YT Decoy first ride review: A brilliant ebike with outstanding performance

[Doomanic]

I agree about the coil shock, assuming the suspension is progressive enough, but the Fox fork was infinitely superior to the Yari. More travel won’t fix the lack of controlled damping.

 

[Nasty Nick]

Yes, I like the base model. Make the Yari at 180, aluminium chainstay, swap to coil rear shock(new marzbomber is cheap), burlier tires(michelin)with tire inserts

This is what I’m doing, already sent the bomber to avalanche. But I’m keeping the fork at 160 for now. Also fitting an avy damper and Vorsprung smashpot coil. I wasn’t worried about adding the weight to an already heavy bike, but now that I’ve ridden it I’m not so excited for two reasons. 1) the bike doesn’t feel all that poppy even with air suspension and 2) it’ll be over 55 pounds even after I swap in a carbon wheel set and handle bar. I should have it fully coiled by next weekend. I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

[Gary]

@Doomanic A lyrik damper bolts straight in a Yari and isn't crazy expensive.
FWIW I prefer my Lyriks (3 of them) to every 36 I've ridden. (loads)

 

[Gary]

it’ll be over 55 pounds even after I swap in a carbon wheel set and handle bar.

What?
is it massively heavier than quoted stock or have you added massively heavy parts to yours?

 

[Doomanic]

I know the Charger 2.1 damper fits but it’s over 300 quid! The Charger 2 is around £225 but is being phased out. If anyone knows of a C2 damper for less I’d be interested.

I haven’t ridden Lyrics, but as I’ve said before, the Fox kit was markedly superior to the RS kit, both on the Base and on my Trek (and my Trek feels better than the RS Decoy).

 

[Nasty Nick]

Maybe if they were lighter! My large base with 354 gram pedals, tubeless, rimpact+ rear insert, and a carbon bar weights 53.4 pounds. I think I’ll ride it with my friends on the weekends a lot. But probably stick to analog for more fun and fitness during the weekday rides.

I think it’s heavier than quoted. Or maybe the pro race and smaller size is massively lighter. Or or or my scale is lying. Definitely feels a lot heavier than the levo expert with a 36 tho.

 

[Gary]

TBH suspension set up on Demo bikes is pretty much always quite far from my preference.
Are you sure the Yari was absolutely awful and not just set up badly for you?

I have mates a few with Yaris (not Ebikes) and whenever I've ridden their bikes i've not thought OMG that was awful. usually just.. hmm... it''s a bit softer/slower etc. than ideal.

 

[Gary]

I think it’s heavier than quoted. Or maybe the pro race and smaller size is massively lighter. Or or or my scale is lying. Definitely feels a lot heavier than the levo expert with a 36 tho.

if the Base Decoy turned up and was 55lb i'd be sending it straight back.

 

[Dirtnvert]

This is what I’m doing, already sent the bomber to avalanche. But I’m keeping the fork at 160 for now. Also fitting an avy damper and Vorsprung smashpot coil. I wasn’t worried about adding the weight to an already heavy bike, but now that I’ve ridden it I’m not so excited for two reasons. 1) the bike doesn’t feel all that poppy even with air suspension and 2) it’ll be over 55 pounds even after I swap in a carbon wheel set and handle bar. I should have it fully coiled by next weekend. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Wow man that sounds sweet(avy carts and smashpot in particular). I’d be tempted to go 180 smashpot. I wasn’t super enthused with flex on my lyric rc when I had it at 180 though, so there’s that. I was happy with the cheap RV cart but always felt it could use a luftkappe for a little more small bump compliance. Seemed a fair portion of the flex came from the steerer so I’ll be considering one of these “intend bc” headsets.
Intend's New Headset Actually Improves Cockpit Stiffness - Review - Pinkbike

Eventually I’d like to have a triple clamp on it and move the yari(dual position 150-180)to a fazua equipped trail/enduro bike(ezesty’d be nice). Emtb acceptance seems to be really gathering ground here but realistically there’ll always be some restrictions so a fazua trail bike makes sense

 

[Doomanic]

The guys doing the set up had cheat sheets from Fox and RS.
The first Fox bike was set up with 25% sag front and rear and the suggested damper settings. I thought the front was a bit harsh so requested 30% on the front with 25% on the rear and suggested damper settings for the second demo and it was much better.
The RS bike was a bit of a problem; RS only supply suggested settings for riders up to 113 kg (I’m 115) and they were significantly higher than I run in my Yaris; RS recommend 140psi whereas I run 105...
The tech initially set the forks to 140 and it was ridiculously stiff so he kept dropping the pressure until we got to 25% (111psi on the digital gauge). He then set the damping to the recommended settings on the chart which was zero clicks.
The difference to my Trek was noticeable, even to a cack-handed numpty like me, and was so far away from the magic carpet ride of the CF Pro model it was unreal.
I’m sure the Yari could have been set up better, but it was still never going to match the Fox Factory forks.

 

[Dirtnvert]

if the Base Decoy turned up and was 55lb i'd be sending it straight back.

55 sounds like a bit much. Maybe that’s an XL? Coil fron and rear is 1.5lbs and tires is another pound. Should be under 52? Lots of room to shave some off

 

[Gary]

The guys doing the set up had cheat sheets from Fox and RS.

Dunno about fox but RS online pressure guide isn't great. I wouldn't expect their printed pressure guide to be all that great using it blindly either.
The Yari is a fairly basic (adjustments) fork though and as such actually has less settings to get wrong than with a Lyrik.

Did the YT guys get you to ride the fork infront of them as they set it up? or was it just a quick stood still - push - settle measure sag procedure?
The latter tells you very little about riding support/progression and rebound control. Especially if the YT guy was a lot lighter than you. I'm guessing they wouldn't have changed tokens at all either?

I recently set up a Yari for a pretty quick younger rider (Mate's son racing a SES Enduro) and there's no way I could have got his set-up as close to optimum pressure as i did just from measuring sag alone. just a few psi can make all the difference with regards to the sweet spot of support/small bump performance/grip

 

[Nasty Nick]

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When I hold the bike and weigh us together then subtract my own weight I get 53.4 lbs consistently. But when I balance the bike only on the scale or use my cheap luggage scale I get 53.0 lbs consistently.

Smashpot it over 400 grams heavier than debonair, I think the avy cart is about 100g heavier than the moco, and the bomber is at least 500g heavier than the delux. The carbon wheel set I’m building should be a little less than 500g lighter than stock. So yea it’ll end up just over 54 lbs with pedals.

Fwiw I thought the stock suspension was pretty decent on the flow trails I was doing, even in overshoot hard landing situations. I had a yari and RS monarch plus on my last bike for awhile and absolutely hated them. Gonna hit some fast chunky stuff right now. I’m expecting it to be more spikey here.

 

[Dirtnvert]

I'm sure you'll adapt. Try as I might , all my bikes end up gaining weight. I lead by example maybe . Cant seem to get away from coils and extra weight on the tires. 1/4lb off here and there on some parts never quite equals the tires and coils but it is what it is

 

[Nasty Nick]

Well I hear ebiking isn’t a work out and I don’t want to get to fat soo ya guess the extra weight will help me stay strong lol

 

[Doomanic]

Did the YT guys get you to ride the fork infront of them as they set it up? or was it just a quick stood still - push - settle measure sag procedure?

They have set up stations that hold the bike while they set them up and allow the rider to bounce around on them without needing to be a trackstand god.

I'm guessing they wouldn't have changed tokens at all either?

Correct.

 

[IATR]

I think the stock Yari is perfectly okay. I have settled at about 28% sag and I’m reaching close to full travel where I’d expect (the oh shit, I didn’t get that right moments), and its supple enough on low speed hits. It’s no where near as bad at blowing through the travel on mid-speed compression hits as I’d have expecting through reviews.

I tried it at 25% sag and it wasn’t active enough for me and ramped up a bit more than I like, although still okay. 30% seemed too soft. The stiction from the seals for the first few hours was massive though (well, comparatively). I’ve got the LSC on the lowest setting and rebound four clicks from full fast. I’m assuming there’s one token in there as stock, but haven’t checked yet. Anybody know for certain?

It’s not as good as the 34 Factorys on my Smuggler, but it’s not terrible by any stretch - definitely feels more sensitive to small changes in PSI, probably because I have no way to adjust otherwise. For that reason, I’ll probably drop a Fast damper in to try... It’s a lovely, stiff chassis.

As an aside, I’ve downloaded the Steps app to change the Trail and Boost settings to their lowest assist, still plenty for me. Last night I went for an hours play and left it in Eco. No long hills, and I found it great with just a limited amount of assist/torque. Came back after an hour still with five bars... I’d still like to move the limit to 16mph to 20mph, it’s much too low for singletrack.

I’m loving the fact at so many of my local trails have so many more lines: I keep finding little sharp, nadgery lines I could never have climbed up before opening up. The familiar no longer is... average heart was about 10bpm lower than it normally would have been, and max about 20bpm lower (138 ave, 168 max). I’m okay with that

I’ve changed the saddle (it was designed by the devil), bars (lower, wider) and grips (the outer flange on the stock grips ripped blisters into my clearly soft hands after a couple of hours). I might stick some carbon wheels in in time, and I don’t need that massive, draggy 2.8 out back (which you can definitely feel when the assistance ends).

At some point, I’ll trim the cables.

Haven’t weighed it, but it feels fine to me. I think it’s very poppy. Again, I’m loving it

 

[Gary]

They have set up stations that hold the bike while they set them up and allow the rider to bounce around on them without needing to be a trackstand god.

Yeah. that's a pretty terrible way to determine anything other than a really vague sag starting point. kinda my point.

 

[Doomanic]

And my point is it worked on the Fox sus, not so much on the RS. Same bloke, same procedure. The variable is the suspension. Make of that what you will.

 

[Nasty Nick]

@IATR guess again: there are 4 volume spacers stock in the yari! That’s what the e-sticker on the crown indicates.

I’ve ridden a good variety of trails including some chunky stuff with big drops and have been super impressed with the stock suspension on the base model. I think most people would be happy with it actually. And like I said before I’ve hated every other yari I’ve tried.

 

[Q-Ball]

WooHoo!!

I got a shipment confirmation email for my CF Pro today. Should be here on Friday - so stoked
Anyone got a picture of the baseline setup chart from the demos?

Q

 

[Jedipip]

WooHoo!!

I got a shipment confirmation email for my CF Pro today. Should be here on Friday - so stoked
Anyone got a picture of the baseline setup chart from the demos?

Q

Yep! The Pro’s are all shipping a week earlier than was scheduled ?

Difficult decision.....cancel the Sunday analogue MTB ride over CutGate (Rob.....you need to test some bikes on that one) or fettle the Decoy!?!?

 

[Peaky Rider]

Yep! The Pro’s are all shipping a week earlier than was scheduled ?

Difficult decision.....cancel the Sunday analogue MTB ride over CutGate (Rob.....you need to test some bikes on that one) or fettle the Decoy!?!?

The last time I did Cut Gate was on a pedal bike and I said never again.
Now looking forward to doing it this Saturday on the Jam2.
It's one heck of a day out.

 

[Gutch]

Hello, was yours scheduled to ship the week of 6-5-19?
Thanks

 

[MarkH]

The last time I did Cut Gate was on a pedal bike and I said never again.
Now looking forward to doing it this Saturday on the Jam2.
It's one heck of a day out.

ID never done it until about 3 months ago when I hit it up on my Levo. I can understand why it's such a classic. Been back 4 times since then and it's blisteringly fast on an ebike.

 

[Eckythump]

Yep! The Pro’s are all shipping a week earlier than was scheduled ?

Mine isn’t yet?

 

[S D]

ID never done it until about 3 months ago when I hit it up on my Levo. I can understand why it's such a classic. Been back 4 times since then and it's blisteringly fast on an ebike.

I did it on my Jam 2 a couple of weeks ago, the sun was shining , it was superb both up and down, I did it early evening when the hikers had retired for the night .?
It’s a popular spot on a Saturday for sure ?

 

[jsalas2]

My buddy got his pro yesterday, put it together and battery wouldn’t stay on. Fully charged. Shimano steps on display would turn on and then shut off. He’s pretty bummed, told him not to worry just a minor bug, first batch of a new model. We are waiting for YT customer service to open. I’m pretty sure they will be able to sort it out, will keep you posted.

 

[IATR]

@IATR guess again: there are 4 volume spacers stock in the yari! That’s what the e-sticker on the crown indicates.

I’ve ridden a good variety of trails including some chunky stuff with big drops and have been super impressed with the stock suspension on the base model. I think most people would be happy with it actually. And like I said before I’ve hated every other yari I’ve tried.

That’s nuts. I’ve ridden a Yari with 3 and 4 before, it felt like it ramped up much quicker than what’s on the Base.

 

[Nasty Nick]

That’s nuts. I’ve ridden a Yari with 3 and 4 before, it felt like it ramped up much quicker than what’s on the Base.

I know, right? Never would have tried 4 spacers in a long travel fork. I guess it adds some support to run the moco more open.

I’m not faffin with it anymore tho

Feels crazy plush in the shop now. Can’t wait to ride it!

Fwiw the inside of my yari was dialed: wipers and air spring were nicely greased. It had the new procedure of fluid on top of the air spring (found out when I flung it across the room). And the foam rings were soaked.