After a few years as a professional, he took his earnings and at the age of 30 founded the company that bears his name - Cicli Pinarello S.p.A. The rest, as they say, is history.

Though a small company for a few years, Pinarello quickly made inroads with the world of bike racing with team sponsorships that helped grow the company’s name and reputation for fine bicycles. Wins began to pile up and in 1961 Pinarello opened a larger manufacturing facility in a warehouse and a Pinarello bike was pedaled to victory in the Tour de l’Avenir by Guido De Rosso.

Pinarello’s current reputation is largely founded on racing success and victories - as well as building bikes that belong on museum walls. Starting in 1957, Pinarello began sponsoring teams large and small, with the end goal of racing glory. This led to a remarkable Giro d’Italia victory in 1975, further boosting the notoriety of the Pinarello name. Sponsorship of multiple teams over the decades has led to victories with legendary riders like Cipollini, Indurain, Riis, Zabel, Ullrich, Valverde, and Pereiro. Today, Pinarello continues to dominate the pro racing circuit thanks to names like Sir Bradley Wiggins, Nairo Quintana, and Chris Froome. While the rider is most certainly the motor, it is their success that is a testimony to Pinarello’s dedication to building the best bikes possible.

While Giovanni Pinarello started sponsoring racing teams in 1957, it wasn’t until 1961 that the Pinarello name was emblazoned on a bicycle’s downtube. For years, Pinarello specialized in steel tubing, with Columbus Tubi being the predominant supplier. Models like the Pinarello Montello SLX were legendary thanks to their combination of Columbus SLX tubing, race-tuned geometry, and relentless pursuit of superior build quality. They then progressed to the Pinarello Paris in the mid-1990s, which hailed the use of ultralight aluminum and then carbon fiber.

Today, the Pinarello Dogma is perhaps the most famous name and silhouette in road bikes today. This is thanks to both a lust-worthy combination of aerodynamic design, top-tier levels of stiffness, and race-ready handling. Make no mistake: Pinarello dominates the racing scene as much now as it did in the past, if not more so today.

While starting as a footnote in Giro d’Italia history, the Pinarello brand is one of the most famous and storied bicycle brands today. Pinarello made the best performing bikes on the market in the past, and continues to do so today.

Without going too far into the way-back machine, Pinarello began its World Domination Tour in 1975 when Fausto Bertoglio won the Giro d’Italia. Giovanni Battaglin won another Pink Jersey in the 1981 Giro and it’s been a long string of podiums, victories and gold medals ever since. Olympic glory came in 1984 when American legend Alexi Grewal rode a Pinarello to victory in the road race in the Los Angeles Games.

The big one, however, came in 1988 when Pedro Delgado won Pinarello’s first Tour de France. In 33 editions of the Tour de France since 1988, a Pinarello bicycle has been beneath the winner of the Yellow Jersey a whopping 16 times.

From Delgado to Miguel Indurain to Bjarn Riis to Jan Ullrich and Erik Zabel, the 1990s were dominated by riders aboard Pinarello bikes. The turn of the century saw Pinarello take a break from World Tour crushing although Zabel picked up a handful of sprint points jerseys in the Vuelta Espana and Tour de France while Ullrich claimed a gold medal in the Sydney, Australia Olympic Games in the cycling road race.

After a Tour de France championship by Oscar Pereiro in 2006, Pinarello saw success in the United States as the sponsor of the Bissell Pro Cycling team and quietly set the stage for an explosion of unstoppable cycling performances that have rarely been seen.

With the creation of the Team Sky squad, Pinarello bikes found themselves front and center as the preferred ride of the most dominating cycling team in decades. Wiggins won the Tour de France in 2012 to kick things off and there’s been no slowing down Team Sky - now known as Team Ineos - since.

The year 2013 saw Chris Froome win his first Tour de France while Rui Costa claimed the World Championship and a youngster from Colombia named Nairo Quintana burst onto the scene with the Mountains and Young Rider classification jerseys at the Tour de France.

Wiggins won a world time trial championship in 2014 as did Vasil Kiryienka in 2014.

Froome struck Tour de France gold again in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Team Sky kept the Maillot Jaune in the family in 2018 when Geraint Thomas pedaled to victory on the Champs Elysees and Egan Bernal followed suit in 2019. Froome completed a Grand Tour sweep in less than 12 months when he followed up his 2017 Tour de France win with a 2017 Vuelta Espana victory and a springtime Giro d’Italia title in 2018.

The list of professional cycling wins for Pinarello is hardly limited to the Grand Tours, but you get the picture. While the cyclist deserves the credit for the victories, there is a common thread woven through the jerseys of champions around the world - and that thread is they frequently ride a Pinarello.

Why? Because Pinarello is a name demanding cyclists trust when it comes to performance. A finely-tuned engine can’t win races if the vehicle can’t keep the pace.

And although you may or may not have a professional cycling career in your past, present or future, you can still own a Pinarello. You’ll certainly ride and look faster if you do.

Of course, you need not be a member of the Ineos Grenadier team to ride a Pinarello Dogma F12. Available in four models, the Dogma F12 also comes in your choice of rim or disc brakes.

Constant research and development have yielded constant improvements on the Dogma F12. More aerodynamic than ever, Pinarello’s pride and joy has seen a dramatic increase in performance from the handlebars alone. The Most Talon Ultra handlebar is eight percent more stiff than previous models. It’s also more aero and results in five percent less drag. Added to that is a reduction in weight by 10 percent. In total, Pinarello claims a one second advantage over 1000 meters thanks to the overall eight percent reduction in air drag - from the handlebars alone. One second is the difference between posting up with arms raised as you cross the finish line and having to rely on your bike throw skills to eek out a win.

Pinarello is obsessed with making bikes that fit riders. Rather than tinkering with stem lengths, seat post lengths and other various methods of fit adjustment, the Dogma F12 is available in 13 sizes. When paired with the 16 size configurations of the Most Talon Ultra handlebar, there are 208 size combinations to ensure as perfect a fit as possible. If your bike is perfectly fit to your body, there is less wasted energy and power transfer and more speed.

producing a faster bike. Fork flaps near the wheel mounts result in reduced drag and the trademark curvature results in better airflow at speed and in cross winds.

Pinarello took its drive for the ultimate in aerodynamics another step with a concave downtube shape that is both asymmetrical and and helps reduce air drag caused by water bottles. Every little bit of improvement possible adds up to a bike that simply wins races.

Performance on a bicycle is all about responsiveness. With refined carbon fibers, more stiff and more aerodynamic frames result in maximum power transfer.

There is beauty in performance and Pinarello has perfectly blended the art of cycling with the science of speed.

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To make sure you find the right bike, we make sure our staff is up to date on the latest innovations and technologies. The bike world evolves every year and so do we through training and education. With our size, sales volume and reputation, we have excellent relationships with bike brands, component companies and apparel makers. If we don’t have it at the moment, we can get it.

Contender Bicycles is one of the largest physical bike shops in the country and we have an unmatched selection of quality bicycles from numerous brands. Many bike shops these days have narrowed down their inventory to one or two brands. That’s absolutely not the case at Contender.

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Of course, every bike will need to be serviced now and then. Contender Bicycles has the largest service staff in the state. With more than a dozen wrenches on staff, we have experts ready to make your bike as good as new as quickly as possible. Our mechanics have experience and training unmatched in the market. We’ll talk over each fix, discuss options and get you back in the saddle as soon as possible.

While Contender Bicycles has a reputation for selling only the best bikes, bike accessories and bike gear, we listen to you first to determine what your needs are. We don’t pay sales commissions, so we care more about making sure you ride the best bike for you rather than selling the best bike for us.

Whether you’re buying a bike from Contender Bicycles in person or working remotely with our Pro Build experts, we’re dedicated to making your experience in the shop as good as your ride on the trails or road.

If you're searching for a bike that reflects exactly how you ride, going with a custom build is the way to go. We cover all the bases, from a curated selection of frames and components to custom paint so you don't have to. Simply bring us your vision and we'll build it into a reality.