Suck
Here's a list of bikes that suck, and reasons why they do.
Doesn't the Trek and the Fisher look strikingly similar? That's because Gary Fisher is a sell-out. Our pioneer of mountain biking sold his once bitchen company to Trek Bicycles. Now the Joshua and Y-bike are virtually identical. For your information, Klein also sold-out to Trek. These once super light, super high quality, exclusively American made bikes are now available as heavy, cheap, Taiwan budjet buckets with the Klein name.
For those of you who own a Trek Y-bike, I'm really sorry that you're stuck with such a P.O.S. But there is hope!! If you go back to my main page, there are a couple of links to bike companies that don't suck. Please do yourself a favor and follow them. So why is the Trek Y-bike such a P.O.S.? Read on and learn...
The URT (unified rear triangle) is the heart of this P.O.S. Trek's reason for designing a bike with a URT is to isolate all of the drivetrain to a fixed triangle. The concept behind this is to keep the relationship of the rear cassette to the bottom bracket the same. They claim this keeps the rear suspension fully-active at all times...whether braking, pedaling, sitting, or standing. There is a problem with this system. The reationship of the cassette to the bottom bracket may not change, but what about the relation ship of the seat to the bottom bracket? Well, it does change. Not only does the bottom bracket move up and down in comparison with the seat, it also moves back and forth. The other problem is that the bottom bracket is part of the swingarm. This means that when you are standing off of the seat, you're standing on the swingarm. If you're standing on the swingarm, is the shock from the rear wheel absorbed by the rear shock? No...it's absorbed by your legs. Basically, when you need the suspension the most, while downhilling and standing on the pedals, it de-activates.
You can picture what the bottom bracket does when the suspension compresses by looking at the above sketch. You can also see how your legs will turn into the shock absorber when you stand up. Not only does the Trek Y-bike suck because of the URT, but because it's a plastic frame with plastic lugs. When carbon fiber is used properly, it can make a good frame material. But the Trek uses carbon fiber throughout, including all the critical stress points (head tube, bottom bracket, shock mount, supsension pivot). This allows for more flex, and less strength.
To sum it up, the Trek Y-bike is a flexible, weak, suspension de-activates when you stand up P.O.S.
P.O.S. n. Acronym for piece of shit. A term that is often used in the bicycle industry to describe a poorly engineered and manufactured product. i.e. "Trek's Y-bike is a complete P.O.S."
This bike is just like a Trek.
This bike wins my "worst loaction for a rear suspension pivot" award. Why not just make a long travel suspension seat post? I used to really love Klein bikes, now I just can't stand them. How could they sell-out to Trek. Well, I know it was pretty much because of financial reasons. Let's face it, Trek is the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world. They sell the most bikes, and they're number one by a lot. Just goes to show that advertising and marketing can make a company that really sucks do really well. So what can we do to make this a better world? That's easy, don't buy a Trek!