This was the second Y bike I bought off Ebay, but what a lemon it was! The seller had described it as a Y22, but after a while I came to the conclusion that wasn't the correct title for it.
It was also my first OCLV bike (that's Trek's version of carbon fibre; Optimum Compaction Low Void).
I bought it off Ebay in April 2005 from a guy in Oregon for $930.  Slightly high price but not unusual for an OCLV Y bike. The ad stated it was a 'bit rough' but the photos seemed to look ok. I could see the top of the frame had some scratching but didn't look too serious. Being gloss black paint it didn't show up too badly.
A couple of months later it had arrived in Australia and went to pick it up one Sunday evening from Castle Hill. The hole in the box with a pedal sticking through was a bit ominous...all was revealed when I unpacked it at home.
I have to say I was almost in a state of shock at first as I sat on the floor looking at it. I found it hard to believe someone could treat such a nice bike like that. But I figured I can't really return it being on the other side of the world...well I could; but it would cost, and take forever. So I decided I'd rescue my forlorn acquisition. Besides, what better way to familiarise myself with the Y bikes than to rebuild one? Anyway, like my other Trek Y bikes it was one of my surrogate children so couldn't give up on it.  Over the next few months I gradually fixed things up and have been rewarded with a vastly improved bike.

What was wrong with it?
The packaging was very unprofessional.  Whoever packed it didn't know about bikes and that the left side pedal has a left hand thread...no wonder they left it on. The screws for the handle bar stem plate had not been tightened when the handle bars were removed for packing. So, one had gone missing, exiting along the way through one of the holes in the box. Likewise, the front wheel skewer had just been chucked in the box and parts of it were missing. No riding until I got another stem plate screw! I borrowed a skewer off a spare wheel I had.
Lifting the bike revealed the rear shock bushings were stuffed. The amount of play was very noticeable.
Cosmetically, it was pretty awful close up. First thing to do was to remove the "Soft Core" stickers all over the Y part of the frame and the front forks.

The Rock Shox Judy forks were a bit scratched though mechanically in excellent condition.

The handlebars were well worn, though structurally good. One of the gripshifters was obviously not original (It has a May 2004 date stamp) and likewise one of the brake levers. How the gouge got in the right hand side brake lever I'll never know, or the dent in the handlebar near the bar end.

See the gouge in the brake lever mount just under the '9'. What sort of riding would cause that?
I'd say that something happened during a ride that did a bit of damage to the components on the right hand side. The plastic plugs in the handlebar ends had been broken off long ago. I'm sure the Ritchey bar ends weren't original to the bike. The original gripshifter was missing the cable entry cover.
The front forks seemed fine though scratched of course. The main part of the frame also wasn't too bad. It occurred to me later that this was a replacement frame. How do I know this? Well, the warranty replacement frames don't have the model number...just the Trek logo. That's because the Y11, Y22, and Y33 all use the same frame. Also, the serial number starts with 'WR' (warranty replacement?).

The OCLV part of the frame was in pretty good condition.

Only the top of the frame was scratched, but nothing below the paint.

I would say that this bike originally had the old style frame (1995-1997) given the gripshifters weren't used with the later style frame. I would say it was a 1996 or 1997 model given the shifters and brakes.
The biggest shock came when I looked at the URT. I have to say this bike felt heavy...more so than the Y5. That didn't make sense, but looking closely at the URT, I could see surface rust where the paint was scratched off. My suspicions were confirmed when a magnet stuck. The URT was another non original part...a chromoly one from a Y1 or Y3 had been fitted making this bike much heavier than it should be. There was a small dent in one of the chain stays, but nothing bent out of shape.
One other possibility as to this bike's origins is that someone has simply replaced the alloy frame of a Y3 with the OCLV version. This is quite plausible as the shock is the same as used on the Y3 and the grade of components is roughly the same as fitted to a Y3. Maybe this bike is more of a Y3 than a Y22?
Postscript May 2008: It's been a few years since I acquired this bike and I have come to the conclusion that it was originally a Y3. Probably a 1998 model. Apart from the frame, the other Trek  parts have a Y3 look about them. It would appear someone wanted to turn it into an OCLV bike and so purchased an OCLV frame from Trek. Given that replacement frames are not model specific, the purchaser was supplied with the generic replacement devoid of any model number.

The surface rust and the dent aroused my suspicion of the URT being chromoly.

As for the rear wheel, the 42 spokes seemed to be a bit excessive and no doubt added to the weight. At least the cassette and freewheel were in good condition. Actually, the whole drive train was in very good condition.
Up to the seat now, and here we had a Specialized saddle attached to a seat post which had been shortened by means of a tube cutter. Too short for my height.
Slick tyres had been fitted which I thought unusual for a bike that had been so roughly treated...maybe the owner got sick of off road riding?
The pedals fitted were large platform types. It took a while to notice one was Shimano and the other Redline as they look almost identical.
I think around $400 would have been a more reasonable price for this condition bike.

The Ride
After getting another stem plate screw and a set of WTB VelociRaptor tyres (great tyres which I've also got on the Y5), it was ready to take out. Up to Blue Mountain one Sunday morning through the Lawson golf course.
How did it go? Well, one annoying thing was the 8 speed shifter kept going down gears by itself. The bike felt heavy...I couldn't get it up to a decent speed; well not like the Y5 anyway. Surprisingly the worn shock bushings weren't noticeable, but then my weight was on them. I overlooked the low saddle height for now, knowing that would be the first thing to sort out.
Coming down from Blue Mountain, I found this bike's good points. It's handling was better than anything I've ridden. I could get up to a decent speed and not feel like I was about to lose control. The shocks on this bike were doing their job very nicely. The WTB's gripped perfectly. It was at this point that the rear shock bushing wear was evident, however. A subsequent ride also revealed the pivot bushing was worn as the URT swayed from side to side pedalling up hill.

The riser type handlebars are very comfortable. Also visible is one of the new ESP 9.0 Gripshifters.

Improvements
The short seat post had to go, so I bought a Bontrager Race Lite 27.2mm seat post off Ebay. Very light indeed and the first step to getting the weight off. The Y22 felt much less tiring now that I was at the correct height. I attached the water bottle cage to the seat post...best place on a Y frame bike away from the dirt.
Next was the gripshifters. I bought a set of SRAM ESP 9.0 24 speed shifters off Ebay. That got rid of the gear changing problem. The gripshifters are so easy to set up compared to rapid fires with their fixed indexing. Only one adjustment and they were perfect. Again, the riding improved with one less annoyance.
Next was the rear shock bushings. I got new ones fitted at Clarence St for $15.00 which surprised me given how expensive that place normally is. I also bought a new pivot bushing but haven't fitted that yet.
The wheels were taken care of once the YSL200 arrived. It was fitted with lightweight Mavic rims and Shimano Deore LX hubs which were not original. As I had the correct Rolf Dolomites for the YSL, the Mavics went onto the Y22. This brought the weight down noticeably. With the YSL200 came a spare Bontrager saddle which replaced the 'incorrect' Specialized.
At this point in time, the only remaining thing is to replace the URT with an alloy one, so I'm just waiting for one to turn up. Clarence St offered to sell a new one for $500...but they go for less than half that on Ebay.

How does it ride?
Each of the improvements has made it a nicer bike to ride. The riser type handlebars are very comfortable as I'm sitting more upright than on the Y5. The shocks are much softer than the Y5 and the downhill performance is excellent. As a side issue I had come to the conclusion this bike had been set up for downhill with the shortened seat post, the heavy duty and heavy rear wheel, and the fact both parts of the frame had been broken.
On the flats and uphill it isn't as good as the Y5. It will get you there but slower. I think the alloy URT will improve this aspect. With all the scratches on the frame and it's off road downhill performance I've decided this will be my indestructable bush bashing bike.

Sydney ride to Olympic Park. 23/10/05.
October 2005: First long ride on the Y22 was a success with all my work on this bike having paid off. This ride is about 50km and goes from North Sydney to Olympic Park.
 

Trek Y Series Mountain bike introduction

Trek Y5. Top of the range alloy Y bike for 1997.

Trek YSL200 Trek Y Superlite 200.

Trek Y33   (1998) This was the fourth Y bike to join my collection.

Trek Y33  (1996) The fifth of my Y bikes.

Trek Y22 (1995) The sixth to enter the collection; this one really is a Y22.

home

cablehack at yahoo dot com