Nicely, trip is now only a reminiscence, and it’s nice to be again on the fringe of town in a panorama blighted by awful drivers in fraudulently-registered automobiles and strewn with discarded Citi Bikes:
It’s all the time a little bit bit exhausting to return again to New York Metropolis. (Though the picture above is definitely Yonkers.) When pressed about why we stay right here, New Yorkers typically cite all of the “tradition” we don’t participate in after which finally fall again on the eating places, which is the New York Metropolis model of Stockholm Syndrome. Plus, the eating places at the moment are simply making town even worse, since you possibly can’t get wherever with out having to dodge meals supply folks on motorscooters.
“So which bike did you convey with you in your trip?,” you’re most likely not questioning. Nicely, the terrain up there requires respectable tire clearance and wide-range gearing, and in years previous standout performers have included the Milwaukee, the Jones, and the A. Homer Hilsen. Nonetheless, this yr after a lot deliberation I made a wildly impetuous last-second determination to convey a bicycle with none of these attributes. As a substitute, having famous its resemblance to the Starfleet insignia from Star Trek, I went with George Plimpton’s Y-Foil, a.okay.a. The Charity Experience Destroyer, virtually totally for a single photo-op:
That’s the Star Trek Unique Collection Set Tour in Ticonderoga, NY–and sure, William Shatner will certainly be showing there in November:
I ought to level out that William Shatner is 93 years previous, so the truth that he’s nonetheless prepared and in a position to journey all the best way to Ticonderoga of all locations to entertain his followers is deeply spectacular. Whereas I’m not a Trekkie myself, even I’m tempted to return for the occasion, if solely to get the Y-Foil signed. Positive, George Plimpton’s Y-Foil could also be particular, however George Plimpton’s Y-Foil signed by Admiral James T. Kirk can be nothing wanting a priceless artifact.
However there’s additionally one more reason I introduced the Y-Foil. As a short-lived bike with a polarizing design the Y-Foil is one thing of a “cult bike,” in addition to a clean canvas upon which bike nerds of all stripes have projected numerous expressions of dorkiness:
However whereas I all the time considered it as simply an aero bike for folks with Tridork tendencies…
…I not too long ago discovered it was designed to just accept a suspension fork, and historical discussion board threads point out that it was in truth particularly developed for Paris-Roubaix:
No. The final time Trek had a motorcycle disqualified for Paris Roubaix, it price them a fortune. The Y-Foil (Y66 & Y77) fashions have been designed from the get-go to be a Paris Roubaix bike, with a taller normal fork that you would substitute a Rockshox Ruby suspension fork for, with out altering the geometry.
So if the Y-Foil was really meant to be a cobble-killer then I and lots of others have had this bike utterly flawed all these years. This I assumed might be a enjoyable topic for a brand new Exterior column, and I’ve even bought a name arrange with a former Trek engineer who labored on the bike to be taught extra. Within the meantime although I figured I ought to see the way it handles Vermont gravel:
I’ll save the remainder for the Exterior column, which is able to most likely be the primary time any mainstream way of life publication has talked about the Y-Foil since 1997, when it made the duvet of Bicycling’s Editors’ Selection problem:
All I may discover was the duvet, however I wager they didn’t take a look at it on gravel as a result of in 1997 using bicycles on gravel hadn’t been invented but. Clearly although they have been so dazzled by the bike’s radical form and golden hue that they didn’t even discover it was within the small-small combo. I suppose it could be equally simple to not discover a shapely bikini mannequin has spinach in her tooth whereas taking pictures the Sports activities Illustrated Swimsuit Challenge.
Additionally like thongs, there has lengthy been prurient curiosity in bikes with out seat tubes. Take into account the curiously named “Flying Gate”…
…which evidently you possibly can nonetheless purchase:
Or how about an artisanal Y-Foil constituted of titanium?
And if you happen to’ve given up on the thought of ever uncrossing your eyes once more there’s all the time the RoundTail™:
It’ll liberate you from the tyranny of the triangle:
With standard diamond geometry, jarring vibrations are channeled on to the rider’s backbone. For any rider in any self-discipline, consolation issues, which is why bike corporations have spent hundreds of thousands creating composites to ship a extra comfy journey. However they’ve been caught for many years, enslaved to the idea of a triangle.
Right here’s extra from the inventor:
Just like the Y-Foil, the RoundTail is designed to offer further consolation by introducing a little bit vertical flex within the rear–and likewise just like the Y-Foil it harkens again to a time earlier than it occurred to anyone that a neater means of doing that will be to design a motorcycle that allowed for barely bigger tires. Notice how no person right here is on tires wider than 25mm, together with these riders of ample body:
Talking of vast tires, I didn’t solely convey the Y-Foil with me:
I could also be loopy, however I’m not silly.
