OK, tell me about your Pinarello's. I just built up a Prince. It is generally a nice bike, but I have a few questions for anyone with experience on these frames.

Is the chainstay length very very short on your bike? I have a 51 cm model and the rear tires are just rubbing on the FD clamp (Shimano adapter clamp).

Has the integrated headset held up well on your bike?

I have 2 Princes. I have a 2002 Prince, and a 2004 Prince SL. Both are fabulous to look at and they perform as well.

The first Prince has been a fabulous bike for me so far. I have logged about 5300 miles on it this year without any major problems. The second has only been on the road for a little over a week and has 325 miles on it. It is even slicker than the first.

My understanding is the headset is the Achilles heel of the Prince. So far, I have just tweaked it if it got a little loose. But absolutely no problems that required any maintenance other than what I am capable of doing.

As far as the chainstays being short, you got me there. Are you sure that the little screws in the rear dropouts are positioned properly? Just a guess and probably quite obvious but worth a try. I have about 3/8" of an inch between the leading edge of my rear tire and the seat tube and my front derraileur clears with 5/16" to spare. Also, the front derraileur sits about 1-1/8" below the point where my rear tire comes the closest to the seat tube.

I uploaded a little graphic from Competive Cyclist on the geometry of the 2005 Prince but I think it is the same from years past. The didn't put the M.O.ST bb housing on anything but Dogmas, PrinceSL, Paris, and their high end Opera spinoff brand bikes (Leonardo, Georgione etc.) so the distance from the bb shell to your rear axle should be with a couple millimeters of framesets the size of my 58 and 59 cm models.

Don't know if any of this helps but it might.

Todd

From your pic, it looks like the Record FD clamp sits a lot lower than the Ultegra set-up that I have. On mine the clamp sits at the tightest point between the rear tire and the seat tube.

Today I removed the rear drop-out screws altogether. It seems to have moved everything to a better place. The rear wheel is within 1mm of perfect alignment without the screws.

Thanks for your help.

From your pic, it looks like the Record FD clamp sits a lot lower than the Ultegra set-up that I have. On mine the clamp sits at the tightest point between the rear tire and the seat tube.

Today I removed the rear drop-out screws altogether. It seems to have moved everything to a better place. The rear wheel is within 1mm of perfect alignment without the screws.

Thanks for your help.

Your Welcome. Enjoy your ride.

I have a Prince, a Dogma (building up now - awaiting the last few parts), and a Colnago C50 HM. The Pinarello is much faster handling (or twitchy, if you like) than the Colnago, which is great for tricky technical descents, but it requires one's full attention at all times. Haven't had any issues with the Prince's headset to date. Attached is a picture of the Dogma which will be completed by tomorrow...

Do you still have the axle adjusters in the rear dropouts?

What length nuts (hollow bolts) did you use to attach you front and rear brakes?

Do you still have the axle adjusters in the rear dropouts?

What length nuts (hollow bolts) did you use to attach you front and rear brakes?

I just built my PrinceSL two weeks ago tonight. The hollow bolts came in a little bag in the box with the frame. I hope you didn't throw them away. The longer one goes through the front fork, the shorter through the rear B-stay.

I have the screws in my rear dropouts.

Note: One thing to add, when I first took the frame from the box, I was alarmed at the amount of metal shavings inside the headtube, headset installed. Since the thing arrived and I didn't have an air compressor, I just went to the office supply store down the road and got some of that canned air for cleaning computer keyboards. It worked great. Perhaps these shaving making their way into the headset are causing problems.

Todd

It didn't have matching wheels in the picture, it does now.

Shimano Even? Blasphemy. heresy. nice rigs. Princes are tight, what makes them and Dogmas such great sprint bikes.

Shimano Even? Blasphemy. heresy. nice rigs. Princes are tight, what makes them and Dogmas such great sprint bikes.

...their motors. The bike doesn't make you go fast. I could kick a pretty good clip on my 25 lb Bianchi. Princes are just a little easier to drag up hills all day and finish at the end. Mine is a lust machine for me.It's kind of like having a Corvette. You damn sure don't want to finish last on one.

FWIW, Allassandro Patachi would probably be fast on a Mongoose straight from Wal Mart!

Here's the finished dogma vs. prince. So what's the difference? Not that much. The dogma is a lot lighter (right at the UCI limit w/empty bottle and w/o seat pack) because the frame is lighter and I built it with a few trick lightweight parts (ti phil wood BB, ti keo pedals, zero-gravity brakes). The respective geometries are the same so ride quality is pretter similar, but because I live on a mountain, less weight is a "good thing."

Very nice. Do you like red? :D

Very nice. Do you like red? :D
Thanks, guilty as charged - needed to match the Zanardi NSX. So, is your Corvette black? :D

Thanks, guilty as charged - needed to match the Zanardi NSX. So, is your Corvette black? :D


Actually, my pickup truck is white. This is my alter-ego machine.....

Number9,

Your bikes look great. You must be very happy. Your view outside is beautiful; where do you live? Are those clouds outside? I thought it was water.

Enjoy your Pinarellos,
T-shirt

Number9,

Your bikes look great. You must be very happy. Your view outside is beautiful; where do you live? Are those clouds outside? I thought it was water.

Enjoy your Pinarellos,
T-shirt

Thanks for the kind words, T-shirt. I live on Mt. Hamilton on the east side of Silicon Valley/San Jose. The view you see is to the west which is downtown San Jose, hence those are clouds in the background. The view to the north (not shown) is of the SF Bay.

The Pinarello bikes are cool, but finding time to ride is what makes one happy - regardless of the brand of bike...

Number9,

Thanks for the reply. It must be really nice living out there with a great view. My parents just sold their house in the mountains around Pasadena. I loved that place. But they've moved to the Indiana countryside about 20 minutes from where I live. So I guess that's better than having them live so far away in California.

Thanks again,
T-shirt

I have owned both a Prince and a Prince SL.

I log a lot of miles and expect things to wear. The headset is indeed weak. It comes loose very easily and wears quickly.

My Prince cracked along the chainstay after 9 months use. It took 6 months to replace.
I purchased a Prince SL before I sent the Pince away on Warranty. The SL had paint problems within 7 months. Paint lifting on the top tube and corrosion around the brake guides. There were also some hairline cracks where the rear stay joins the aluminum.
I'm currently waiting for the a return of the SL. Hopefully they send back the right size, unlike the Prince that was 1 cm shorter than the bike I sent.

Pinarello Quirks?

I have a 2002 Galileo with a Pinarello Meta Carbon fork. The fork has an alum steerer. A faint line is visible in the clear coat where the carbon legs join the alum brake arch/steerer. On one side, the faint line looks and feels like a tiny crack. So I bought a new fork, a Reynolds Ouzo. While the reynolds has the same rake, the dropout to fork race is a bit longer than the Meta, so handling is effected.

It turns out that the "crack" I found isn't really anything to be worried about, it was just the clear coat cracking from normal fork flex... so the Meta is back in service (has been for ~4k miles with no change to the "crack").

Have any of you heard about Pinarello forks being a few mm's shorter from crown race to dropout than the "standard". I'd love to hear more discussion regarding my observation and if anybody else has encountered this.

I'm so jealous of Number9's house.

i'm on my second pinarello. first was a cadore, a heavy training bike in the lower ranks on their hierarchy. now i'm on a vuelta. second in line on their 90's hierarchy. vuelta has shorter stays and laRger diameter tubing. you pedal, it moves.
i have not ridden anything else so i can't compare but i ride the vuelta almost every day commuting on crowded traffic, at high and low speeds. i also climb a steep mountain every weekend.. lots of tight corners when coming down. hairy. bad pavement. bike will kick on bumps on tight corners. well... i don't find it twitchy. it's point and shoot.
on flat ground, i corner w/ no hands on the bar, just w/ body english. i sprint when in traffic. i corner hard. no problem.
maybe if i ride a colnago w/ a longer front center i may like it better but untill then i don't even think about handling when ridin the pinarellos.

I have and '54 cm '02 Opera w/Record, Neutrons, Flite TT, and Look 396 pedals. Standard size seat post (27.2) and 1" headset. I am glad that it is not an integrated HS and that I can use a regular old standard Record headset and seat post. The fork is an all-carbon 'Aria' fork. Some have complained that a 1" all carbon steerer is flexy, but I have 2 cm of carbon spacers and I have not noticed any flex (I am not Petacchi by any stretch of the imagination). If anything the spacers should help reinforce the steerer. I have a TTT Zepp SL Standard diameter stem and the 199g bar.

The only quirk I have noticed is that the HS has a tendency to loosen and I have had to tighten down the top cap a bit further. Perhaps the expander in the steerer is a bit loose; I have not figured out how to tighten it and don't know th spec for the proper depth. I liked having the "PINARELLO" on the top cap line up perfectly straight "by convention." but if I did that it necessitated backing it off before tightening the clamping bolts on the stem. The HS would loosend despite tightening the binder bolts to spec. My understanding was that the top cap just set the initial load and the binder bolts actually held the HS in adjustment. Apparently not for me; with the top cap assiting to hold the HS in in adjustment.

Other than that the bike is joy to ride. Not as light as the Prince or the Dogma (just under 18 without bottles, and Ergobrain) , but the EOM 16.5 steel and carbon ride is very comfortable. The geometry is awesome; the bike steady at speed in the descents and the twisties. Climbs well, too. My paint has been flawless with plenty of clearcoat and no scratches.

I do lust for a Dogma, which accoridng to Russw19, rides like the Opera at a pound or so less of frame wieght. Oh well, got to save for the kids college fund!

Peace!

I just posted a thread on the General Discussion board regarding whether I should get a Pinarello or Colnago. I've got a Parlee Z1 but still have the urge to get a C50. I had one and made the mistake of selling it. On the other hand getting a Pinarello Prince SL or the new Paris FP might be a great option as they will be very different that the carbon Parlee.

Thanks for your thoughts!

I have the Dogma FP and the F4:13. The Dogma I have had for a year now and not a problem to report - great bike - no quirks at all - extremely happy.

The F4:13 is still bedding down with only a few 100 km's on it - hopefully I can say the same in another 12 months time.

Cheers