Review 2020 Decathalon Stilus Review

[PhilBaker]

The Bike:

Manufacturer: Decathalon
Model: Stilus
Model Year: 2020
Price Paid: 2,699
New/Used: Brand New
Score (out of 10): 8

Review: After reading some of the threads around the amazing value for money offer from Decathalon, I decided to take a punt and get one.

Just as a point of comparison, I have been riding relatively lightweight XC Full Sus bikes for the last 15 years, currently a 13kg Giant Anthem with carbon bars and lightweight wheel set.

Given it's my first EMTB so hard to score the bike out of 10 vs other bikes, but given the sheer value for money and fun you get riding it, it has to be a solid 8.

As someone mentioned before, its based on a Lombardo Sempione and is manufactured in Italy. You can checkout their offerings here but I cant quite find an exact like for like bike so assume it's built especially for Decathalon: Sempione RACE - Lombardo Bikes

The above is useful as I think some of the Lombardo geometry stats were more accurate than the flaky Decathalon details. Decathalon Stilus comes in M (40"), L (44") and XL (48"), and this is the most important advice I can give. This bike comes up small. I've never ridden a large frame in my life and spent ages trying to decide what size to buy as Decatholon stores are shut. Following others advice on this thread and Decathalon's recommendations to be fair, I went large. I'm 5'10" with normal length arms, 31" inner leg measurement and it feels small. I have the seat all the way back and will still probably buy a slightly longer stem. I am happy with the size and wouldn't have wanted it larger, but be very careful in selecting the size you would ride vs what you have had in the past.

Yes the rear chain stay is 485mm which is 45mm longer than I'm used to and the bike feels big albeit with a small cockpit. Doesn't seem to be a problem for me, but perhaps I'm not an expert in the merits of shorter chain stays. Yes the bike doesn't feel is nimble as my XC acoustic but its twice the weight.

The delivery and packing were 1st class, and the bike has been setup and greased to the hilt! The handle bars were not aligned (easy fix) and I had to clear dollops of grease from various parts but overall I am happy with the service. NOTE if you are ordering one during the Lockdown you will just have to keep trying to get a delivery slot as they only release so many per day (in the late evening apparently, I got lucky at 00:30).

The Bosch gen 4 performance CX motor is great as everyone suggests, the power is there with 4 engine modes to choose from and I found it relatively quiet (again no real comparison vs other emtb's). You can really feel how much it assist you based on how hard you pedal.

I would have prefered the 625W battery as I go for long rides but its not an option and too expensive for me to buy separately, however the Battery is great. It's 500w and I rode 11 miles inc 1,100ft+ climbing in various modes (mainly emtb) and only used 1 bar.

It really does provide minimum resistance when the motor assist drops off around 16mph, although you are left with a heavy 25kg bike to pedal. Saying that, going down hill that weight helps you go faster (top speed on my off-road ride today was 40mph. So a 15mph easy ride up the hill and a fast stable ride down

I found the breaks pretty poor to be fair but maybe it just the fact that this bike is twice the weight of my acoustic bike, they work for sure, but are not as sharp as I'm used to.

The suspension does its job, but I miss the rear lockout. Saying that, the 150mm travel vs my acoustic 100mm travel is a lot of fun. Dropper post works fine, I will see if it starts to get loose as I read someone had experienced (perhaps they were just unlucky with a faulty one).

I found this bike climbs well and descends well, far more solid and feels more grounded than my xc bike (which I guess any heavy 150mm travel bike would to be fair).

I converted the existing rims to tubeless very easily. The rims are already sealed/taped and ready to go and the Shwalbe Smart Sam tyres inflated really easily as they fit tight to the rim (so you need to stand on the tyre to get it off and on the rim).

It came with a Bosch 6amp Fast charger worth £150, although it would have been nice to have had a slow charger as well.

In terms of value for money, I couldn't see anything close with the new lightweight low resistance Bosch gen 4 motor. So yes, the breaks are good vs great, the suspension doesn't have a rear lockout, it has the cheaper yet uncluttered Purion display and the battery is 500W with no option to upgrade to the 625W HOWEVER, what else could you get for £2,699

This bike really doesn't feel like a budget bike like I expected it to, it feels solid and quality.

And you can take it back and get your money back for up to 365 days! (they say they can reduce the money they give you if it's damaged, but some reviews say people have taken things back and the staff weren't realy bothered about checking it ;-))

So if you want to get into full suss EMTB on a low budget, then I'd definitely recommend this bike, just be very careful on the sizing and if in doubt size up!

 

[R120]

Thanks for doing the great write up! Let us know how it goes through your ownership.

 

[R120]

Also it would be great if you could post up more photos of for example of the motor area, and the cockpit/controls?

 

[R120]

Nice review,.
There are some really detailed photos of the cockpit and motor area on the Decathlon site

ADULT ALL MOUNTAIN MTB BIKE - Stilus Full Suspension Electric Mountain Bike - SRAM SX

It looks outstanding for the price. The Purion/Guide cockpit looks identical to my Whyte.
Had I not got my bike for considerably less than RRP, I would have probably not bothered and been perfectly happy buying the Stilus.
The "law of diminishing returns" has never been sharper focused than here.
Drop another £2000 for what?, a few mm shorter chain-stays, 15% more range and some slightly better widgets. I suspect £1500 of the delta between the Stilus and the budget end of branded bikes is merely brand kudos, / trail snobery.

Theres an element of that, though if you where to ride you Whyte back to back with the Stylus down a technical trail you would notice the geometry, the Whyte is one of the best handling EMTB's out there due to how they have placed the weight, and the geometry. The reason the back end is so long on the Stylus is its a one from fits all OEM solution, so it can be specced for 27.5 upon to 29r running big tyres.

Still I wouldnt let the fact its a Decathlon bike put me off buying one, if you just want a Decent EMTB to just hit up the trials on it smokes pretty much everything under 4k

 

[PhilBaker]

I would also echo R120’s comments, I don’t think the geometry is great on this bike as you do seem to be pushed forward in the cockpit somewhat, hence it feels so small.

The Sempione it’s based on comes in multiple configurations including 29’er wheel sets so potentially you could make it a 29’er.

It feels solid, and fun and I’m happy with my purchase but if you are really into your downhill biking and geometry is important, this may not be the perfect fit for you.

Looking forward to meeting up with another noob whose not far from me and he brought the Lapierre so will see if we can swap to get a feel for how they compare.

I’ve ridden Whyte emtb’s on demo days a few years back and hated the way the engine cut in and out and the resistance it left you with, where as the new Bosch motor feels much better.

Happy to answer any questions, measure shit or upload more photo’s.

 

[R120]

Thanks - good tis ee there is a bash guard under the motor, wasn't sure if there was one or not.

 

[Cabby.]

That looks mega for the money.

 

[PhilBaker]

Yes, happy with the Italian styling ;-) Decent solid plastic bash guard, all colour coded of course. Will see how it lasts. The battery cover also may help with stone chips and rocks being flung up from the front wheel. There is litterally only a few inches of Frame between the battery guard and the engine bash guard for rocks to hit.

Had another quick ride out today so 11 miles yesterday and 11ft of climbing and dropped one bar on the battery, today I added another 7.5 miles and 500ft of climbing (mix of modes between Tour and eMTB) and it still hasn't gone down another bar! So coming up to 20 miles in and I still have 4 out of 5 bars being shown and 24 predicted miles left in eMTB or 40+ miles in Tour.
Really happy with the battery!

And again, the motor is really quiet and so smooth cutting in and out. Probably the thing I'm most impressed with to be honest.

I've ordered new Ergon GA3 grips and an Ergon SM -E seat, as the stock ones are pretty average, certainly for my hands and arse.

I probably need to spend some time on the setup, trying to get the bike balanced as it feel's a little front heavy to me. Definitely a small feeling cockpit and I'm on a large frame for the first time ever

As with all reviews it's relative to what the owner is used to, so for comparison here are my two rides next to each other and you can see the massive cockpit difference on the Stilus vs my acoustic Giant which probably contributes to some of my initial views.

Hopefully I'll get to meet up for a ride with Fingerpuk and his new LaPierre Overvolt AM 600i, so I'll have a 150mm travel ebike to compare geometry with...

 

[Andyd68]

Hi

I am new to mountain biking so looking for my first bike since my early 20's (i am 52 now) so sorry for all the questions.

I have been looking for a bike and for this price you can only really get hard tails but most people are saying get a FS bike so this looks ideal. I am 5'10" and the website says i am the top end of a Large frame i am guessing this is ok because i won't know any difference really?

Are the tyres tubeless ready as well as the rims? So all i have to do is put in the sealant. Is this easy to do as i guess i will have to remove the wheels as well? Are they quick release wheels?

How does it ride on roads i know it's purpose is off road but i will have to use it on some roads as well at some point. I know it wont run as smooth/fast but hoping i can get away with it.

Think i might have found my bike unless anyone can suggest otherwise or tells me that this is the wrong bike for a beginner like me. Will just have to wait for them to come back in stock.

Again sorry for all the questions.

Thanks in advance.

Andy

 

[PhilBaker]

No need to apologise Andy, I had way more questions than that before I brought my first EMTB!

Easy ones first:-
- Tyre's don't say they are tubeless (I looked everywhere) but thought I would try it and they work fine. They sit really tight on the rim (I mean really tight) so getting them off and back on requires you standing on the flat tyre with one foot whilst you pull the rim up. With that technique it wasn't actually that hard but before that I couldn't work out how to get them off! Putting them back on is the same, you need that final push by standing on it but be careful, as it snapped over the final part of the rim, I ended up with a shoe covered in Tubeless sealant
- Rims are tubeless ready and all nicely sealed up
- All you need to buy is the Tubeless valves (and sealant if you don't have any or buy a valve and sealant kit) . I went for the coloured Muc Off ones from Amazon. A little but more expensive than the others but look cool and come with different rubber o-rings should you need a better seal. I used the standard ones. NOTE: I was losing air pressure and realised I hadn't done one of the valves up tight enough. Now it's sealed perfectly.
- On the road, the stock tyres have a really good almost solid line around them so they roll pretty well and are not noisy. How does it ride? Like a 25kg heavy bike with the engine off. With the engine on Eco, it rides like a slightly heavy bike but if your fit its ok. In Tour or above, it feels great on the road, very easy to ride up to 16mph when the engine slowly cuts out. If you want to ride faster you would need to investigate a derestricting solution that works. They are available for the Bosch Gen 4 motor but its too early to say yet if they work over a longer period.
- It's not a road bike though Andy to be fair, its a 150mm Travel mountain bike. I could ride it on the road but not sure that's really its purpose in life if you know what I mean. ie "Hey, I'm thinking of buying a sportscar, but I also want to go offroad in it". You can go offroad in it but it's not what its designed for. If your 98% on road then maybe consider a Hybrid eBike. Checkout this video: - If you want to get out into the countryside then yes, a full sus EMTB like this one can do both and it is a lot of fun but it is a big bike Andy compared to a standard road bike or non electic mountain bike.

Finally, the hard question, size. Andy I'm 5'10" and I went for the large and I'm finding it a little small. I always ride Medium so this is my first large, but I'm almost wondering what the XL would be like.

If your not an aggressive rider and are happy to sit more upright, then I'd probably suggest Large could work for you but it has a lot do to with personal preference. If your not into bikes then you probably would just get it and say "feels great", its just I'm used to a different riding position as you can see from my old and new bike positions in the photo.

I'll take a picture of me sat on it so you get a view. I do need to try and play around with the setup to get more comfortable with it.

I terms of ordering one:-

Step 1) wait until its in stock (took around a week for me)
Step 2) every evening probably from around 11-1pm keep trying to order it and it will keep saying "we have exceeded the maximum number of large shipping items", try again in the morning, but keep going back, try again, back, try again, until you get lucky ;-)
-

 

[Andyd68]

Thank you for your detailed response. I started off looking at hybrid bikes but couldn’t find one I really liked. I don’t plan to ride much on roads but might use it to get to work (when allowed back in the office) but this will be via canal towpaths but I would have to use some roads. At weekends I do want to go cross country nothing major maybe over Cannock chase.
Think I will get the large as that is what is stated on their website plus if I really hate it I can always take it back using their 365 returns and get something else. It’s the worse time to get a bike as I can’t really test anything due to lockdown and everyone is buying bikes so no real deals going. Looking forward to seeing your posts on how your getting on. Thank you once again now back to the web to check on stock ???

 

[Andy Mealor]

Great review and really helpful posts as I am thinking about getting one of these if I can just get in the Decathlon queuing system at the right time.
Saw this video on YouTube last night from a chap in Italy.

It seems that he seems to rate this bike but says something like he would change the tyres out for something more appropriate to where he is riding.

 

[R120]

The tyres on it are relatively lightweight and not as grippy as the kind of tyre you would use for aggressive trail riding. For my riding I would swap out the tyres before taking it out to something like a Maxis Minion or Michelin E-Wild. Easy enough to put whatever flavour of tire you like for your riding, if the stock ones dont fit the bill.

 

[Kme]

As a noob I've been looking for an entry into eMtbs and this looks like a KILLER FS entry (mid?) bike. I've been trying to order one for over a week now, I missed my opportunity initially as I was umming and ahhing over wether to get the hardtail est900 instead but by the time I made the decision for the FS, they were sold out! I keep checking every day (several times) but they're never even in stock, I'm not looking forward to having to fight over a delivery slot too! ? What's even more annoying is they seem to have the full size range in stock on the French Decathlon site! ?

So who else will I be fighting off for an XL when they eventually show up? ??

 

[SonicScott]

Mine was due to arrive today but when I started to unpack it what should be in the box, not a Stilus but a £279 RockrIder ST520!
Now to do battle with Decathlon’s ‘contact us’ options.
So disappointing.
This was the icing on the cake. Yesterday my wife’s Liv Embolden Ebike arrived without a charger from Rutland Cycles.

 

[driftmonkey]

Looks like a great bike. A real competitor to the Vitus E-Sommet which is similar money....

 

[PhilBaker]

Sucks that they sent you a Rockrider SonicScott! Gutted. I'd be asking for some compensation for the emotional loss you felt!

I'm happy with the tyres, but generally ride hard packed trails. I'm finding the bikes weight makes it feel more grounded from my perspective compared to my lightweight accoutic XC with Maxxis Ardent Race (which are not known for their amazing grip), so all relative...

 

[PhilBaker]

BATTERY UPDATE:

Finally after riding all week I've emptied the first battery and got 47 Miles (and to be fair whilst it said 0 miles left it was still pulling ).

Ride was mainly in Tour Mode and included over 2,500ft of climbing.

Impressed how the miles remaining readout adjusted and in the end the final miles were pretty solid in counting down (unlike my car which says you have 20 miles left, you have 0000 miles left!).

Fully charged the battery and left the BMS to balance and it's showing the following remaining:-

Eco - 85miles
Tour - 55miles
EMTB - 46miles
Turbo - 41miles

In watching a review last night of the Purion display it says it bases this projection on the last mile ridden, not sure if that's true...

 

[SonicScott]

Decathlon have been pretty OK about it. They are unable to do an exchange as the Stilus is out of stock, again, but they have given me a full refund, even before they have had the RockrIder collected.
So it’s back to waiting for it to come back in stock and try to order one.

 

[Darren66]

BATTERY UPDATE:

Finally after riding all week I've emptied the first battery and got 47 Miles (and to be fair whilst it said 0 miles left it was still pulling ).

Ride was mainly in Tour Mode and included over 2,500ft of climbing.

Impressed how the miles remaining readout adjusted and in the end the final miles were pretty solid in counting down (unlike my car which says you have 20 miles left, you have 0000 miles left!).

Fully charged the battery and left the BMS to balance and it's showing the following remaining:-

Eco - 85miles
Tour - 55miles
EMTB - 46miles
Turbo - 41miles

In watching a review last night of the Purion display it says it bases this projection on the last mile ridden, not sure if that's true...

Yes, that is correct, the estimated mileage can go up as well as down while riding, I have the 625Wh battery and when I last charged it, it showed 129 miles in Eco and correspondingly high figures for the other modes, I left home and within 400m, the 129 had dropped to 85...
After a ride of 18 miles, it now shows 65 but the battery indicator hasn't dropped from 5 bars, I tend to ignore the figures and just focus on the indicator.

 

[R120]

Pretty much all ebikes predict the range based on the current ride you are doing - as such you will find if you turn the bike on and off it will come up with a different set of value

 

[kla456]

Phil's words are useful. I tried to buy one couple of weeks ago and gave up (out of stock). I'm glad now. Even though its a mega-deal there are a few questions that experienced riders are still mulling over. Like Andy, I'm new to mbt. and I also plan mixed riding (part family, part solo) but I want full-suss because never had it and a boost because old guys buy sports cars (I'm 74). I've gone for a Focus THRON 6.8 EQP which is about £600 more than the Stilus but has the Bosch with larger battery and £100 of extra kit that I will need (whip off those mudguards when solo!). Now that's hubrid!

 

[kla456]

Phil's words are useful. I tried to buy one couple of weeks ago and gave up (out of stock). I'm glad now. Even though its a mega-deal there are a few questions that experienced riders are still mulling over. Like Andy, I'm new to mbt. and I also plan mixed riding (part family, part solo) but I want full-suss because never had it and a boost because old guys buy sports cars (I'm 74). I've gone for a Focus THRON 6.8 EQP which is about £600 more than the Stilus but has the Bosch with larger battery and £100 of extra kit that I will need (whip off those mudguards when solo!). Now that's hubrid!

Sorry Hybrid

 

[GrahamPaul]

(whip off those mudguards when solo!).

I thought that, too. Turns out the lighting cables are run through the mudguards. A little trickier than just a quick spannering.

 

[kla456]

I thought that, too. Turns out the lighting cables are run through the mudguards. A little trickier than just a quick spannering.

Tricky - what to do?

 

[R120]

I didn't think Whyte had produced an emtb prior to the 2020 Bosch Gen 4 equipped E150 (released late 2019)

They had produced EBIKES before, using the shimano system, some of which verged into Hardtail MTB territory but where really commuting/touring bikes.

 

[PhilBaker]

I didn't think Whyte had produced an emtb prior to the 2020 Bosch Gen 4 equipped E150 (released late 2019)

Good shout actually, It was a Demo day with ebikes and acoustic bikes and I remember thinking I hated the way the motor cut in and out at 15.5mph (which was the area I was riding in) and that I preferred the Whyte acoustic frames I rode that day. Honestly can't recall whose ebikes they were...

 

[Zimmerframe]

Good shout actually, It was a Demo day with ebikes and acoustic bikes and I remember thinking I hated the way the motor cut in and out at 15.5mph (which was the area I was riding in) and that I preferred the Whyte acoustic frames I rode that day. Honestly can't recall whose ebikes they were...

Maybe one of them was a White bike ?

 

[GrahamPaul]

Tricky - what to do?

For me it became a non-issue. It's the missus' bike and she said that she wanted the mudguards "... to stay on, thank you!"

 

[Timmoh]

No need to apologise Andy, I had way more questions than that before I brought my first EMTB!

Easy ones first:-
- Tyre's don't say they are tubeless (I looked everywhere) but thought I would try it and they work fine. They sit really tight on the rim (I mean really tight) so getting them off and back on requires you standing on the flat tyre with one foot whilst you pull the rim up. With that technique it wasn't actually that hard but before that I couldn't work out how to get them off! Putting them back on is the same, you need that final push by standing on it but be careful, as it snapped over the final part of the rim, I ended up with a shoe covered in Tubeless sealant
- Rims are tubeless ready and all nicely sealed up
- All you need to buy is the Tubeless valves (and sealant if you don't have any or buy a valve and sealant kit) . I went for the coloured Muc Off ones from Amazon. A little but more expensive than the others but look cool and come with different rubber o-rings should you need a better seal. I used the standard ones. NOTE: I was losing air pressure and realised I hadn't done one of the valves up tight enough. Now it's sealed perfectly.
- On the road, the stock tyres have a really good almost solid line around them so they roll pretty well and are not noisy. How does it ride? Like a 25kg heavy bike with the engine off. With the engine on Eco, it rides like a slightly heavy bike but if your fit its ok. In Tour or above, it feels great on the road, very easy to ride up to 16mph when the engine slowly cuts out. If you want to ride faster you would need to investigate a derestricting solution that works. They are available for the Bosch Gen 4 motor but its too early to say yet if they work over a longer period.
- It's not a road bike though Andy to be fair, its a 150mm Travel mountain bike. I could ride it on the road but not sure that's really its purpose in life if you know what I mean. ie "Hey, I'm thinking of buying a sportscar, but I also want to go offroad in it". You can go offroad in it but it's not what its designed for. If your 98% on road then maybe consider a Hybrid eBike. Checkout this video: - If you want to get out into the countryside then yes, a full sus EMTB like this one can do both and it is a lot of fun but it is a big bike Andy compared to a standard road bike or non electic mountain bike.

Finally, the hard question, size. Andy I'm 5'10" and I went for the large and I'm finding it a little small. I always ride Medium so this is my first large, but I'm almost wondering what the XL would be like.

If your not an aggressive rider and are happy to sit more upright, then I'd probably suggest Large could work for you but it has a lot do to with personal preference. If your not into bikes then you probably would just get it and say "feels great", its just I'm used to a different riding position as you can see from my old and new bike positions in the photo.

I'll take a picture of me sat on it so you get a view. I do need to try and play around with the setup to get more comfortable with it.

I terms of ordering one:-

Step 1) wait until its in stock (took around a week for me)
Step 2) every evening probably from around 11-1pm keep trying to order it and it will keep saying "we have exceeded the maximum number of large shipping items", try again in the morning, but keep going back, try again, back, try again, until you get lucky ;-)
-

Morning, looking to order one and curious as to;
Does stock only become available after 11pm (when and if they restock), or can you put it in basket earlier if available throughout the day and then only process the payment etc at 11pmike the website message seems to say?
Sorry if this seems a daft question and I know you probably don't work there but it seems like you have to be patient/diligent as the website instructions are a bit ambiguous on ordering.
Cheers