Posted on June 30, 2022 by Cory Benson

On the eve of the time trial Grand Départ of the 2022 Tour de France, Pinarello says the new Bolide F is their “fastest bike ever”. The slippery-looking, signature curvy Bolide F will be the TT bike of choice for the INEOS Grenadiers team this weekend, including World time trial champion Filippo Ganna and his GC team leader Geraint Thomas. Will it be enough to catapult an INEOS rider into the maillot jaune from the start?

We’ll soon find out…

all c. Pinarello, photo by Getty Images

The team has already had some good results at the recent Tour de Suisse & Ganna just won a Italian TT national championship on a camouflaged version of the new Pinarello Bolide F. But Copenhagen will see its first official unveiling.

The new bike doesn’t look entirely unfamiliar, as it is the natural evolution of the Bolide TR we’ve seen since around 2018, although mostly in triathlon or even track variants. But that’s where Pinarello has been refining the aerodynamic performance of this platform, and they says it’s well… faster than ever now.

Pinarello stresses that it was more complex Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) design capabilities that allowed their engineers to “significantly improve aerodynamics” on the new Bolide F time trial bike.

photo by Sprint Cycling Agency

Boosting speed wasn’t only decreasing drag, but also decreasing rolling resistance. In fact, adding disc brakes in CFD increased drag by 1.4% over the old rim brake version. Then, bigger tires meant more frontal area. But they clawed that back by reshaping the rear end with new dropped seatstays, a cleaner seat cluster, and refined chainstays. Interestingly not claiming there is less frame drag than before but that it is “within 0.04% (0.0075N) of the previous Bolide TT”. Instead, the bike is faster combining aerodynamics & rolling resistance, plus improved disc braking control.

In the end, it also looks like the rear lost a lot of that signature Pinarello wavy shaping, in favor of better aerodynamics.

Up front though, drag is reduced, thanks to the new aero basebar & aero extensions, claiming a 2-3% improvement over total drag. Pinarello pros get even more gains than that with custom 3D-printed titanium aero extensions. But now amateur cyclists (with sufficiently fat pocketbooks) can get the same pro custom treatment too, scanning their forearms in the UK or Italy to perfectly form the ultimate aero fit.

The new Pinarello Bolide F is also lighter. While no super light climber, Pinarello was able to shave 170g off the frame kit (including its brakes). Now the complete Bolide F TT disc brake frame kit comes down to a claimed 2265g for the largest size, including frame, fork, headset, seatpost, disc brake calipers & hydraulic lines. The raw frame alone is just 1100g.

The new Bolide F is even stiffer, too. Optimized tube shaping, improved raw material, and new layups yield 17% more bottom bracket stiffness, 7% more headtube stiffness, and for the fork 12% more front-to-back stiffness & 5% more lateral stiffness.

photo by Sprint Cycling Agency

All of the improvements are said to be really noticeable while racing… faster on the flats, quicker out of the corners, and more composed handling overall.

• Toray M40X carbon fiber blend • Asymmetric aero frame • new integrated Bolide F TT Onda fork • Total integrated cable routing (TiCR) for a sleek cockpit • unconventional combo of a 1.5″ upper and 1.25″ lower headset bearing to balance integration & aerodynamics

• Italian thread BB, because why not! • UCI-approved for racing against the clock • Flat mount disc brakes & 12mm thru-axles • Max 28mm tire clearance • claimed 1100g frame weight for the largest 55cm raw unpainted frame

2022 Pinarello Bolide F World Champ Top Ganna edition

The new Pinarello Bolide F is technically already available for pre-order from your local dealer in four stock sizes, although no word how much it will actually cost or when it will show up in the bike shop. We do know that you won’t be able to get the World Champ rainbow strip Top Gun Top Ganna edition… that one is reserved for Filippo Ganna. Consumer bikes will be matte black with white Pinarello decals.

Cory Benson is the EU Tech Editor of Bikerumor.com.

Cory has been writing about mountain bikes, enduro, cyclocross, all-road, gravel bikes & bikepacking on and off for over 25 years, since before several of these even had names in our industry.

Prior to that (and at times, concurrently), Cory worked as an Architect specializing in environmental sustainability, a IBD bike shop designer & consultant, an independent product designer, a bike shop mechanic, and a mountain biking instructor.

Based in the Czech Republic for over 15 years, Cory spends much of his time traveling around Europe, riding bikes, and meeting directly with many of cycling’s key European product developers, industry experts & tastemakers for an in-depth review of what’s new, and what’s coming next. A technical off-road rider at heart since the 1990s, Cory’s cycling has evolved to cover everything from the wide range of riding aero road bikes on dirt roads to thrashing enduro bikes in the European bikeparks & trail centers, with plenty of XC, CX & gravel in between.

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