Pete heads out to Bielsko-Biala, Poland to check out the latest in the line of YT Industries latest ebike offering, the second generation Decoy.
A big bike with big numbers for that ‘go anywhere and do anything’ capability, the YT Industries Decoy has landed and as Pete found out, it’s particularly rapid.
Photos by Ale di Lullo.
Key features:
- Fox 38 Factory 180mm fork
- Fox X2 Factory shock
- SRAM XO AXS T-type 12-speed drive
- Bosch Performance Line CX motor
- Bosch PowerTube 800Wh battery
- SRAM Maven Silver brakes
- DT Swiss HXC1500 wheels
- YT Postman V2 dropper
- £8,999.00 RRP
- YT-Industries.com
As the middle of June rolled around, I would find myself in Szscryk, Poland and the complete lack of vowels in this town name made me realise why the UCI chose Bielsko-Biala as host name for the World Cup. In any case, I’d be here to swing a leg over the long-awaited update to the YT Industries Decoy. No Vinnie Jones this time though…
Despite this being a major overhaul of their full power platform, the original Decoy will run alongside it as YT say that the demand for them is still high. The second generation leaves no stone unturned however, and shows where ebikes have come since the end of the 2010s.
Some of the YT hallmarks remain, like the Ultra Modulus carbon frame (link included) and their race-proven V4L linkage. You also get a flip chip to change the geometry from Regular to Low. The YT team say that Low is very low indeed. Reach grows by 6mm across the sizes, seat tubes are significantly clipped, head angle drops by 1.5 degrees in the ‘Low’ setting, seat tube angle is almost three degrees steeper and chainstay grows by 3mm.
YT have designed their own charging port to increase protection from the elements, bespoke bushing system on a custom battery mount aims to eliminate rattling. The custom YT skidplate offers increased airflow and protection for the motor as well.
Travel jumps by 5mm on the rear, paired with 10mm more fork travel. The Shimano motor is swapped out with a 5th generation Bosch Performance Line CX motor offering up 100Nm. The frame, motor, tyres and battery remain consistent across the 4 models on offer.
The Decoy Core 4 seen here is the top spec of the 4 bikes available with this bike coming in at £8,999.00. The Core 3 comes in at £7,999.00, the Core 2 at £6,999.00 and the Core 1 at £5,999.00.
Geometry
The YT Decoy is available in S, M, L, XL and XXL sizes.
Reach on the M (the bike I rode) in Regular is 455mm with a seat tube of 400mm. Head angle is 64 degrees with an effective seat tube angle of 78.1 degrees. Chainstays are 445mm across the sizes with a wheelbase on the M of 1249mm.
Opening moves
From the bright Polish sun to the cool darkness of a large, underground garage, I was handed a brand new YT Decoy Core 4. The chaps on station at this particular launch had done a cracking job of getting the bike 90% of the way to the perfect setup prior to my arrival, and I would mostly leave it be until I’d had some time on the trails.
I would have missed the bike park segment on day one of the camp due to Lufthansa maintaining their 100% record in not getting myself and my bags to a destination together. Therefore, I would be joining the group as we headed across the valley from Szscryk to sample some of the natural delights.
A road climb made gaining the height easy, and the 100Nm on tap seemed a bit of a novelty that would only become welcome later in the day as my legs began to flag. Happy to keep the mode low as a human that doesn’t need that much help on an ebike on the way up. It’s usually the other way round where I have to try harder to muscle the bike around to keep it going where I want it to.
Despite being utterly knackered from the early morning airport run, I dived into trail number one and discovered the trail builders in Poland know what they’re doing. A great use of the natural shape of the ground made for some wicked descending. The only thing I did for the rest of the two days with regards bike setup was add four clicks of low speed rebound to the fork as the front wheel was understeering when pushed hard.
With the forks now tracking the ground better, the bike came alive. I forgot I was on a 23kg+ ebike and simply went about riding out of my skin on unfamiliar trails and an unfamiliar bike. The Decoy encouraged me to gap things that might otherwise scare me off, or roll the dice on a daft line that I’d choose on sight as the tech came thick and fast.
Later in the afternoon, I ran out of puff and couldn’t get the bike moving like I had on the first two top-to-bottom runs. A big feed and an even bigger sleep and day two came around. I felt like a new human and the bike was sat glistening waiting for me to go again.
With a sharper mind, I found the Decoy exhibited the same mid-stroke feel on the back end as the Capra. Load the back end in a turn and the shock sits in the mid-stroke and traction breaks in a very controllable manner. As a rider that struggles more with understeer rather than oversteer, this is a very welcome trait and one that I’d learn to exploit. Getting both wheels turning together to maximise exit speed and keep the bike bouncing off the limiter.
As I pushed towards what I felt was my limit, the Decoy did nothing weird. Deep in the travel, doing a big old press up on the bars, the bike remained as cool as a cucumber whilst I was hotter than the sun. The reduced anti-squat on this Decoy means less pedal kick and part of the reason why the bike feels like a cool customer in the rough.
Even putting out 100Nm and weighing in at over 23kg, the Decoy sipped relatively little of the 800Wh battery and even in Boost, I would have no issues with range anxiety. The few technical climbs we did do felt straightforward enough, with the proper tyres fitted, that much power is easy to control.
Whilst I am not convinced that 100Nm is necessary on an ebike, it certainly is well packaged and implemented in the Bosch setup and riding up steep road climbs at the speed limit of the bike is daft. That’s not a YT Decoy-specific opinion though, just this writer’s.
Overall, the Decoy was an unfamiliar bike on unfamiliar trails but let me go like the clappers without doing anything weird. The bike performed flawlessly as I tried to write checks and wining to see if they’d bounce. None of the kit complained even slightly during the 48 hours of charging down Polish mountains. This is easily one of, if not the, best full fat ebikes I have ridden to date.
