As you recognize, I lately acquired George Plimpton’s Y-Foil, and yesterday morning I took it out for its first correct experience:
[You can read more about the bike at the Classic Cycle site…if you can handle more Y-Foil, that is.]
I’d be mendacity if I mentioned I wasn’t self-conscious about being seen on this factor, however I figured within the wee hours the one individuals out are health freaks who suppose flogging your self on an aero bike very first thing within the morning is regular habits. (Even my spouse laughed on the Y-Foil, and he or she’s grow to be so inured to all of the bikes that come and go round right here that she hardly notices them anymore.) Regardless of its outlandish look, from the cockpit you’d nearly suppose you had been on a standard street bike, save for the zeppelin-like girth of the Y-Foil’s “high tube”–which, I’d add, is properly complemented by the portly Frog stem:
For a quick but exuberant time across the flip of the final century, cyclists might select from quite a lot of “theme stems.” The Frog was by far probably the most family-friendly choice, and there was additionally the bawdy Alter:
In addition to the unapologetically schlong-like Mutant:
However as of late if you wish to specific your self by way of cockpit curation you’re largely restricted to irreverent high caps:
Rider 1: “Hey, wanna go for a street experience at the moment?”
Rider 2: “DID YOU NOT READ MY TOP CAP?!?!?”
I began out tentatively, however as soon as I used to be positive the jaws of the Frog had a good grip on these classic non-oversized crabon bars I introduced the Y-Foil on top of things, and earlier than lengthy I used to be going quick sufficient to flatten my leg hairs:
You need to have leg hair with a purpose to experience a Y-Foil, it’s within the handbook. Balding is non-obligatory, however beneficial. And a beer intestine is simply assumed. Sure, life is filled with firsts: your first kiss, your first youngster, your first colonoscopy… However there are milestones, after which there are seismic occasions that change you eternally, and my first Y-Foil experience was very a lot the latter. From this present day ahead, I shall divide my life into two distinct chapters: Earlier than Y-Foil, and After Y-Foil. I’m eternally modified.
Whereas we’re at it, I also needs to dispel sure myths. For instance, regardless of what you could have learn on the Web, Y-Foils do not happen naturally:
Additionally, this is not Grant Petersen’s Y-Foil:
His is purple and has Spinergys.
What’s true is that Trek solely provided the Y-Foil in 1998 and 1999, and the solar set on it simply because the Armstrong period was dawning:
[PDF]
For some motive, within the Nineteen Nineties Trek had been deeply obsessive about making bikes within the form of a Y:
It’s nearly like there was one thing motivating them subconsciously:
What’s additionally true is that the Trek Y-Foil has a loyal following and has grow to be one thing of a cult bike. On bike boards you’ll discover quite a few cases of individuals writing reverently of their chic experience high quality, and asking costs on the used market are correspondingly excessive:
Trek’s line on the Y-Foil was that it was concurrently extra aerodynamic than an everyday street bike whereas providing extra consolation and compliance:
And there may be completely a delicate but discernible suspension impact to the suspended seat tube:
It’s not dissimilar to the impact of a Brooks saddle, although after all by 1998 the thought of mitigating tough street surfaces through the use of a extra compliant saddle or wider tires was thought-about patently insane, and the much more logical resolution was to maintain utilizing plastic saddles and slender tires and as an alternative construct a completely new sort of composite body to deal with the issue.
As for the “34% extra aerodynamic” factor, I’ve no manner of quantifying that one, although It actually felt prefer it was true. It might have been the Tri Spokes, it might have been the body, or it might have been my creativeness coupled with the psychological impact of the helicopter-like sound the wheels make, however as soon as I acquired the factor going it felt prefer it needed to maintain going.
However sure, between the built-in compliance and the velocity (or no less than the phantasm thereof), it actually does experience fairly properly, and I can perceive why individuals communicate extremely of it–particularly the varieties of people that get excited by non-traditional body design. So far as that goes, it does include sure compromises (the chief one being the bike holds just one small water bottle, until after all you go for butt rockets or one thing like that), however setting these apart I discover it noteworthy that regardless of being completely on the market the Y-Foil is completely suitable with all the usual elements of the time. It additionally rides and handles like a standard street bike, and if something it in all probability does supply a smoother experience than a lot of its contemporaries–although I might need felt in a different way if there had been any trace of wind throughout my experience, as I think about you’d get fairly blown round on this factor. So whereas I don’t suppose there’s any hazard of my turning into a Y-Foil convert, as a motorcycle dork I do admire the bike as a relic of a time when designers had been exploring the potential of carbon fiber, and this indeers me to it:
Sorry, for each the pun and the bike.
