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

[Gutch]

Got a pic of your grommet issue?

 

[Nasty Nick]

The bike comes with these little rubber sleeves on the hoses. They don’t really fit into the frame cause there’s not much room and when you try to jam them into the hole they just kind of squish everywhere. Mine migrate all over, because I never really got them deep into the frame. Not sure if they’d stay in place if you manage to get the ribbed portion into the frame hole.

 

[Gutch]

Ahh, id try and twist them in there? Wow, the cables look really long, I really cant stand extra cable!

 

[Nasty Nick]

Yea the cables are ridiculous! That pic was straight out of the box. I’ve heard YT is usually very precise about cable lengths but they’re clearly uncut. It was double frustrating they didn’t include hardware to shorten them. I ended up spending $20 for it so I could shorten them at home. But I’m sure you could argue with YT to pay your lbs to do it.

It’s funny I think they left the dropper and shifter cables extra long to match the brake cables so they could use the stupid double sided clips.

 

[Highway]

Agree the cables are way to long but pretty easy to fix, I had min for a couple of weeks now and really like it

 

[mikecol]

I'm on my 3rd day with my new Pro Race Decoy L. Kind of a novice (E)MTB rider with some motocross experience. 1st to order in US and happy to finally have it here in FL. Setup was smooth. Bike is perfect except for the seat; very hard. Put old Spec seat on for now.

Firmware on 8000 and 7000 one rev old. Power is great. Changed the 60%,90%,300% to
60%, 110% and 200% with Etube app over BT. Steps Unlocker connected fine too to check status.

Put about 20mi on so far on mostly grassy flat rooty park trails. Mostly in Trail, but fun to hit Boost sometimes.

One gash in the new pedal when I smashed into a curb. Need more practice !! I'm 62 so still have a little time left.

 

[Gutch]

May I ask when your original ship date was? You were the first, wow. Glad you’re enjoying it, the keep delaying mine.

 

[mikecol]

Hi Gutch, Orig ship date was May 15.

Every "good bike" I wanted seemed to take a long time. Understand delays, but would have been good to be notified when past due dates; especially when they have my $7200 for months. I guess if I ran YT, prepaid orders would get notified of delays and status.

I would also fix the size table so the cm and inch conversion were correct. The ranges are up to YT but the conversion is not.

Love the bike....worth the wait...just stressful not knowing anything.

 

[Highway]

May I ask when your original ship date was? You were the first, wow. Glad you’re enjoying it, the keep delaying mine.

My ship date was 5th of june and I got the bike the 3rd of june so really good

 

[Peaky Rider]

Well I'm not sure how this stacks up but I came back from a 25-26 mile ride with 4600 ft climbing (mostly dirt) in a mix of Eco and Trail modes. Came back with 2 bars still showing with the stock tires and a 188lb rider. My buddy on a Focus Jam2 with the 2 battery system came back with 3 bars left on his 2nd battery. I've just changed the chain ring to a stainless 32t in order to help with the cadence when climbing the long steep sections of Mt. Diablo in California. We'll see what that does to range.

One item I'd like to ask folks with delivered bike: Are you having issues with the frame grommets staying in place where the cables comes through? Mine keep moving about and I've got a few ideas that require small cable ties to try and solve this.

What doesn't stack up for me is how your buddy managed to get only 26 miles, and a bit of climbing, out of almost two batteries on his Focus.

 

[Camstyn]

Can anyone share their shock psi setup on the Fox X2? Mine is still a few weeks away. I’m curious if this bike requires the extraordinarily high shock pressure like the capra 29. I’m a big lad and I could never get my sag close on that bike without exceeding the shock’s upper limit.

 

[Jedipip]

Yes same little issue with these grommets. If you solve this please post some picture.

Well I'm not sure how this stacks up but I came back from a 25-26 mile ride with 4600 ft climbing (mostly dirt) in a mix of Eco and Trail modes. Came back with 2 bars still showing with the stock tires and a 188lb rider. My buddy on a Focus Jam2 with the 2 battery system came back with 3 bars left on his 2nd battery. I've just changed the chain ring to a stainless 32t in order to help with the cadence when climbing the long steep sections of Mt. Diablo in California. We'll see what that does to range.

One item I'd like to ask folks with delivered bike: Are you having issues with the frame grommets staying in place where the cables comes through? Mine keep moving about and I've got a few ideas that require small cable ties to try and solve this.

Yep, I found a good wiggle, ideally when wet, whilst moving the cable a bit helps embed them further (a few of the ribbed parts at least).

To be fair though with the frame design and direct access to all cable runs......their water tightness isn’t a real concern, just avoiding the cable rub will do.

 

[Q-Ball]

Peaky -

"What doesn’t stack up for me is how your buddy managed to get only 26 miles, and a bit of climbing, out of almost two batteries on his Focus."

He's a bit heavier than I and the batteries for the Jam are I think 370Wh batteries. Maybe it's the difference between a really fresh, newer tech pack vs. older, cycled cells on a pretty hot day? He also keeps his batteries fully charged all the time and I'm not fully convinced that's the best method to get the best out of the packs.

I know this is hotly debated and from a convenience and 'we want to sell you a new battery every year' perspective, that's preferred. I come at this from the R/C hobby end of things when it comes to batteries and the care and feeding of Li-Po packs that have a higher energy density than Li-Ion - constantly storing at full charge is not the route for longevity and performance. Look at it this way - the batteries for your cell, tablet, camera, drill, & bike didn't come fully charged and that's intended as long term storage condition. They come shipped somewhere between 55-70% capacity so that the insulation layers between the + & - regions aren't highly stressed over time. It takes more planning and I'm probably going to screw myself at some point but that's how I'll operate until I see data that points to a different method of care and feeding.

Q

 

[Q-Ball]

Camstyn:

"Can anyone share their shock psi setup on the Fox X2? Mine is still a few weeks away. I’m curious if this bike requires the extraordinarily high shock pressure like the capra 29. I’m a big lad and I could never get my sag close on that bike without exceeding the shock’s upper limit."

I'm about 205 fully geared up with everything in my pack - I'm running about 230 - 235 in my CF Pro and while that gets the sag number to about 25-28%, it feels softer than that. Having said that, it has unreal climbing traction in all sorts of loose, marbley, or techy stuff and I seem to be fairly even on the amount of travel 'used' at both ends. I think I'm just not accustomed to the plush ride as I've always associated that with poor pedaling efficiency. What's weird is that the motor certainly helps to make up for it but the steeper seat tube also seems to negate that sloggy feel when climbing because your more over the cranks. It seems to be the trend these days.

Q

 

[Camstyn]

That’s great, thanks. That’s with the DPX2? They typically require considerably higher pressure than the X2.

I’ve got the Pro Race on order which comes with the X2. This shock had a 250psi limit for 2018 and with the Capra 29’s extremely progressive setup it really limited the bike to anyone much over 200lbs. I ended up getting the Capra 27.5 for this reason, as the shock psi to rider lbs was pretty much pound for pound.

 

[Nasty Nick]

I finally got my coil spring rate right and the rest of my suspension dialed and it made a huge difference! I had to go above the tuners’ spring rate recommendations. It’s not as plush but it responds a lot better to my pump and jumping efforts. Feels a lot more like a normal enduro bike. Also finding the grip through the corners in the loose over hard is a lot better than a non motorized bike, insane speed you can slap turns with.

 

[Camstyn]

I finally got my coil spring rate right and the rest of my suspension dialed and it made a huge difference! I had to go above the tuners’ spring rate recommendations. It’s not as plush but it responds a lot better to my pump and jumping efforts. Feels a lot more like a normal enduro bike. Also finding the grip through the corners in the loose over hard is a lot better than a non motorized bike, insane speed you can slap turns with.

What spring rate did you settle on and what do you weigh?

 

[Nasty Nick]

What spring rate did you settle on and what do you weigh?

I’m 175 pounds. Bike specs are:
- Large decoy base model
- 160mm travel Yari with Avalanche damper and Vorsprung Smashpot with a 55 lbs/in spring and minimum preload
- Avalanche tuned Bomber CR shock with 450 lbs/in spring and 2 turns of preload

I’m running pretty open LSC and roughly 3/4 closed LSR.

Still need to take it to the bike park to try some proper lips and drops, but I was hitting some chest high jumps at over 30 mph and the bike felt amazing. Also did a 14 vertical foot step down resulting in a pillowy soft landing. There’s a little more feedback on the small stuff, but the responsiveness to slapping and brapping is sweet.

 

[Dirtnvert]

I’m 175 pounds. Bike specs are:
- Large decoy base model
- 160mm travel Yari with Avalanche damper and Vorsprung Smashpot with a 55 lbs/in spring and minimum preload
- Avalanche tuned Bomber CR shock with 450 lbs/in spring and 2 turns of preload

I’m running pretty open LSC and roughly 3/4 closed LSR.

Still need to take it to the bike park to try some proper lips and drops, but I was hitting some chest high jumps at over 30 mph and the bike felt amazing. Also did a 14 vertical foot step down resulting in a pillowy soft landing. There’s a little more feedback on the small stuff, but the responsiveness to slapping and brapping is sweet.

Been wondering how it was working out, especially that smashpot. Is it possible to adjust the travel without having to buy another smashpot?
With the bomber, is it sprung for recommended sag? Wouldn't the attraction of a coil be their ability to eat up the small braking bumps

 

[Lee Dove]

I’m 175 pounds. Bike specs are:
- Large decoy base model
- 160mm travel Yari with Avalanche damper and Vorsprung Smashpot with a 55 lbs/in spring and minimum preload
- Avalanche tuned Bomber CR shock with 450 lbs/in spring and 2 turns of preload

I’m running pretty open LSC and roughly 3/4 closed LSR.

Still need to take it to the bike park to try some proper lips and drops, but I was hitting some chest high jumps at over 30 mph and the bike felt amazing. Also did a 14 vertical foot step down resulting in a pillowy soft landing. There’s a little more feedback on the small stuff, but the responsiveness to slapping and brapping is sweet.

What was the landing site like ? To flat would be impressive but otherwise ...

 

[Nasty Nick]

The smashpot travel adjustment is super simple, but the spring rate recommendation changes. I’m limited to 160mm on the avalanche tho (they come in travel ranges 180-170, 160-150, etc).

The tuner recommended a 400 lbs/in spring for the bomber, that netted 31% sag. The 450 lbs/in nets 25%. But I basically tuned it for bottom out. Even with a fair amount of preload I’d slightly bottom the 400 on my biggest local drop. With the 450 I’ll have to case something hard to bottom out. I think the over spring coil is still far more supple than most air shocks. The manitou Mara looks to be a very plush air shock. But the biggest reason I went full coil on this bike is maintenance. I figured since it’ll be doing a lot more miles than my pedal bikes ever did I’d rather not have to air spring/can servicing all the time.

 

[Dirtnvert]

That makes sense. I'm a similar weight and bounced between 400 and 450 lb spring and went with the 450 for those reasons. Still better through the stutter bumps than an air shock. Before I sold that bike I was considering a 425 from SAR(super alloy racing). I had ordered the 450 originally to be safe after bottoming the 400 ten many times.
Must be a fun ride. You've got a very capable setup. Surprised we dont hear more people on Avalanche carts , especially with all the custom outfits out there now. They've been at it a long time. Pretty low key company I guess, not much social presence

 

[Nasty Nick]

I’m 175 pounds. Bike specs are:
- Large decoy base model
- 160mm travel Yari with Avalanche damper and Vorsprung Smashpot with a 55 lbs/in spring and minimum preload
- Avalanche tuned Bomber CR shock with 450 lbs/in spring and 2 turns of preload

I’m running pretty open LSC and roughly 3/4 closed LSR.

Still need to take it to the bike park to try some proper lips and drops, but I was hitting some chest high jumps at over 30 mph and the bike felt amazing. Also did a 14 vertical foot step down resulting in a pillowy soft landing. There’s a little more feedback on the small stuff, but the responsiveness to slapping and brapping is sweet.

What was the landing site like ? To flat would be impressive but otherwise ...

Really long and flat-ish. The tires probably clear about 35 feet horizontally and at least 14 foot vertically. My point is more that by going with more spring rate than recommended I got more support for my style riding. It cost me some compliance on small hits but big hits are still plush.

 

[TheBikePilot]

Such a good looking bike..I’d be tempted at the 700wh option when that drops!!

 

[Jedipip]

Such a good looking bike..I’d be tempted at the 700wh option when that drops!!

Jonny. Trust me, I’m 200 miles into my Decoy Pro. The 540 battery will surprise you.

It’s easily capable of monster rides. Your riding style and it’s no-drag after the limiter feel means you could easily get 60-70 miles on a battery if you needed to. It’s also entirely capable of being pedalled home with a flat battery. I’m looking at a 100 mile ride across the Pennines in a week or two....it’s doable.

Spoil yourself!

 

[TheBikePilot]

Im off on the Coast 2 Coast ride this Sunday

We are taking in the Penine way on that ride also ??

I think the 700wh battery on that bike could be amazing.

 

[06z]

How many guys in the US have received their bikes. How close was it to the original delivery date? I have a date of 8/7 and just wondering when will it actually be here. 8/14 through 8/21, or after 9/7, I hope not 10/7?????

 

[Borist]

Decoy CF Pro XL, ordered in April 5th, order stated available after 5/15, delivered 5/25.

 

[06z]

Decoy CF Pro XL, ordered in April 5th, order stated available after 5/15, delivered 5/25.

Thanks for the reply,
Have you had any issues? What are your thoughts on the bike?

 

[mikecol]

Decoy CF Pro Race L, ordered Mar 28th, available from May 15, delivered June 17.