Aero Keel. Now, if you view this from the non-drive side, you can really see how this design helps to improve not only aerodynamics, but also stiffness in that key area of the frame. Now, I’ve explained this is the Pinerello F7 model, but there’s also a bunch of different models to choose from, varying in terms of the build specs and also the carbon fiber used. You have the F9, the F7, the F5, the F3, and the F1. The F9 and the F7 use T900 carbon fiber, but the F5 and F3 use T700 carbon fiber and the F1 uses T600 carbon fiber. And what does this actually mean though in terms of the bike that you’re going to get to go out and ride on? Well, mostly it comes down to weight. Simply put, the difference in the grades of carbon fiber require Pinarello to use a little bit more of those slightly lower grades to achieve the same overall bike performance and characteristics. But don’t expect this is going to be super significant or noticeable out on the road, though, because the difference in terms of pure frame weight between this F7 and the Dogma is really only around 100 g. So, that’s a lot of chat about bike specifics and nerdy details, but I want to talk about why I’ve chosen this exact model of bike. Well, simply put, it’s the bike that makes the most sense for me. You see, I’m someone that really likes performance bikes. I like all the top spec components. I like all the little details, but I’m also someone who actually still goes and does bike races. I still do fast group rides. I care about how fast I actually ride. But the reality of this situation is I’m no longer a prolevel racer. So, I feel like the F-S series range of bikes and in particular the F7 with Altegra really strikes that perfect balance for me of performance versus price. and in reality probably strikes the good balance for most other people. Although that said, if you are someone that has got enough money to buy the top spec bike of whatever brand you want, well then go for it. Fill your boots. Who am I to tell you what to do? Okay then. For those of you who are super super super nerds, let me tell you a little bit more about the measurements and setup of my bike. So I’m 186 cm tall and I ride a size 575 Pinerelloo. My saddle height from the center of the bottom bracket to the top of the saddle is 82 cm. The saddle set back from the bottom bracket to the nose of the saddle is 9.5 cm. The saddle to bar drop is 12 cm. And the tip of the saddle to the center of the handlebars is 62 cm. Okay, let’s weigh this thing. Zero scales. Scales have been zeroed. 8.2. Dead on. Not as light as I was hoping for, but still pretty respectable. And seeing as I somehow managed to make everybody sit the whole way through a freehub sound check on the upgraded 10,000B bike, here’s me from earlier giving you another full freehub sound check. [Music] [Applause] Heat. [Applause] Heat. nice. Okay, there you go. Bike check done. Hope you enjoyed seeing my new bike. Please do let me know in the comments section down below what you think of it and some of the choices that I’ve made. Also, let me know if you got any future upgrades I should consider making to this bike. And um also want to say big thanks to Pillarello for tricking me out with one of the coolest bikes around. Definitely way cooler than Ollie’s. Also let me know if you agree with my statement on that. Right, I’m out of here. See you later. If you want to help support our channel, turn on your notifications and hit that subscribe button for GCN Tech. See you later. I