New Outside Column! [Warning: May Contain Y-Foils.]

Right here, in the end, is my Exterior column in regards to the Spouse Oil:

After receiving the bike from Basic Cycle again in July, I took to these Internets to be taught as a lot about Foil historical past as doable. Nothing is tougher in 2024 than sifting the details from all of the opinions and myths and half-truths, however after years of simply assuming this was a motorcycle designed for aero-dweebs and tri-freaks I used to be shocked to unearth historical discussion board posts claiming the bike had been designed to not be ridden in a mankini however somewhat to just accept a suspension fork and to be ridden by the professionals within the Spring Classics.

So I turned to Trek. They have been variety sufficient to attach me with engineer Jim Colegrove, who labored on the Y-Foil and gave me the total backstory:

Anyway, there’s extra within the column, however on one hand the bike is a solution to a query no person was actually asking aside from Trek (that being “How can we make a Y-shaped street bike”) and then again it’s an actual success story in that they did find yourself making a brand new (or new-ish) sort of street bike that performs fairly properly and has some precise quantifiable benefits (even when these include one or two comparatively minor disadvantages). Additionally, right here we’re virtually 30 years later, and should you’d purchased a Y-Foil again then you definately’d actually don’t have any downside conserving it going as we speak since regardless of its radical body design it takes customary parts which might be nonetheless kind of available as we speak.

Whether or not you’d nonetheless be capable of attain the bars of your Y-Foil 30 years later is one other story, however because of the magic of quill stems you may all the time get an extended one and experience it that approach till you lastly come to your senses and purchase a Rivendell.

After all, I have already got a number of Rivendae, so I don’t thoughts contorting myself on a race bike occasionally for some low-cost thrills, and as a classic scorching rod the Ferl has actually grown on me:

Right here’s that pinched suspension-corrected entrance finish that makes the bike appear to be it’s carrying a corset:

Once I requested the engineer if there’s something he would have carried out otherwise on reflection, he mentioned he wouldn’t have gone with the suspension correction. Apparently it was a matter of some debate on the time, however as I point out within the column they actually did suppose street bike suspension was going to be the subsequent huge factor they usually didn’t need to miss out on it.

One other factor he talked about is that Trek was intelligent about utilizing the identical body parts throughout totally different fashions, and the “seatstays” (comparable to they’re) and I imagine the chainstays are the identical ones which might be on the 5500 (you realize, the US Postal bike), solely bonded to a rear dropout with a extra acute angle:

Now that I do know that I can’t unsee the bike as a squashed 5500.

As for the components Paul from Basic Cycle George Plimpton selected for the bike, the Zero Gravity brakes are finicky to regulate and have awful tire clearance, however they appear cool they usually draw the attention away from the overly tall fork crown:

Sure, that’s nonetheless the filth from my gravel experience in Vermont again in August.

The wheels should not Plimpton spec–these are the Rolfs that got here with the LeMond–however they’re significantly better suited to day-to-day using than the Tri Spokes he favored, and had I been utilizing these on this specific blustery day I’d have been blown clear throughout the Hudson:

The saddle occurs to be one which was lengthy favored by a sure Trek-sponsored rider, and I discover it fairly comfy. The mechanical look of the Salsa seatpost’s clamp additionally enhances the brakes:

The superlative efficiency of the 9-speed Dura-Ace hardly warrants mentioning, although surprisingly certainly one of my favourite issues in regards to the bike is the bars:

I bear in mind when these bars have been scorching shit, although I by no means really had a pair as a result of it all the time appeared loopy to me to pay additional for carbon bars of all issues. As you may see, the form of them is a bit uncommon, and whereas I are usually leery of unusually formed bars on this case I discover them fairly comfy. I used to be additionally frightened about bar slippage, however Paul included some carbon meeting paste and it hasn’t been a difficulty:

I additionally actually just like the rubbery tape, which I imagine is these items:

It’s rubbery, however in a great way.

As for the bike’s Plimptonian provenance, I’ve been noticing that this running a blog platform now affords an AI picture generator, and whereas really feel about that form of factor in the identical approach I do about e-bikes and digital shifting, I figured I would as properly give it a whirl by asking it to make me a picture of George Plimpton using a Y-Foil:

Right here’s what it got here up with:

Clearly the expertise nonetheless has a methods to go.