A Crooked Letter – Bike Snob NYC

On March nineteenth, 2008, I collected 21 well-known quotes about biking:

A couple of of the quotes had been precise, and some I merely made up–like this one:

Give me good books, good conversations, and my Trek Y-Foil, and I shall want for nothing else. –George Plimpton

My intent was to not mislead anyone as I figured it was obvious which ones had been faux. Nonetheless, I inadvertently fooled the then-editor of The Paris Consider, who in 2012 talked about that George Plimpton used to expertise throughout the metropolis on a Y-Foil as if it had been frequent knowledge:

I was concurrently amused and alarmed by the nearly Orwellian technique by means of which I’d with out finish reshaped actuality and our collective memory simply by pulling a really fabricated quote out of my chamois for a silly bike weblog put up. And like a broken Winston Smith, now I also can not separate actuality from the ever-changing fiction I really helped to create. Possibly Oceania had on a regular basis been at battle with Eurasia, and perhaps Plimpton had owned that Y-Foil in any case:

That’s the remember that accompanied the newest check out subject from Conventional Cycle, of which I merely took provide yesterday. “It couldn’t be,” I muttered to myself. “I made all of it up…didn’t I?”

And however there it was, that eerie free-floating seat collar poking by the use of the cardboard identical to the dorsal fin of a carbon fiber shark:

As I withdrew the bike from the sphere, I felt as if I’d slipped by the use of an invisible membrane and proper right into a world by means of which fiction was fact, two plus two equaled 5, and full-length seat tubes had certainly not even existed:

Certain, it was George Plimpton’s Y-Foil all correct. It talked about so, correct there on the…

…on the what? The seat maintain? That’s not a seat maintain. Y-Foils don’t have seat stays. There is no such thing as a such factor as a such issue as a “seat maintain.” The diamond physique certainly not existed. To say they ever did is doubleplus ungood thoughtcrime. You can assume you as quickly as ran your fingers alongside the dusty tubes of a lugged steel physique at an classic retailer as quickly as, nonetheless you certainly not did:

I ought so as to add that until this second I had certainly not been this close to any Y-Foil, to not point out George Plimpton’s, and I was oddly captivated by its sculpted physique and scintillating golden hue. What wheels would possibly presumably do justice to this issue, I puzzled to myself?

Then I opened the wheel baggage and came across:

Not at all in my wildest wishes and/or evening time terrors would I ever have imagined that in some unspecified time in the future I’d uncover myself in possession of not solely a pair of Spinergy Rev-Xes, however as well as a pair of (Specialised…? HED…?) Tri Spokes:

Like the Softride (and the Spinergy Rev-X for that matter), the Y-Foil (say “WIFE-oil”) disappeared from {{the marketplace}} on account of it was banned by the UCI, which is ironic on account of the overwhelming majority of the people purchasing for bikes like this will certainly not, ever have to worry about whether or not or not their bike is UCI licensed or not. Nonetheless in 1998, the Y-Foil was a cutting-edge machine on the sharp end of Trek’s line-up, and Plimpton’s appears to be the “metalized yellow” bike from that yr:

Though that description hardly does Plimpton’s bike justice, significantly with the orange and purple accents:

And if one thing I’d identify it “pumpkin spice latte:”

Or maybe “candy corn:”

As any person who’s at current driving a 1982 Nishiki Cervino and owns numerous Rivendae it perhaps acquired’t shock you that at no degree have I ever coveted a Trek Y-Foil. One factor about them has on a regular basis screamed “Furry legs and aero helmets” to me, and I’ve on a regular basis found the considered anyone driving one to be amusing, to not point out the late George Plimpton, which is why I made up the quote throughout the first place. And however, moreover identical to the Softride, whilst you’re actually in its presence it’s laborious to not be charmed by the audacity of this elaborate evolutionary detour. The water bottle sits atop a carbon fiber (I’m assuming) pedestal like a museum artifact:

The seat put up coupled with the scarcity of a seat tube makes the bike look like some sort of futuristic hole-boring gadget:

In actuality legend has it that on group rides Plimpton would stop and put collectively a fruit and cheese plate by placing cantaloupe and gouda throughout the seat tube void, loosening the seat collar, and punching nice cylindrical morsels out of them with the seatpost after which wrapping them in prosciutto. Delicious.

If solely Plimpton had had entry to a dropper put up he might need prepared his fruit and cheese plates in solely a fraction of the time:

The bracket that holds the doorway derailleur may also be oddly fascinating, and in a pinch might be utilized to pop the very best off a bottle of cuvée:

Speaking of the doorway derailleur, the cable stops on the Y-Foil’s fuselage lack barrel adjusters, so Plimpton has made do by changing into one to his STI lever:

The drivetrain is Dura-Ace 9-speed, though Plimpton made some departures, such as a result of the Zero Gravity brakes:

And naturally these wheels, which decrease by the use of the air like a witty remark at a soirée:

He moreover used Campagnolo pedals for a contact of Euro aptitude (though like their Shimano equivalents of that interval they’re principally merely Appears to be):

And a Cinelli Frog stem for a splash of caprice:

By the best way through which, do you have to nonetheless doubt the bike’s authenticity, try the highest badge:

Now what do it’s a should to say to that?

Certain, the bike cuts a inserting decide from any angle:

And I solely need this baby had arrived sooner than the 5 Boro Bike Tour on account of I’d have utterly destroyed it on this issue:

Thus far, I’ve solely ridden the bike throughout the neighborhood on a fast shakedown expertise, nonetheless in that temporary time frame any person often called to me from his driveway: “A Trek Y-Foil! Haven’t seen a sort of in awhile!” I ended so he would possibly check it out, and he well-known the components with approbation, though he seen the decals and remarked with amusement that there was no method the bike might need belonged to George Plimpton:

Truly? I encourage to fluctuate. And I even have the letter of authenticity to indicate it.