PINARELLO PARIS CARBON/CAMPAGNOLO CHORUS BIKE

Paris is an idea as much as a place and a bike. It's more than a home of arts and culture and food, but a physical representation of heaven, as it's the place where the Tour finishes. The Paris is a bike that can dispatch the rigors of the Tour with ease. Here, the Pinarello Paris is mated to what could be considered its spiritual equal, Campagnolo Chorus components. Campagnolo, like Pinarello, is staffed by artisans as entranced by beauty as they are function.

The Paris is a bike that can throw down with the best. It shares geometry and asymmetries with the ProTour-level Pinarello Dogma 2. These are bikes that race well because they ride well, meaning they are not only light and stiff and strong, but easy to steer and comfortable over the course of a five-hour ride on bad pavement. The differences between the Paris and Dogma 2 are largely about materials. The Paris uses Toray's 50HM1.5k cloth, which adds a little weight and drops a lot of price.

Like the Dogma 2, the Paris has been updated for 2012. The Onda FPK1 fork has even greater tapering of the steerer tube, starting at 1 1/4in and decreasing to 1 1/8in through the head tube. The result is not only more stiffness, but easier, more confident steering. The cables are also now run internally rather than externally, a cleaner look that costs nothing in shift performance.

The parts kit is dominated by the Campagnolo Chorus 11-Speed group. The sculpted ergopower levers are a nice aesthetic match to the Paris' sculpted curves. The levers are attached to Chorus skeleton brakes, a Chorus front derailleur, and a Chorus 11-speed rear derailleur. The rest of the drive train is Chorus as well, with a 50/34 tooth Chorus compact carbon-fiber crankset, and an 11-25 tooth Chorus cassette.

Wheels determine much of how a bike performs, and the hoops supplied with the Paris won't hold you back. They are the Racing 1 from Fulcrum, Campagnolo's wheel brand. The rims are aluminum, with a depth of 26mm in front and 30mm in back, a setup designed to tilt the wheel equation toward better steering in front and better strength in the rear. They are laced with variable-sectioned aero aluminum spokes, 16 laced radially in front and 21 in the rear laced in Campagnolo's G3 pattern—two drive-side spokes aligned with one non-drive spoke. The spoke holes don't go through the rim bed, thanks to a technology called MoMag, where the nipple is guided into place via an external magnet. This means that the rim can be stronger thanks to fewer holes through the rim, and the wheel can be lighter because a rim strip is unnecessary. The rims themselves have been triple-milled to reduce all unnecessary material. Claimed weight is 1485g for the set and they're shod with Challenge Gara tires.

The balance of the build is covered almost entirely by finished-to-match Pinarello MOst components. Steering is provided by the MOst Jaguar XC Compact handlebars. The XC shares the same shape, an ergonomic 130mm drop and 80mm reach, as the other MOst bars, but is carbon-wrapped aluminum for greater stiffness. The stem is MOst's Tiger Ultra 3k Painted, which is carbon-wrapped aluminum, also done to improve stiffness. The seat post is the MOst Tail C-Max 1k, a full-carbon post with aluminum clamping hardware, and a traditional two-bolt clamp. The post holds a MOst Ocelot saddle that weighs in at 230g.

The Pinarello Paris/Campagnolo Chorus Bike comes in Black on Black and White with Red and Black. It is available in 10 sizes, from 44 to 59.5cm sizes.

Paris Carbon/Campagnolo Chorus Bike Price:  $6500.00