Pinarello took the lessons they learned in developing the Paris Carbon and the F4:13 and matched them up with recent developments in composites technology. The end result was a cost-is-no-object carbon thoroughbred so refined they couldn't resist the temptation to give it their most beloved name: the Prince Carbon, the third-generation Prince they've designed to outstrip the greatness of the two generations that preceded it.

The Prince Carbon is built from carbon fiber sourced strictly from Japanese textile giant Toray, a supplier to virtually every aerospace company worldwide. Pinarello raves how Toray's quality control and testing protocols are as intensive as you'll find anywhere in the composites industry. Pinarello chooses 50HM1K carbon for the Prince Carbon -- a high-modulus carbon that has a tensile strength of 50 tons per square cm (50HM), and an exterior weave of 1000 weaves per crossing (1K). This allows Pinarello to use substantially less material while still maintaining optimum strength and rigidity. Sprint in a 53x12 or launch an out-of-the-saddle attack on a climb and the last thing you'll feel will be frame flex. Higher quality carbon also allowed Pinarello to build their lightest-ever frameset: The unpainted weight of a Prince Carbon is sub-900g. And as you'd expect from such high-end carbon, the Prince Carbon has remarkable smoothness at high speed.

Pinarello explains that in their development of the Prince Carbon they gained a new level of insight on how tension and compression forces affect a bike under power. A frame manufacturer has to exactly identify tension and compression zones in a frame in order to optimize the orientation of the carbon fibers. Beyond fiber orientation alone, Pinarello structurally ribs the walls (not unlike what you originally saw in the Paris Carbon) to further enhance performance and ride quality. Pinarello used extensive computer modeling to ensure that the ribbing properly follows areas of compression in the head tube, fork, seat stays, plus portions of the seat tube and the BB. Unlike any previous Pinarello, you'll feel stability, resistance to flex, and an absorption of road shock.