Jaguar and Pinarello have struck up a properly productive partnership in the last few years – the two brands combined to create Pinarello's Tour de France bike in 2014, while Jaguar modified its F-Type Coupe to act as a support car for the Pinarello-backed Team Sky. The most recent collaboration between the two brands has led to the Pinarello Dogma K8-S, which has been engineered to provide Team Sky’s cyclists with a smooth ride across rough terrain.
Pinarello has taken advantage of Jaguar's expertise in dealing with vibrations to engineer the bike's new rear suspension system. It utilizes flexible flat carbon fiber chainstays and an elastomer shock to provide a total of 10 mm of rear wheel travel.
This setup is designed to provide a more comfortable ride for cyclists pedaling across challenging terrain, such as cobblestones. According to Jaguar, the result is a 50-percent reduction in road vibration transmission as compared to the bicycle's predecessor, the Dogma K.
Despite the new suspension system, however, the Dogma K8-S' frame is still incredibly light, weighing in at just 900 grams (2 lb). It also retains the Dogma K's carefully-considered aerodynamics.
"From the moment you get on it, you realize the difference, especially on the cobbles" said Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins. "I've never ridden anything like it on cobbles before, which is the most extreme terrain you can ride a bike on."
Team Sky’s riders debuted Pinarello and Jaguar’s latest creation at the Tour of Flanders, which took place on April 5th.
More information on the technology is available in the following video.
Source: Jaguar
Awww, bless 'im. I'm watching the Red Bull Rampage Freeride competition at the moment, and would respectfully disagree that cobbles are the worst thing cyclists get to ride on..!
I saw him at the Michigan International Speedway and Dr. Moulton was there and in fact allowed me to ride his bike. It was very comfortable.
I also had befriended Bill Allison who invented many suspensions including the Packard Torsion Ride, some 80 patents in all. Jay Leno's review of the Packard Caribbean is an all time great one.
Bill was in the process of perfecting the wind engine and had hit the Betz limit which everyone thought was impossible.
So I asked Bill about Alex's design commenting about how smooth it was and he replied, "of course it would be smoother and faster" because a hard tail would dissipate the jounces in heat energy hence being slower. It simply made sense to Bill.
So I wrote to Sir Alex and he commented back that as a youngster a neighbor bought a "Torsion Ride" Packard and he and his buddies loved to climb in and go for the vertical ride as it leveled out. They were jumping in and out with great glee. He not only was aware of Bill's work, it inf act inspired him and he designed the Suspension of the Mini Cooper. So I conveyed greetings back and forth and was thrilled to be a conduit between these two great engineers.
So yes, a "soft tail" is smoother, more comfortable, more quiet, and faster.
And I like his space frame designs better... more Bucky Like.