YT has seemingly always been about giving the people what they want. The original Decoy was a pioneering playbike, so what does the big wheel version offer and to whom?
- Brand: YT Industries
- Product: Decoy 29 Core 3
- From: yt-industries.com
- Price: £5,699 inc. VAT, customs duties and import costs (shipping and bike box cost not included)
- Tested by: Benji for 2 months
This product was selected for our Editors’ Choice Awards 2022, as published in Singletrack Magazine Issue 146
Benji: “The Decoy was the first e-bike that was actually properly fun to ride as a mountain bike. Pretty much all e-bikes are great when it comes to de-trudgifying the bike ride experience. It’s hard not to grin when zipping up climbs that usually take you three or four times as long to do. But e-bikes can come unstuck when they get to the type of terrain that you actually began mountain biking for in the first place. At 23kg this is not one of the new breed of diet – or even mid – power e-bikes that weigh sub-20kg, but the Decoy handles like a much, much lighter bike. I can’t even claim to really know how or why this is – there are clearly myriad factors involved. After riding newer, supposedly ‘next generation’ e-bikes with their massive batteries or their sub-20kg weights, it’s still the YT Decoy that I’d go for, rattly EP8 motor and meagre 540Wh battery and all.”
Original Review:
Full-carbon 29er e-bike with a Shimano EP8 motor and bespoke 540Wh battery that gives out 145mm of travel at the back and is paired with a 150mm travel fork up front.
Three things I liked
- Not-dead suspension
- Geometry that shouldn’t work but does
- It looks rad
Three things I’d change
- Harsh grips
- Thirstmaster bottle is fiddly
- Balloon front tyre is vague
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YT Decoy 29 Core 3 Specification
- Frame // Carbon, 145mm
- Shock // Fox Float DPS Performance Elite, 230x60mm
- Fork // Fox 36 Performance Elite Grip2 E-Bike+, 150mm, 51mm offset
- Wheels // Crankbrothers Synthesis Alloy E-MTB
- Front Tyre // Maxxis Minion DHF 29×2.5in WT EXO TR 3C MaxxTerra
- Rear Tyre // Maxxis Minion DHR II 29×2.4in WT EXO+ TR 3C MaxxTerra
- Chainset // Shimano EM600, 165mm
- Drivetrain // Shimano SLX 12-speed
- Brakes // SRAM Code R, 200/200mm rotors
- Stem // E13 Plus 35, 50mm
- Bars // E13 Plus 35, Aluminium, 780x35mm
- Grips // ODI Elite Motion V2.1
- Seatpost // YT Postman, 170mm
- Saddle // SDG Bel Air 3.0
- BB // Shimano
- Size Tested // XL
- Sizes Available // S, M, L, XL, XXL
- Weight // 23kg
Geometry for our size XL test bike:
- Head angle // 65.8°
- Effective seat angle // 77°
- Seat tube length // 470mm
- Head tube length // 115mm
- Chainstay // 458mm
- Wheelbase // 1,265mm
- Effective top tube // 631mm
- BB height // 38mm BB drop
- Reach // 483mm
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