There is just something about Pins that draw the eye. It’s the top of the line pedigree and the allure of the exotic, the unknown, the novel. Pinarello is a brand that stretches back decades, with most of those spent making bikes that dominated the professional peloton.

Pinarello’s deal with Team SKY has brought the company to the forefront again. Initially, Mark Cavendish quietly expressed some doubts about riding the bikes, a big switch for a rider who spent most of his career on a Specialized. Well, those doubts are gone. Cavendish has won races all over the world this spring, his first season as World Champion and on a new bike. He’s already got one Giro stage in the bag, and if he isn’t slowed by the scrapes of yesterday’s crash, there’s little doubt he won’t get a few more this May.

The Pinarello FP Quattro is the mount for most of the SKY team, with a few riders bouncing back between it and the Dogma frame that brought Pinarello back to the top of the sport. Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins and Gertaint Thomas all have spent serious time on the Quattro, sporting Di2 and that familiar, almost Z shaped chainstay that optimizes stiffness while allowing vibration dampening as well.