The YT Izzo is the short travel bike that completes the range

When the YT Izzo was launched earlier this month, the 130mm travel 29er trail bike landed on the dirt as a sharp handling trail weapon. In this sense, it follows in the footsteps of the Norco Optic or Transition Smuggler, and even a bike like the Forbidden Bike Co. Druid. While more travel can be good, so can the speed and agility of a shorter travel trail bike. And that's what YT wanted to add to their gravity-centric range. The Izzo is no XC race bike, but it's certainly a new take for YT. And their launch video is suitably kooky!

A closer look at the YT Izzo

YT's marketing states that the YT Izzo is fast, agile and sharp, hence the fight sequence above, and the samurai sword. YT worked to make a bike that would reward you on the climbs as well as descents, combining smart geometry with low weight. The Pro Race model is claimed to come in at 12.1kg!

There's a 4-bar linkage out the back, and crazy steep 77 degree seat angles. This can be 77.5 degrees using a flip chip that also raises the BB 5mm. The head angle is 66 degrees or 66.5 if run steeper. So if you're on rockier but flatter terrain you might like the steeper option. The reach is long, at 472mm on a large.

Chainstays are short, running from 432mm to 437mm across the S-XXL size range, and YT state that they wanted to make sure the bike remained 'playful'. What's playful mean, anyway? Well usually it means it responds to rider input really well, and remains agile and doesn't get bogged down in its suspension travel.

"We created the Izzo for people that love to ride mountain bikes in the original spirit of mountain biking," said Chris HIlton, YT's chief tech guru. "Get out there, go far, go hard, go long, and get lost. It’s a lightweight, great pedaling bike that encourages you to just go. While it is light and efficient, it’s still a ton of fun on DH and tech sections. We wanted to build a bike that was just as fun and capable on climbs and flats as it is on downhills. A lot of riders love to push their limits and endurance, explore new trails, and ride all day. We built this bike for those riders. And for ourselves.”

To that end, the riding all day part, you can actually fit a water bottle! But there are other cool YT design features like having all suspension and pivot hardware accesible from one side. You can take a closer look at the Izzo models on the YT website.

We're yet to throw a leg over the YT Izzo, but we have tested just about all their other bikes.

The YT Izzo really does stand apart from the Jeffsy, Capra, Decoy and Tues, extending their range to create a true all-day trail bike that should thrive on all-day adventures, instead of just surviving them. Does that mean there is no room for further growth? Of course not! Mountain bikes continue to evolve, and we would be surprised if an all-mountain hardtail doesn't find a place in their line up.

The YT Jeffsy 

While launched as a 140 or 150mm travel trail bike, the YT Jeffsy now sports more travel in 2020. The 29" wheeled model has 150mm of travel while the 27.5" option has 160mm of travel. Either way, it's a fast bike that packs a lot of travel into a really fun bike, and this review from Ryan Walsch at the 2019 launch really showed how YT have progressed their trail bikes.

"The combination of the 470mm reach, 50mm stem, 44mm fork crown offset and the commanding seating position made for a very pleasant climbing position. I spoke to Stefan “Willi” Willared about the subtle geometry changes and he was excited to bring up the revised kinematics for the MK2 increasing the anti-squat from 100% to 120% meaning Jeffsy would resist pedalling induced suspension squat considerably. This revision along with areas of added stiffness was immediately apparent on the first climb with a great balance of increased anti-squat with the absence of pedal kickback or inch worming."

"The progressive spring rate was perfect, with a stock inclusion of the 2nd smallest of 5 volume spacers installed Jeffsy felt calm at full compression and had a playful pop out of corners and features that can take a while to achieve when tuning some suspension platforms. Mowing through sections and trying to wash off speed were not what I had planned, but it’s what Jeffsy and I spent a lot of time doing. The bike handles descents with ease and surefootedness found in longer travel bikes without feeling like a ship through the tight stuff and direction changes."

"Pointing back up the hill and Jeffsy continues to surprise, the steepened seat-tube angle and increased anti-squat kinematics make climbs on fire roads and technical singletrack pleasant. By finding traction and making it easy to get the climb over and done with, you can spend more time doing what matters, bombing trails."

For Ryan's full review of the Jeffsy 29, head to the review page.

Go big on the YT Capra

The YT Capra has been known as the GOAT (greatest of all time) and the recent updates made it more all-day friendly while also bringing more travel to the party – the Capra now sports 180mm front and back. Here's the take from our tester Ryan Walsch.

"The new iteration of the Capra has a lower overall height and stand-over which means that there are two to three sizes that may suit a rider based on the reach they are looking for. With the low stand over and shorter seat tube riders can be certain that the correct seat can be achieved. What is really impressive is that the two largest bikes, XL and XXL have a 5mm increase to the chainstay from 435mm to 440mm. This doesn’t sound like much on paper but imagine having to manufacture a unique set of stays for two sizes so taller riders can have the best performing bike possible. Hats off to YT, putting user experience first in a big way." 

"With the suspension opened up, I started pushing the YT into the turns and was impressed to feel the bike not bog down completely underneath me. For a big bike it does retain some pop out of corners and off lips and doesn’t feel completely stuck to the ground as I had feared initially. With such large monocoque sections of the frame and the large bearings of the Virtual Four Link, the Capra 29 tracks just as described by YT, like a downhill bike. There is very composed and at times almost dullness to the feel in rough terrain which to be fair means that I was not even reaching its potential limits. With this, it was time to punch runs on the downhill track, and explore the capabilities of a 180mm 29er and as expected we flatted the rear tyre. With bikes this capable the recent development of 29er downhill tyre casings are a must to truly leave caution to the wind on our 13.75kg “DH bike” and set sail through the rocks. A quick inspection of the tyre and rim and we were good to go."

"The Capra 29 would be the one bike to own if you lived near a lifted bike park and/or raced both downhill and enduro events. And while there are many clever ways of carrying water, SWAT, bumbags and enduro packs, we would love to see a bottle cage mount. This isn’t a deal breaker, just a nice to have. As it is, the new Capra is a bike that is so capable it would have been hard to consider a bike like this was possible even a few years ago."

Find the full review here.

Plug and play with the YT Decoy

The YT Decoy got its name as it was designed to not look like an eMTB. But that's what the Decoy is, with a bunch of travel and a mullet wheel setup before that was cool. We sent Ryan Walsch to the launch in Nice as he was familiar with the YT bikes, and we knew he could hit the ground running with this test.

"Like all YT bikes, this digital version shares the same distinct Virtual Four Link, striking angles and overbuilt hard-hitting approach. The Decoy is an eMTB on steroids which finds itself at home on both technical terrain or shredding the local bike park. But instead of just matching what other brands have created, YT feel that they have surpassed others and made something that really suits riders who want to push their bikes hard, but have the benefits of an eMTB."

"Utilising the Shimano Steps E8000 drive unit, YT designed their own battery and chose to run a front 29er wheel and 27.5” rear wheel. YT has created a balanced, no holds barred eMTB that is built to party. There is 160mm travel up front with 165mm out the back. It sounds the wrong way around but with the two wheel sizes it balances out."

"Onboard the YT Decoy, a comfortable central body position is achieved with a really steep 76.5 degree seat tube angle and 455mm reach (size large). Shifting around on the Decoy is an easy task thanks to the low stand over and 800mm bars, making what is quite a hefty machine more like a bike than expected. The slack 65 degree head angle is exactly what you would expect on this sort of bike, and the YT Decoy runs a slightly reduced 46mm offset to keep some agility along with the slack head angle. The longer reach and steep seat angle also add to help keep the front end down when climbing, as even with pedal assist if the geo doesn't work for getting back up the hill an eMTB can still be a pig! The reduced offset fork and short stem also means it will get around corners a whole lot better than some super long and slack bikes."

"The YT Decoy is an eMTB that matches what YT do. It is a whole lot of fun and really built to take advantage of burly trails. The frame design deals with the greater loads and specific demands of an eMTB, with a few unique extra elements do stop any quirky problems that can plague other designs. There is no questioning the modern geometry, which is based on optimising the descending prowess of the YT Decoy, while not taking anything away from it's inherent ability to get you back uphill without the need for a shuttle, a chairlift, or too much hard graft."

Find the full review right here.

Send it with the YT Tues

Now available in both 27.5 and 29" wheel sizes, the Tues is an all-out downhill bike. There's no mistaking the intentions with this one, and this was the heart of YT Industries. This is another YT that we let tester Ryan loose on.

"What makes the Tues unique and sets it apart from other downhill bikes is the amount of in-house development has gone into all the little details. The chain slap protection on the chainstay and seatstay is next level, covering anything that the chain could possibly contact while charging including a neat chain suck preventer at the rear dropout. The undercarriage from the Virtual Four Link back down is protected by a huge PA66 Polymide frame protector that wraps around and is anchored to the downtube in four locations and even straddles the ISCG05 tabs."

"The rear axle has a self locating lobe on its end keeping the threads lined up preventing cross threading in those rushed and sometimes careless late night tyre changes we are all guilty of. The internal cable routing runs in the most direct path to its destination with a midway clamp which eliminates noise and ensures the housings do not migrate as the rear wheel passes through its range of travel, every aspect of this frame has been meticulously considered which in turn means less problems and an extended life when racing or living the park life."