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

[Borist]

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

Ha. Can't tell you anything yet as I'm travelling and the bike arrived two days after my departure .
It is still waiting for me to unpack.

 

[Marc]

issues so far with my CF pro black.

1. the cable pods falling out all the time
2. there is a loud repeating backlash clunk in the shimano motor when there is no force on the motor (downhill) its annoyingly loud.
3. the toptube acts like a mirror, black glossy, distracting in sunshine and very prone to scratches (wraping it in vinyl)
4. compared with my non ebikes (speci enduro, yt capra) the chainstays and the motormount feel kind of squishy under full load. I think thats related to the much higher torque with a motor.
5. battery lid is kind of sticking out a bit, gap is filled with some foamrubber, does not look really professional.

other than that its a monster! holy cow... this thing rips, grip is outstanding and it handles like my 2016 capra cf pro race. the fork has grip2 and it feels great.

 

[06z]

issues so far with my CF pro black.

1. the cable pods falling out all the time
2. there is a loud repeating backlash clunk in the shimano motor when there is no force on the motor (downhill) its annoyingly loud.
3. the toptube acts like a mirror, black glossy, distracting in sunshine and very prone to scratches (wraping it in vinyl)
4. compared with my non ebikes (speci enduro, yt capra) the chainstays and the motormount feel kind of squishy under full load. I think thats related to the much higher torque with a motor.
5. battery lid is kind of sticking out a bit, gap is filled with some foamrubber, does not look really professional.

other than that its a monster! holy cow... this thing rips, grip is outstanding and it handles like my 2016 capra cf pro race. the fork has grip2 and it feels great.

Marc,
Thanks for the info. Have the motor, battery and electronics been trouble free?

 

[Marc]

I only have managed to ride 50km so far but everything is doing fine. its still stock, no tuning, no derestricting yet.

the battery is crazy... on my first ride 20km (up and down) only one bar (20%) was used. And I was mostly in boost mode!? I think it has to calibrate itself with a few cycles first.

that big 2.8" back tire is so much fun... I would never ride such a big tire without a motor but man does it provide grip!

Size L (they got smaller since 2016, my L capra feels bigger somehow)

here is a short video of the annoying backlash rattle... while riding its loud and I am used to almost silent bikes.

 

[Highway]

One more issue is the charge port that is placed under the downtube, kind of tricky to get the charge port protection on some times

 

[Nasty Nick]

My base model has been perfect. No motor or battery issues. Little things like a scratch prone paint job, long cables and sloppy grommets do not bother me, it’s a mountain bike... the motor isn’t that loud and the bike is very quiet descending, if not silent. That said I don’t think the battery range is anything special compared to the 504 watt Shimano and it’s at least 3 pounds heavier than advertised.

 

[06z]

Thanks Nick.

 

[Highway]

but it is sooo great to ride

 

[06z]

Highway,
That's what I like to hear.

 

[Nasty Nick]

I’d bet a good amount of noise people might be hearing is coming from the long cables. I still need to trim mine, but they are silent thanks to this PE wrap. This stuff is awesome and cheap!
www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYF1GDV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Ps5eDbGSDRAEP

 

[Marc]

the motor isn’t that loud and the bike is very quiet descending, if not silent

So there is something wrong with mine... its so loud I checked several times during my first ride if something is loose or broken. I will report what YT has to say as I told them about it three days ago.

My cables dont make any noise but wouldn't hear it anyway over the backlash rattle of the motor.

 

[Nasty Nick]

the motor isn’t that loud and the bike is very quiet descending, if not silen

So there is something wrong with mine... its so loud I checked several times during my first ride if something is loose or broken. I will report what YT has to say as I told them about it three days ago.

My cables dont make any noise but wouldn't hear it anyway over the backlash rattle of the motor.

Yea if it’s that loud something is loose. Good luck!

 

[Marc]

I saw this video before I got my decoy. Thought the rattle is coming from his gopro. But this is exactly what my bike sounds like. Listen at 9:15 for instance. If you watch the whole video you can hear that the rattling is only present when he is not pedaling.

 

[mikecol]

After about 70 mi in 7 days of testing my CF Pro Race L is great ! I'm a novice rider since this is my 1st (E)MTB so take my comments with that in mind.

Battery, motor and electronics all smooth. On and off prob 100 times, no trouble at all. Mostly Trail mode with some Turbo mode for fun.

Only things I had to tweek are prob normal MTB stuff: remove slop in steering, adjust DI2 H limit for gear 11, and swap chain around. I think the 11 sp Shim chain is not symetrical so the text on the links should face out for smoother shifting....mine was in. Love the DI2; works great. The 9-46 is a bit cocked at 9 and 46 but doubt I will spend a lot of time in either extreme. Very smooth shifting and running inside those extremes. After some adj my DI2 runs fine in all gears.

Seat is no good. Replaced with Proxim W650 Triox and much better but my like my old Spec Avatar Gel more. I'm sure there is a lot of better choices, but not sure how you get to try them.

CF Wheels and brake rotors are very true. Code RSC brakes seem very smooth and strong..swapped sides in just a minute too.

L side Race Face Pedal has some lateral play already...thought they fixed that problem; no adj possible but not bad enough yet to hit with hammer (tuning tool)!

Love the bike, well worth the wait.

 

[R120]

I only have managed to ride 50km so far but everything is doing fine. its still stock, no tuning, no derestricting yet.

the battery is crazy... on my first ride 20km (up and down) only one bar (20%) was used. And I was mostly in boost mode!? I think it has to calibrate itself with a few cycles first.

that big 2.8" back tire is so much fun... I would never ride such a big tire without a motor but man does it provide grip!

Size L (they got smaller since 2016, my L capra feels bigger somehow) View attachment 15351

here is a short video of the annoying backlash rattle... while riding its loud and I am used to almost silent bikes.

Isn't that just chain slap on the chain guide? Adjusting the guide may help?

 

[Marc]

Sadly its not. I am not hitting the chainguard. Its inside the motor. I do have a normal ebike (bosch) it has the same clunk to some extent but you wouldn't notice it on normal roads.

I have a Shimano Center nearby. I think I will go check out some other e8000 to see if it is just normal or if my motor has an issue.

 

[R120]

I have two E8000 equipped bikes and haven't heard a noise like that before

 

[Highway]

added some protection on the toptube

 

[06z]

Nice!!!!

 

[Gary]

View attachment 15351

here is a short video of the annoying backlash rattle... while riding its loud and I am used to almost silent bikes.

@Marc

Is it a carbon chainstay?
Hollow carbon amplifies knocking sounds a LOT

Mastic tape the fk out of the rubber chainstay protector.
(possiby insulating underneath it with a thinner tape as well)

 

[Marc]

the chainstay is carbon but there is a thick rubberprotector around it. I am not touching anything with the chain in my video. its like the gears inside the motor have no dampening.

the carbon does transfer the sound everywhere thats why I was looking for loose parts at first on my initial ride. But I tracked it down to the motor. when I am knocking on the chain you can see the crank wiggling slightly. thats whats causes the sound not the chain.

at this point I hope my motor has an issue

 

[Gary]

Ah...

have you owned a bike with an E8000 motor at all previously?

There aren't gears as such inside the motor but as the e8000s chainring spider freewheels it needs to engage and disengage just like any freewheel. The sound you are hearing is freewheel pick up. It's the same sound you'll hear on every e8000 motor if you lightly apply pressure to the pedal and release while stood with one foot on the floor stationary. Perhaps amplified because of the carbon frame construction? the noise shouldn't really be noticable while moving as the hub should be freewheeling. it should only really happen when you start to apply pressure to the pedals again from freewheeling.
check that your hub freewheel is smooth and freewheels without resistance.


also is there play anywhere at all on the bike there shouldn't be?
Is the crank spider lockring tight? (the splined lockring that looks a little like a 20mm centrelock hub lockring) which holds the spider on? it's easy to check. the spider mounts to a splined section of the axle and will have slight play if it's loose
Are all (6) Motor mounting bolts tight?
Is the rear mech clutch (if Shimano) on?

Carbon is annoying AF for transferring sounds from one frame area to another.
a few years back I had a tiny intermittent creak from my carbon roadbike that sounded like it was coming from the BB area or possibly the seat post. I disassembled the BB. removed and cleaned the seat post carbon pasted and it was still there. went over the bike (every component) and it still remained. eventually i tracked it down to one tiny rear mech hanger bolt being very slightly loose. (the other hanger bolt was tight so the actual hanger didn't feel loose at all but it was obviously just loose enough to cause friction under power/turning forces to cause a creak that sounded like it was coming from somewhere entirely different.

cool story I know.

hope some of this helps. if not I hope you find the issue.

 

[Marc]

first of all I want to thank you. really appreciate your efforts to help me

its my first emtb. thats what I meant in my first post - my normal bikes are silent other than the usual hub noise. I checked every bolt and the lockring is tight. rear mech clutch engaged.

there are quite a few gears inside a e8000 but maybe we are not talking about the same (language barrier on my side )

I am afraid its freewheel pick up - backlash on the chain from the suspension leads to a recurrent rattle. thats why I said I hope its a motor issue. Uh that will be quite hard getting used to but I know I am very picky regarding noises with my bikes.

btw. my Decoy CF pro black large with atlas pedals and a few pieces of vinyl is 23040g or 50.8lbs.

 

[Nasty Nick]

Let us know what’s causing that horrible racket! I’m sure it can be solved cause mine doesn’t do that.

If anyone was curious the LSS DT 2.0 is a direct fit on the base model decoy. And it works .

 

[jd_3d]

Let us know what’s causing that horrible racket! I’m sure it can be solved cause mine doesn’t do that.

If anyone was curious the LSS DT 2.0 is a direct fit on the base model decoy. And it works .

View attachment 15392
View attachment 15391

That's awesome that the LSS DT 2.0 (which I originally designed for the Specialized Turbo Levo) is a direct fit on the YT Decoy! If anyone hasn't heard of it or has any questions about it I'm happy to answer them. I also have some links in my signature with more details on the LSS.

 

[Doomanic]

btw. my Decoy CF pro black large with atlas pedals and a few pieces of vinyl is 23040g or 50.8lbs.

Damn, that's fat. My aluminium framed Trek in 19.5" is only (only? ) 700g (1.5lbs) heavier.

 

[Eckythump]

Mine delayed again, back another week

 

[Marc]

That said I don’t think the battery range is anything special compared to the 504 watt Shimano and it’s at least 3 pounds heavier than advertised.

I still think the battery is special and I am not alone. These new 21700 cells are great.

22.2kg advertised in size small + 355g pedals = 22.6kg + larger frame in L = 23kg. I don't see where the bike is "at least" 700g heavier than advertised.

But being 100kg myself couldn't care less about the bikes weight looking forward to the heavier 700wh battery.

 

[06z]

Mine delayed again, back another week

Are you in the US?

 

[Eckythump]

No, UK.