Dirt Love ST

The 2019–2025 YT Dirt Love is the long-running steel dirt-jump platform that anchored YT’s jump and pump-track lineup before, during, and even after the introduction of the newer aluminum version. Across these model years, the bike kept the same core formula: a CroMo steel frame, 26in wheels, a 100 mm RockShox Pike DJ fork, a 135 mm bolt-on rear end, and a dedicated singlespeed dirt-jump layout with a 25.4 mm pivotal seatpost. Rather than chasing yearly redesigns, YT treated the Dirt Love as a mature, purpose-built platform, with updates largely limited to paint, sizing, and model naming.

What distinguishes this generation is its commitment to a traditional steel DJ character in a market that increasingly shifted toward aluminum frames and more aggressively modernized shapes. The Dirt Love remained focused on dirt jumps, pump tracks, skateparks, and slopestyle-style play riding rather than trail crossover use. The addition of a longer size by 2019 broadened fit options, but the concept stayed consistent: a robust, simple hardtail built around proven standards and durable parts. Even once the Dirtlove AL arrived, YT positioned it as geometry derived from this steel reissue, underlining how central this steel chassis was to the brand’s dirt-jump identity.

Price TBD

Image pending

Build

Size

Fit and geometry

Previous major platform: the CroMo steel DIRTLOVE reissue that YT brought out for the 2019 model year. Contemporary coverage of the 2019 range says the Dirt Love got only a new paint job for 2019 plus the addition of a large/Long size, indicating the steel frame itself was the active platform then rather than a new yearly redesign. YT’s later steel manuals/spec sheets and 2021-2022 comparisons show the same basic architecture persisting: 26in wheels, 100 mm RockShox Pike DJ fork, CroMo steel frame, 135 mm bolt-on rear end, 25.4 mm pivotal seatpost, and SRAM Level TL / Descendant-based build around a singlespeed dirt-jump layout. (singletrackworld.com)

This steel generation remained fundamentally unchanged through subsequent model years, including the 2021 refresh and the current Dirtlove ST listings, which still show the same steel frame concept and key hard-point standards. The later 2024 AL launch explicitly described the new aluminum bike as geometry derived from the "steel reissue that started back in 2019," which is strong corroboration that 2019 marks the start of this previous generation. A 2025 model-year Dirtlove ST listing shows the steel platform still existed alongside the newer AL platform, so the generation did not end immediately when AL appeared; the last clearly evidenced model year I found for the steel platform is 2025. (singletrackworld.com)

Full specs

Frameset

Frame

STEEL frame

Fork

RockShox Pike DJ

Wheelset

Front wheel

DT-Swiss DJ wheelset

Rear wheel

DT-Swiss DJ wheelset

Builds

Available builds for this generation include the Core 1 and the later ST, but the provided data does not include pricing or a full build-by-build component breakdown. What is clear is that the underlying package stayed very consistent throughout the generation: a CroMo steel frame, 100 mm RockShox Pike DJ fork, 135 mm bolt-on rear spacing, 25.4 mm pivotal seatpost, SRAM Level TL brakes, and a Descendant-based cockpit and crank setup around a singlespeed dirt-jump configuration.

That consistency suggests YT was not using the build structure to create radically different versions of the bike so much as repackaging the same proven platform across model years. In practical terms, buyers were getting a steel DJ bike with established, purpose-specific parts rather than a wide spread of entry- and high-end trims. Without detailed spec and price data, it is not possible to draw a precise value comparison between Core 1 and ST.

Core 1

Price TBD

Selected