If anyone has any leads on an ice inkwell blue 56cm Y-foil frame,
frame + fork or bike, please let me know -- mine has been retired by
Trek.

I purchased my Y-66 new in 1998. I upgraded the wheels to Rolf
Vector Pros at the time of purchase, and rode it for about 20k
miles. About six weeks ago, I cracked my rear wheel rim.
Fortunately, my LBS had a 1999 Vector Pro rim, and was able to
rebuild the wheel. On another recent ride, I threw the chain and
pulled the cassette off – I managed to fix it for the ride home
(thanks to a nearby bike shop). The bike was not shifting smoothly,
and on my final climb home, I bent the derailleur hanger. I finally
joined this group at that point, as I was searching the web for a
solution to my problem during the early stages of my Y-foil
withdrawal. I took the bike to my LBS. The bike was disassembled
and the frame was sent back to Trek only after the LBS assured me
that Trek confirmed that it could repair a derailleur hanger (as I
did not want the frame destroyed over that issue).

I heard from Trek today – the frame is cracked. I did not notice a
visible crack in the frame, nor did my LBS. The frame had the
normal paint spidering near the bottom bracket, and a spot where the
chain had gouged the paint after coming off the cranks a couple of
times, but the crack would explain my rear triangle woes. Trek has
offered to replace the frame with either a 5200 or a 5500. My LBS
told me I could upgrade that at the wholesale price difference, so I
will probably upgrade to a 5900 u/l or a Madone. (The 2004 5900 has
the same carbon and fork as the Madone, and weighs about 100g less;
the Madone is super stiff but offers more aggressive geometry.) I'm
leaning towards the Madone, but think I will still miss my Y-foil
for long and rough rides.

I wish I would have found this group earlier. In the short time
that I joined, I've e-mailed some great people. RoadRaceRon Miller
and I had a great exchange of e-mails after I read his Hotter `n'
Hell report (message #553) and recognized myself as the puzzled Y-
foiler at the 30 mile mark (for the record, I was stopping for the
first time for a quick reservoir refill, and didn't quite hear what
he said – I figured it out after the encounter and made a mental
note to search Y!groups, but must have forgotten it in the heat over
the course of the five-hour (plus 40 minutes of stops), 100-mile
ride. Richard P. Wharton, the OnlineBikeCoach, has been really
helpful as I contemplated an Alpha Q fork (given that the bike was
stripped, I had planned to upgrade the drivetrain and more). Both
Ron and Richard live in Dallas, and I used to live there as well
(I'm in Austin, TX now), so if I had joined the group earlier, I
probably could have ridden with them.

In memoriam, I've posted a couple of photos of my Y in the folder
Anthony's Y. Although I'll probably be riding a new bike soon, I
already miss my Y-foil.

Anthony EJC