VegasJen

Don't read more into it than what I wrote. No, I did not buy the bike. The owner lives in an apartment complex. I rode it there.
That may be. It's still lighter than my (2006) Roubiax. But in case it hasn't occurred to some people, I'm looking at a 20+ year old bike because it is outside of my means to go and spend $8-10k on a snazzy new CF bike. But if you like throwing around the Benjamins I'm not above accepting donations.

Dan333SP

You said you're looking for a bike to use in triathlons and it sounds like you're trying to spend under $1,000, right? You don't have to look at 20 year old bikes to make that work, TT/Tri bikes seem to be a little insulated from the insanity of general used road bike prices. Just poking around some FB groups, I'm seeing things like a Cervelo P3 for $1k in pretty good shape with far newer components, a P2 for $750, etc. No idea what size you're looking at but unless you have a fetish for unusual Treks, you're going to be paying way too much for that thing that will be a compromised solution with parts that may be difficult to replace due to the bike's age.

big john

I'm not trying to talk you out of it, nor am I knocking the bike. The frame is not light and your Roubaix frame should be around a pound lighter. This doesn't mean the whole bike isn't lighter than your bike because most of the weight is not in the frame.

VegasJen

Fair enough. I know the wheels on that bike are quite light and that's a large portion of the weight right there.

Carbonfiberboy 

I've always wanted one ever since I rode near one in an event. I just don't need one, but that's different. It's about the same vintage as a 5200 -5500 which are common and thus cheaper, which probably has nothing to do with anything.

tempocyclist

Probably quite flexy. A lot of those early Treks were (my early 2000's Trek 5200 is certainly not as stiff as my modern bike). Handling from the geometry may not be as polished. Might be sketchy at high speeds. I do not know though as I haven't ridden one, I just wouldn't expect a bike of that era to match that of a modern bike. It may not be bad as such, just, not as good. Then again, it might be bad.

I'd still hands down buy one, just because it looks HOT!

HTupolev

You wouldn't be the first person to strap aero bars on them, but they don't have a TT/Tri-oriented geometry. Depending on your required fit, it may be challenging or impossible to get the saddle far enough forward and the aerobars in an ideal position. Even if you achieve an appropriate fit, your weight distribution may feel awkwardly forward because of the bike's relatively short front-center.

Some folks make road-to-TT/Tri conversions work, but unless you have a well-founded plan, I wouldn't go in with high confidence that optimal results will ensue. People often end up just configuring the bike as "road posture but with aerobars"; this is fine for some purposes, but if you're putting together a serious race fit, it tends to leave a good chunk of the aerobars' aerodynamic gains on the table.

​​​​​The OP said 2006, but I'm not sure that 22lbs would be that strange for even a current Roubaix. I haven't seen published weights for the base model, but the 105-equipped Sport is reported to run a little over 19lbs out of the box. If we're talking about weight as the bicycle sits in someone's garage ready-to-ride, that could easily climb to over 20lbs once we've added pedals, cages, toolkit. Since the base model has Tiagra instead of 105, and comes stock with lower-end wheels and tires, 22lbs doesn't seem like a stretch.

According to Trek's catalogs, the Y-Foil road bikes had pretty conventional handling geometry. A 54cm Y-Foil from 1999 has very similar handling geo to a 54cm Emonda today: same head angle with a 2mm difference in fork offset, same chainstay length with a 2mm difference in total wheelbase, and nominally a bottom bracket height difference of a few millimeters.

Heck, these numbers aren't dramatically difference from my 1983 Miyata. Its 73-degree head angle, 45mm fork offset, 74-degree seat angle, and 415mm chainstays would all look pretty normal on a road bicycle launched today; its front-center is a bit longer than the current norm, but not wildly.

The handling geometry of typical performance road bikes hasn't seen major shifts in a very long time.

I have no experience riding Y-Foils, but I'd question whether a 5200 is a good predictor of how a Y-Foil will feel. These are very different ways of constructing a frame.

Even if it is flexy, this may or may not be a problem. The notion that stiffness about the bottom bracket correlates perfectly with a frame's pedaling quality is popular, but I'm not sure that my experience supports the simple narrative. For instance, my '79 Fuji feels a lot flexier than my Emonda, but I don't mind because it feels like it rolls with my pedal stroke instead of fighting against it. I've also ridden very stiff bikes that my legs didn't seem to get along with, where my impression was more "kicking a brick wall" than "rocket ship."

delbiker1 

Out of curiosity, I would like to ride one. I have no desire or itch to own one.

Maricopa404

I think the author meant full Dura Ace instead of full Ultegra. If you zoom-in on the crank, it reads Dura Ace. I think just the classic Dura Ace in “like new” condition would be attractive to anyone in search of such a set.

cyclezen

what you don;t know, you don't know.
The Trek Y-foil is a very nice bike - rides incredibly well. Exceptional aero (not as aero as a ZIPP...
Weight is a bit more than more current frames - Carbon in the 90's and around Y2K were over built. That along with the science of CF and the layup tech was progressing in great leaps every season or so.
But as this one goes, you have the additional structural stress of the 'Beam' (holding the saddle) AND the unsupported bending moment on the Downtube, stress at the BB, and lever arm of the chainstays to wheels.
So both the Beam and the DT/BB'Chainstays assembly need to be structurally much stiffer than a diamond frame.
AS NOTED: The UCI banned this and any design not using a Diamond Structure - setting back bike advancement beyond all measure.
Reality is IF this restriction wasn;t in place - ALL Current UCI approved TT bikes would quickly become obsolete, because ALL winning bikes would be in this design style.
TRI did not go or follow UCI, a good thing. Allowing design freedom to work.
Of course, UCI being an 800 lb gorilla, bike companies are not gonna design bikes just for TRI, and not be able to be part of the whole traditional TT marketplace.
But if you're doin TRI or just local non-sanctioned TTs, then bring THIS bike.
If you look at new TT bike options, most weigh more than their equivalent priced roadie models, by a lot. Here's a used 2018 BMC Time Machine for $4300 - 19.5 lbs.
Jen - this would be a great TRI bike - only needs TT/bullhorn bars, shifters and brake levers. The Brifters (if you don;t foresee a need for them) would sell easily in ebay for $120 + (assuming they're 9 spd, if they're 10spd, even higher...)
Current Rolf wheels would be great, and you could prolly get a cheap CF seatpost and 'cut it to your size, to eliminate the exposed underhang tube.
For TRI or TT, you won't need more than 9 spd anyway. and with a double chainring, you'll be able to run a small cassette range - saving sig. weight.
If you can get the bike for $1K or less, that would be a good deal - if you really want a TRI/TT bike.
A new era bike with modern CF and layup, like this ZIPP, would be a serious TT machine!

ZIPP 2001 TT / TRI

Ride On
Yuri

Bah Humbug

Maricopa404

[QUOTE=VegasJen;22515034]I know these are older bikes, but I looked at a Y-Foil 77 today that was literally like new. Ultegra hardware all around. The guy had upgraded to Rolf wheels and the tires still had casting flash on them. As far as the frame, there was one chip in the paint. That's all I found on this bike that's almost 25 years old. I mean seriously, if it weren't for that one chip, this thing could be sold as new. Guy is asking $1200. I wouldn't give that much for it even if I could afford to, but I might consider $800-900. Don't know if he would go that low though.

Pretty radical design, very aggressive angle. Almost seems like what I imagine a triathlon bike to feel like. This frame is maybe a little tall for me but the hip/leg geometry was fine when we lowered the seat a bit. There was still about 2 inches of down travel on the seat tube but it was pretty good right where we stopped. The thing I noticed was how low the bars were, even after dropping the seat. He did have them set at a pretty aggressive angle, but even rotating them up a bit, they're still pretty low.

I've been shopping for triathlon bikes a lot lately, and I know this isn't one, but it might be a very good compromise with some clamp on aero bars. Neat looking bike.
Pic for those that don't know what I'm talking about.


Just curious, why you ended up not buying it? What drove you away?
Thanks

Maricopa404

I was able to purchase the bike. It’s literally out of a time capsule. Looks new other than that little tiny blemish you had mentioned. I’m going to keep it original with the exception of the saddle which I already swapped because the original owner swapped out the original sale to begin with. It is a different looking bike, but I like it because of that reason. It’s just a legendary, bike with some history. I’m keeping it with my classic collection.

VegasJen

Is that the same bike from Vegas?

DonkeyShow

Damn somebody else scooped it. Haha amazing thread.

Ghazmh

Rad piece of 90’s awesomeness.

seypat

I think it's been reborn as the 2023 Madone.

Maricopa404

Yes. Bought it to add to my collection of older bikes. Some knock it while others love it. I just bought it out of curiosity. I think it’s an interesting bike. Amazing how well kept it is considering it is 23 years old. Looks new.
I know you’ll find a more modern tri specific bike that’ll fit your needs which may be lighter and will actually have more water bottle holders than just the one which this Y foil has. Tri bikes have come a long way and tri bikes tend to sell less than their strictly road bike counterparts. Good luck!

VegasJen

Glad I could help I guess.