The YT Industries Decoy 29 Core 3 is touted as the brand’s do-it-all e-MTB and several months of testing have proven the company has hit the nail on the head. Despite its comparably short reach and overall length for a modern trail-orientated e-MTB, the Decoy is fun on almost any trail thanks to a welcoming but impressively well-rounded ride. It’s great value for money, too, employing an array of very well-picked components with a reasonable asking price to boot. This is without a doubt one of the very best e-mountain bikes currently available.
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YT Industries Decoy 29 Core 3 e-MTB review, by off-road.cc
YT Industries Decoy 29 Core 3 – Technical details
YT Industries says that the Decoy 29 Core 3 is designed to be a solid all-rounder and it’s specced to compliment that aim. The frame itself comes with a carbon fibre front triangle and an alloy rear end which is a bit of an expense to the overall weight figure, but YT promises that there is no change in durability between this bike and its fully-fledged carbon sibling.
With that, the Decoy 29 Core 3 comes with all of the mod cons, so we’re talking internal cable routing, a geometry-adjusting flip chip and frame protection built-in around the down tube, seat, and chainstays. And that’s not all, as the bike also gets fork-impact protection in the form of an Acros BlockLock headset which limits the fork’s steering, keeping your cables, top tube and downtube in one piece should you crash.
As for that geometry, it’s a really interesting subject as this large frame gets a 463mm reach. In an area where we’re seeing upwards of 470mm as standard, that’s definitely on the shorter side. Though, elsewhere there’s a 65.8-degree head tube angle and a 77-degree seat tube angle, which, on paper, is right on the money for an all-mountain bike. The Decoy’s wheelbase stretches to 1241mm with a lengthy 458mm chainstay. There’s 150mm of travel at the front, 145mm at the rear, and 29in wheels at both ends.
Of course, the head tube and seat tube angles can be tweaked via the flip chip which will steepen those figures by five millimetres.
The Decoy 29 benefits from double-sealed bearings at all pivot points but each of these gets additional seals to help keep water out and extend bearing life. To help hit what YT reckons is the best weight-to-performance ratio, the headset’s contact surfaces are pre-formed in the frame. The headset also uses a ZeroStack design which is said to boost durability with its integrated bearing shells.
The bike is driven by the ever-popular Shimano EP8 that delivers 85Nm of torque and 250W of power. Combined with the motor is a YT custom 540Wh battery as standard, which can be upgraded to a 720Wh unit for an extra £900. The battery is easily removable by unscrewing two bolts.
The motor’s on/off switch is located on the underside of the top tube which had me stumped before my very first ride. It’s a very minor point in the grand scheme of things but placing the button here makes for a super tidy cockpit.
As with most of YT Industries’ bikes, the Decoy 29 uses the brand’s proven V4L suspension linkage that’s said to be sensitive at the start of the stroke and supportive toward the middle with loads of progression at the end of the stroke. There’s also a high anti-squat figure, though, on this particular bike, it’s been shaped to be more linear compared to the gravity-going Decoy MX.
YT has also designed a compact water bottle that holds 475ml, and fits well within the frame.
YT Industries Decoy 29 Core 3 – Componentry
Spec-wise, YT hasn’t put a foot wrong as it’s all killer kit, especially for the money. Handling that 150mm of suspension at the front is a Fox 36 Performance Elite E-Bike that offers all of the adjustment you’ll ever need; at the rear 145mm is sorted with a Fox DPS shock that comes with three compression modes and a rebound adjustment to keep things simple.
The drivetrain on this Core 3 model is supplied by Shimano with the SLX 12-speed set-up and SRAM Code R four-piston brakes with 200mm rotors at either end to slow the bike down.
There’s very little YT-specific kit present. The Plus 36 cockpit comes from e*thirteen with ODI Elite Motion V2.1 grips and the bike rolls on a Crankbrothers Synthesis Alloy e-MTB wheelset. That wheelset features wheels that are tuned specifically for either end of the bike, with the front offering more compliance and the rear more stiffness and durability.
Providing the grip is the classic tyre combo consisting of a Maxxis Minion DHF and DHR II. The DHF at the front gets an EXO casing and 2.5in width while the DHR II at the back is 2.4in wide and comes with the slightly stronger EXO+ casing.
This spec, while not totally blingy is all very capable workhorse stuff, and there’s absolutely nothing that I’d change out of the box save for a more aggressively treaded front tyre for when the winter gets particularly wet. Other than that, shifting is crisp, and the suspension has plenty of adjustment; everything just works very well.
YT Industries Decoy 29 Core 3 – Performance
Despite being a relatively short bike, the Deocy 29 Core 3 took me completely by surprise. In fact, it totally won me over.
Because it’s not silly long, it’s a very easy bike to get acquainted with and, thanks to that rather long chainstay and reasonably steep seat tube angle, weight is very central on the bike, regardless of your position. This results in a bike that’s just easy to climb. It requires very little babysitting to make sure that each wheel is providing the right amount of grip, as the super short head 95mm tube keeps the front end weighted enough to keep the front planted.
The chainstay keeps the rear weighted enough so it can do nothing but grip, which pays back in dividends when the climbs get steeper. You can simply point the Decoy up a hill, and it’ll ask for very little input, or additional effort to get you up to the top.
It’ll do so fairly efficiently, too. That chunk of anti-squat that’s been built into the Virtual Four Link kinematic keeps the suspension well under control when wrenching on the cranks. Though, of course, the EP8 motor does most of the work here.
The motor is good, too, and delivers its power naturally in Trail mode – it’s impressively efficient. While YT kindly kitted me out with both the 720Wh and 540Wh batteries, I spent most of my time with the smaller battery as it more than accommodated even my bigger rides. The reasonably fast-rolling tyres, and trail bike travel figures only aid the cause and are to credit to this efficiency but the real star of the show is that custom battery that depletes its volume frugally.
However, if you want all of the battery ever, the weightier 720Wh unit does little to affect the bike’s handling. It is a little more sluggish in the corners but only marginally so.
Anyone who’s ridden an EP8 will be well aware of the defining rattle it carries on loads of bikes but, on this particular one, the motor didn’t let out so much as a peep during the test period. As an aside, the rattle can be solved by stuffing foam in every gap around the motor.
Get some speed behind the bike and that’s where the Decoy really starts to impress. As I mentioned before, the short reach got me thinking that the bike wouldn’t be stable at all but boy, was I wrong. The weight of that battery and motor gets its suspension seriously working, and that sprung mass results in plenty of stability at speed. Straight-line confidence is then boosted by that well-chosen head tube angle.
Though because the bike isn’t so long, it devours corners. As much as I love riding bikes, few actually get me smiling but aboard the Decoy, nothing could stop me. The combination of the low-slung weight, the central body position as a result of that chainstay, and its short reach make the bike an absolute hoot, and one that corners so capably that I sometimes questioned that I was on a 23kg bike.
Despite that lengthy chainstay and 29-inch hoops, you can absolutely whip this bike around berms as it rustles up a level of manoeuvrability that’s tough to find with other all-mountain e-bikes. Whether you’re riding flow trails with big berms, or niggly technical tracks with turns that require a careful foot and a handful of brain power, the Decoy is in its element.
It navigates tight, consecutive corners with ease and finesse which really opens up what would be difficult twisty sections, further upping the fun factor.
This bike gets a more linear leverage curve when compared to the MX bike and it’s something that’s translated pretty clearly but it’s super useful and it’s wisely designed. With the curve being linear, the bike can use its travel more freely negating fatigue while keeping the bike glued to the ground through rough sections.
But it’s not so linear that it quickly blows through its travel, as there’s still a useful amount of support in the shock’s stroke, as per the V4L’s design. There’s no wallowing in the corners, so the bike is super manoeuvrable and spritely when changing direction.
The linearity in the stroke can make the Decoy 29 a little more difficult to lift into the air but adding volume spacers or bottomless tokens will liven it right up. During my time, I rarely found this to be an obstacle.
It does come with its limitations, however, and that’s when things get particularly steep. Simply because the front wheel isn’t massively far in front of the rider, it’s not quite as sure-footed as a bike that is longer. That’s not to say that this kind of riding isn’t doable, however, as the head tube is just slack enough to offer a very usable amount of support. That short head tube comes into play here, too, where when riding steeper terrain, I would like to raise the handlebars to boost confidence. Although, if this is your usual kind of riding, that’s where the Decoy MX steps in.
YT Industries Decoy 29 Core 3 – Verdict
While the £5,700 asking price represents a significant investment, you’re getting a lot for your money. Not only does its ride character prove value in itself but there’s little own brand kit on this bike, and the kit that is present, is all quality stuff.
The Decoy 29 Core 3’s biggest contender is the Canyon Spectral:ON CF 8, which has recently seen an update with a bigger-travel fork. While a tonne of fun, the Spectral:ON isn’t as versatile as it can be a bit of a handful on the climbs. Then some of the componentry doesn’t stack up to the Decoy, as it runs a Fox 36 Rythm fork. That bike is a little more money at £5,750 but it gets a full carbon frame and is a little lighter.
The £5,600 Haibike AllMtn 7 (here’s our test of the AllMtn2) doesn’t quite stack up either with its full alloy frame and Fox Performance fork. It’s a similar story with the Specialized Turbo Levo Alloy at £5,500, too.
The YT Industries Decoy 29 Core 3 is a bike that’s seriously impressive. While it finds itself well and truly at home railing corners, it’s a bike that easily excels in all manners of riding, offering the utmost confidence on the descents, and blissfully simple climbing. If I were to spend my own money on an e-bike, it would be this one.
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carbon front end, alloy rear, 29in wheels, 150mm fork, 145mm shock. Sram Code R brakes, Shimano SLX drivetrain, MAxxis Minion DHF front Minion DHR II rear tyres, crankbrothers synthesis wheels, e*thirteen cockpit, YT Postman dropper.
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