TREK Y33 first generation... (partial mock up on p2)

Well everyone, I've been on the site now for a year, and while I've had the fantastic pleasure of meeting/talking/trading with a lot of you chaps during that time and seeing some of your fantastic steeds, I never had the chance to put up a build thread as of yet.

I've currently got 9 projects on the go, all of various ages and uses - MTB, road, street, frankenbike, whatever (or was it 10? Maybe 11? ), I thought I'd finally take the plunge and put one of them up here to start with to share with you all.

To be honest, I know that a lot of you are going to absolutely THRASH me on this one, especially since my tastes are a bit bling (ok, a LOTTA BLING), a la marin man... :shock: (oh, the HORROR!) , but this one's a real labour of love for me as I had one of these back in the good old days. The original was very different in build, but it got nicked, so you know the feeling... to be reunited with the same model, at least. An old "friend with benefits" if you will...

Let me introduce to you... the ex-MM Trek Y33 first generation, which you can see here:

MM's Y33

This is a peek of what she looks like now (with a few new clothes)! I'm going the full, painful purple nurple on this bad bad girl... homage to the purple pace, sorta.

Please be gentle with me (I break easily if handled roughly)! I have fragile feelings... NOT! :twisted:

Hope you like what she "becomes"...

well the wheels may well come in for some abuse lol

but looks a ok start so far

Black and purple do go together well if done subtly. Agree about the wheels, loose them.

be different and build it as you want it

Liking it so far, looking forward to seeing this develop

(the wheels will be in for some abuse though :roll: )

not a fan of the wheels but they certainly suite the y frame better than most diamond frames.

remember my mate getting one of these back in the day - seemed amazing at the time.

Looks different to the usual suspects. I'm looking forward on updates on this cool project.

I love the wheels....purple nurple....

Build it how you want it to look........I like the abuse about what I build.......

Mega thats going to be a looker Awesome like the wheels and forks :shock:

I knew that the wheels would spark a "love em or hate em" type of reaction... And in this case, most of you seem to hate em!

That said, I should out myself and say that I have always been a fan of the gipiemme tecno 935s themselves... as a wheel, and by that I mean a functioning wheel and not as an aesthetic object, they have really good rolling characteristics and feel great on the ground. To me, at least. Lots of energy, quite stiff in my opinion, and hey, you never have to worry about spoke breakage.

Now from a design perspective, I'm of the pack that always thought they looked cool... remember that they were originally conceived as a design in the early to mid 90s... quite groundbreaking for the era, don't you think? HOWEVER, my appreciation for the way they look aside, I never thought they looked very good on most bikes, particularly frames with straight lines and certainly not on standard diamond/double triangle frames.

This very reason is why most of my 935 wheelsets sit in boxes, waiting for the right frame to come along... and in my humble opinion, I always thought they would look good on a funky looking frame such as this Y-33. They also don't look half bad in 700c proportion, even on regular road frames. GaryTurner put some 700s, I believe, on the GT STS that won bike of the month way back... although they were painstakingly polished out to achieve a different kind of bling look. LOVE that bike, by the way, if you read this GaryTurner!!

I appreciate that some of you all don't care for them though... I just wanted to share a build that's got a little extra "love" in it from the guy who's building it, at least... hope you all enjoy what's coming. I'll post as it comes... fair warning though, there's going to be a LOT of purple nurple... A LOT!!!

Here's a little more taste to whet your appetite... or puke, whichever it may be for you personally! :twisted: