YT Decoy SN Core 4 first ride review

YT has launched its latest eMTB, designed to be the best possible enduro bike, powered or otherwise. It's called the YT Decoy SN, or SuperNatural, and I’ve tested the £8,499 Core 4 version.

The new electric-powered bike features 160mm of rear-wheel travel and a 170mm fork, with a mixed-wheel ‘MX’ setup. The frame is constructed from carbon fibre.

In the heart of the bike is a Fazua Ride 60 motor, with a 430Wh battery integrated into the down tube.

Its Nitro mode gives a super-punchy 12-second power boost, but otherwise, the motor is designed to be as smooth-feeling as possible.

All things considered, the 20.6kg weight (claimed, size Small) and Fazua motor put the Decoy SN firmly in the burgeoning mid-weight electric mountain bikes category.

Having ridden the bike briefly, it seems YT is on to a winner. The newly unveiled Decoy SN is easy to ride, features a fun-feeling suspension linkage that’s capable when things get tough, and is decent value for the money.

YT Decoy SN Core 4 frame, suspension and motor

Carbon is used front and rear on this eMTB, with the engineers focusing plenty of time on the headbox area of the frame to blend performance and aesthetics. In fact, YT pointed to the Porsche 911 family and Ferrari Testarossa as inspirations.

Included in the new headbox is a new cable entry port system that’s designed to route rear brake hoses smoothly from either side of the bars.

As ever with YT bikes, pivot bolts are easily accessed from the non-driveside of the frame, and there’s a nicely integrated tool caddy with a magnetically held tyre lever in its depths.

Keeping the bike silent and protected was also a design consideration, with extensive rubberised protection around the rear triangle and a dual-material down tube and motor protector skidplate.

Under the motor, the harder material is designed to slip better over trail obstacles, while also integrating ventilation into the design to keep the motor cool.

At the back of the bike is YT's V4L suspension linkage – it’s a four-bar Horst-link, defined by the pivot on the chainstay.

As with virtually every mountain bike, the goal was to provide a supple early stroke, supportive mid stroke and progressive end.

This transition should give grip, comfort and ultimately control as you move from smaller to larger impacts.

The linkage provides 29.5 per cent progression through its stroke, with YT offering specs with both coil shocks and, as I tested, large-volume air shocks.

The beating heart of any eMTB is the motor and battery. The Fazua Ride 60 motor employed here pumps out up to 60Nm of torque and is adjusted via the Ring Control on-bar controller.

Under the top-tube mounted display is a USB-C port that's handy for charging your electrical items. It’s mounted with 160mm e*thirteen Helix cranks.

A 430Wh battery sits as low as possible in the down tube to better distribute its weight.

YT Decoy SN Core 4 geometry

YT didn’t want to go too extreme with the geometry, keeping the angles and tube lengths modern but not radical.

This should make the bike easy to jump on, without needing to readjust your ride position.

The Large bike has a reach of 475mm, while there’s a 78-degree seat angle and 63.9-degree head angle in the Low setting.

There is a geometry flip chip at the rear end of the shock to adjust the angles, should you wish to run the bike a touch steeper. The angles steepen by 0.3 degrees, but more crucially, the BB raises by 4mm.

Chainstays sit at 443mm (Low setting) across the S-XXL size range.

YT Decoy SN Core 4 specifications

The Core 4 is YT's top-end bike with a suite of Factory suspension units from Fox.

At the front, there’s a 170mm 38 fork, with the new GRIP X2 damper, while at the back YT has gone for a DHX2 Factory coil shock, ready to tame the bumps.

SRAM’s GX Transmission makes up most of the drivetrain. The YT team believes the placement of the battery within the derailleur’s body is preferable to the rearward mounting on the XO and XX derailleurs due to the weight distribution increasing the likelihood of chain slap.

This doesn’t reflect my experience, though. The derailleur is static, thanks to the way the part is secured, so it’s difficult to see how battery position may impact on chain slap.

However, YT also pointed out that the battery is less exposed on the GX derailleur.

The mixed-size Crankbrothers Synthesis wheels, with I9 hubs, are wrapped in grippy Continental Kryptotal Fr and Rr tyres, all brought to a halt by SRAM’s Maven brakes.

YT’s Postman dropper, with its easy-to-adjust saddle-rail clamp, offers lengths of 150-230mm, depending on the size of the bike, and has 25mm of travel adjustment.

YT Decoy SN Core 4 ride impressions

At 86kg kitted-up, I ran the 38 Factory fork with 104psi on the steep, alpine trails we rode, with just one click, from fully open, of low-speed compression and the high-speed compression fully open.

This suited my preference to rely on the spring for support and keep the fork moving as freely as possible. I ran the rebound 5 clicks from fully open.

At the rear, after a little trial and error, I ran the 450lb spring, which, with a little preload, gave me the 30 per cent sag the engineers suggested. As per the fork, I ran both compression and rebound circuits open.

This was my first time properly riding Continental’s tyres, and I stuck to my tried-and-tested tyre pressures of 24psi at the rear and 22 up-front. The general advice was that I could run them a little softer than I might an EXO+ Maxxis – something to experiment with further.

YT Decoy SN Core 4 climbing performance

Fazua’s Ride 60 electric bike motor is a silent operator, with barely even a whine when delivering all its torque up steep tarmac drags.

It’s a subtle, natural-feeling motor, which doesn’t pack a punch, but eases you up hills with consummate composure.

On the flat, toggling between the three regular power modes, it’s hard to discern much difference between them, only really showing their character on steeper ascents.

The most powerful mode helps you scramble up steep, loose surfaces, helped no end by YT’s comfortably steep seated geometry, relatively stable rear suspension and excellent sharp-blocked rubber, that simply digs in and helps propel you forward.

There is a Nitro mode, too. This boosts your chosen setting by a further 100W of power for a 12-second burst.

It turns itself off after this time, meaning prolonged steep-trail attacks might be best regulated in a regular power mode, so the assistance doesn’t drop suddenly off a cliff, leaving you reaching for inner reserves of power.

The shape of the Decoy SuperNatural has seen an evolution over the Decoy, with a steeper seat angle of around 78 degrees.

This helps locate your hips nicely over the short 160mm cranks. The Fazua motor enjoys moderately high cadences, better delivering its power than when you’re grinding it out. This suits the shorter cranks, which also encourage you to spin.

While stood-up efforts will cause the DHX2 Coil shock to start cycling through its early-mid stroke, when seated the shock remains relatively stable.

There’s no lockout, but during my short test rides, I never missed having one.

There’s not much left to say about SRAM’s Transmission groupsets, but they’re a great pairing on an ebike.

The ability to shift smoothly under power means you’re never caught crunching cogs as your legs and motor combine forces and you want an easier ratio.

YT Decoy SN Core 4 descending performance

YT asked its designers to build ‘the best enduro bike’, whether that be powered or not. It seems, based on my couple of rides, that they’ve achieved something towards those goals. On descents, there’s little to complain about with the Decoy SN.

One of YT's goals was to produce a bike that's quick and easy to jump on, and feel comfortable with.

This has been achieved with modern, but not outlandish geometry – something I’m happy to see.

The 475mm reach, in a large, isn’t huge by any stretch. However, when paired with a 64.3-degree head angle, in the neutral (not low) setting I used most, and the added weight of the motor and battery, slung low in the carbon chassis, it still provided a supremely stable ride. This was true on both fast, bermy bike-park laps and when tipped into steep, loose rocky trails, and those scattered with roots and holes.

YT hasn’t gone wild with the rear-centre length. Some may wish for a longer back end, to boost stability further, but I never found myself wishing for a less nimble attitude. Meanwhile, the steep seat angle ensured the positive climbing credentials were maintained.

Indeed, despite the weight of the drive unit, the coil shock and its burly intentions, the Decoy SN felt manoeuvrable rather than sled-like.

It’s a fun bike to tackle technical terrain on, with the sticky and sharp Continental Kyrptotal tyres digging in, and encouraging you to lean the bike right onto their prominent shoulder treads.

At the front, the stack and 40mm-rise bar are comfortable, giving you an eyes-up attitude when stood on the pedals. The Fox 38 stays propped up, enabling you to attack the trail without it wallowing deeper into its mid stroke.

It’s a fork that rewards being worked hard, though, and I’d suggest it’s not quite as comfortable if you’re cruising down trails as a Charger 3.1 damper – it needs to be pushed hard before it really sings.

In the middle of the bike, the DHX2, paired with the V4L suspension, does sterling service.

As you’d expect from a coil and a progressive suspension linkage, it’s wonderfully comfortable and grippy, tracking over in-set stones in a bike-park track, or fluttering over braking bumps.

When things get a little more chunky, the mid-stroke works well to settle any issues as you batter over rocks, while it helps keep the bike surging forward.

There’s enough support in there, too, to help give the Decoy SN more pop than you’d expect from a bike that weighs over 20kg.

Later on, if you need to access the end of the stroke, it does so without fuss. There’s no clunking or harsh kickback through the pedals, while the shock’s rubber bump stop helps ease you right to the end of the travel.

I’ve always been a fan of YT’s suspension tunes, blending comfort, control and fun, and this is no different.

Speccing Crankbrothers’ Synthesis wheels is rarely going to upset any bike reviewer. At the front, there’s an Enduro-spec rim, while at the back YT requested a DH rim. They’re comfortable wheels that help take the sting out of the trail.

When it comes to the motor, its natural-feeling power delivery means even in technical terrain I was happy leaving it in the higher-power modes. It doesn’t give you an unsettling lurch as you put the odd crank in, and there’s less overrun than with some other motors, meaning it doesn’t keep pushing you forward when you want to be regulating speed.

The ring-shifter is very intuitive to use without looking for a button to press on your bar.

I like it a lot, although I’d prefer it if the light-actioned plastic lever was more ‘premium’ – it feels a little cheap in comparison to the rest of the high-end components fitted to the bike.

YT Decoy SN Core 4 initial verdict

As ever with a review coming from a launch event, I’d like to spend much more time on the Decoy SN before giving any conclusions on how the bike rides. I was riding a box-fresh bike on unfamiliar trails for a limited period of time.

However, it seems the SuperNatural moniker is an accurate one.

The shape of the bike is super-easy to adjust to, throwing up no surprises and not requiring you to alter your stance to get the best out of it.

The duopoly of suspension brands is no surprise, given how good Fox’s offerings are.

Meanwhile, the Fazua Ride 60 offers up a beautifully natural ride feel that doesn’t punch you in the gut with its power delivery, nor leave you gasping for air as you try to maintain pace up steep ascents.