chinarello: knock-off pinarello dogma review

Disclaimer-  this isn't my bike.  I built it up for someone using all parts that they brought me.  I neither condone nor condemn this counterfeit.

Thoughts-

Overall it's a decent carbon frame with aggressive road geometry.  The steering is quick and precise.  It has no obvious major flaws and feel stable at speed and under heavy braking.  It has a bit of a dead feel under heavy acceleration, but I don't know how much of that feeling might be due to the 'heavy' clincher wheels/tires (keep in mind that I ride a Look 585 with sub 1300g tubulars daily).  I would need to get used to the handling in order to race a crit on it, but I think it is something that is generally within the realm of what most people like.  It is NOT a frame for someone who sits fairly upright-  the owner does have a relatively high bar position but the number of spacers needed here to match what would be maybe 20mm of spacers on an E2 Trek head tube or a Roubaix is bordering on excessive.  This frame/fork weight was around 1850g which suggests there is quite a bit of material there.  That weight also suggests more or less 'regular' grade carbon and basic carbon construction methods.

Building it up I found a few issues.  The bottom bracket threading wasn't quite good on one side, the one-piece bar/stem combo had paint on the inside that had to be removed to fit the steerer, the internal cable routing is almost amateurish (just a big slot under the BB for the cables to come out (now that I think about it, that might contribute to sluggish feel.  When you think about the extent most manufacturers seem to go through to make that area stiff...).  Each piece of the bike is a slightly different color with different shades of yellow showing up on the bars than the frame than the saddle etc..  These issues are truthfully quite minor particularly when weighed vs. the cost.

The graphics and paint overall are well done.  It is a bit funny to see a symmetrical frame that clearly states asymmetrical design right on it...  as it is also funny when it says oversized bottom bracket yet runs a regular 68mm ENGLISH threading on something presumably not English.  The hammerhead, wing computer mount is basically a joke.  That said,overall the bike would 'pass' to 90% of the riding population out there.  If the color issues were sorted out, which might just be a lot to lot type issue, I would say that 95% of people would think you were riding an $8,000 bike.  Actually, let me rephrase that...  99% of people will think you're just another tool, lance wannabe on a bike just as they do when they see anyone else on a road bike...  it's the 95% of the remaining 1% who don't know much about Pinarello that it would 'pass' with.  The other 5% might also want to club you over the head, but getting into that is heading towards all sorts of issues better avoided.

Considering that this frame cost roughly 1/8 what the 'real' thing goes for, the major differences between it and the real thing and that I've never been on the real thing anyways... I'm not going to try to make any comparison directly there.  I can compare this to many lower end carbon frames that I've ridden in the last couple years and would say that this more than holds its own.  If the styling is something you like, you aren't worried about that one 5% of the 1% clubbing you, and this suits your budget I give it thumbs up.

All that said-  I could get into a slightly damaged/repaired  hi-mod Cannondale or s-works Tarmac (or the Look that I do ride) for just about the same amount of money.  I've watched a handful of each sell over the last few months that had very very repairable damage where the total cost for the frame/fork plus my repair work would have wound up being slightly less or about equivalent to one of these...  Personally, I would rather go that route but that would admittedly not have the same visual impact.