Pinarello reckon 2008 was the year of the Prince – well it did bag a load of awards. A hard act to follow, so for 2009 they’ve upped the ante with higher a higher grade carbon weave for their flagship model – which should in theory – make for an even lighter stiffer bike. They claim a 54cm built up with Charisma wheels weighs an airy 6.7kg complete, with a frame weight of 900g – we brought along the road.cc scales, but they weren’t going to haul it off the stand half an hour in to day one, maybe later…
As with previous editions of the Prince the ’09 model sports the kinked fork and seatstays first seen on the Dogme a few years back – well that was certainly stiff. They look different, but given their claimed performance advantages the rest of the bike world has been oddly reluctant to get kinky with their bikes. Those with longer memories will remember that British company, Holdsworth produced a bike with a similarly kinked fork way back in the Seventies. As you’d expect there’s plenty of top choice finishing kit on display and Campag Super Record 11-speed to help the wheels go round. If you don’t like the stock colours there are also custom options available using the MyWay system.
Pinarello’s two top end time trial bikes are very desirable machines, and are basically the same design – the big difference is that the FM1 is made from a higher grade of carbon: 50HM1 as opposed to the Montello’s 46-HM3K. The upshot? The FM1 frames weighs 1150g for a 51cm says Pinarello, against the Martello’s… well, they wouldn’t say actually, not on the information card with the bike. So it’ll be quite a bit lighter then.
Both feature reversible seat angles 74.5 degrees for time triallists and 76.5 for triathletes, both are the ultimate time trialling machine say Pinarello it’s just the FM1 is slightly more ultimate.