Just in: Pearl Dice Pro

6.34kg (13.95lb). That’s how much this Pearl Dice Pro weighs. That’s… not very much at all. Less than a stone. This must be the lightest bike we’ve ever had in for test at road.cc. Once you’ve added your pedals, this is still well under the minimum weight limit for UCI-sanctioned racing so you’ll have to put some lead inside the tubes or something if you want to ride it in this year’s Tour de France.

If you’re not familiar with Pearl, we'll excuse you because the German brand has been around for a few years. They’ve already got a whole bunch of bikes on the roster though, covering road, triathlon, cross, and MTB. There’s a steel singlespeed in the lineup too. That's one of the new rules of cycling. Every brand has to have a steel singlespeed in the range.

The Dice Pro is built around a carbon monocoque frame that looks pretty darn neat to us. The head tube is tapered with a 1 1/8in bearing at the top and 1 1/2in down below – which is fast becoming the norm for high end race bikes. The gear cables take the direct route straight through the tubing in Principia (and other brands) style, although these don't double up as cable stops. They're mounted to the down tube.

Speaking of which, the big-diameter down tube is teardrop shaped up at the front and gradually ovalises before it reaches the BB30 oversized bottom bracket, while the top tube slopes down in a compact geometry kind of way. The seatpost is integrated; the seat tube extends right up beyond the top tube and you chop it to the right height. You get a little height adjustment via the mast that sits on top which will come in handy if you swap the saddle.

The twin seatstays run parallel to one another above the brake bridge before striking out on their own and the chainstays kick out at the last minute to join them at the dropouts. Up front, Pearl’s own fork is full carbon, naturally.

This finish definitely falls into the ‘subtle and understated’ category – swirly logos and a splash of grey. But you can choose your own design and colour from Pearl’s palette. You can even go for a personalised custom paint design. Go nuts and make it floral if you like.

Pearl reckon the Dice Pro frame weighs 890g in a large size. With a headset and forks fitted, that’ll set you back £2,200.

Our test model isn’t a standard build. It has mostly Shimano’s second tier Ultegra components – which makes that incredibly light weight all the more impressive. We’ve got a compact chainset too, which we're not entirely convinced is called for. We have an inkling a bike this light will float uphill as soon as we untether it from the ground.

There are two standard builds, the cheapest... sorry, the least expensive of which comprises a SRAM Red groupset with Rotor cranks, Mavic Cosmic Carbone SL wheels, Deda Zero cockpit and a Fizik saddle. That’ll set you back £5,300. How much of that lot is on our test bike? Just a sec… None of it.

We do, though, have the Lightweight wheels of the other standard build. And at 1,100g the pair, they certainly live up to their name. And that’s with 53mm deep rims. Unreal!

The rest of the spec on that build is made up of Shimano’s top-end Dura Ace groupset and the same Deda cockpit and Fizik saddle as the first option. Price? £7,800. Not cheap, then.

We’re heading off to find out whether the Pearl lives up to its promises out on the road. If you want more info before we get back with the results, head along to Pearl-Cycles.com.