Thinking about buying the cascade link for my sc hightower any negatives I should know about?

Author	Message

linkogle

Posted: Jun 7, 2022 at 7:29	Quote
I've read a lot of good things, and seen a few videos about how good the cascade link for the V2 hightower is. Just wondering if there are any negatives to be aware of. Thanks.

Cstunes

Posted: Jun 8, 2022 at 13:48	Quote
I have one on my V3 Bronson and am supremely happy with it. I wont be going back while I own this bike. It did lower the BB enough to notice a FEW more pedal strikes than previous, however putting a 170 fork on has put it back to where it was before. It does climb nicer over sharp edged roots or rocks compared to the stock link. Nothing to complain about here.

linkogle

Posted: Jun 8, 2022 at 18:52	Quote
Cool. Thanks for the insight. I think I'm gonna go for it. I have a 160 fork and a 210x55 shock on order. According to the CC site it will put the rear to 160.

fourfourone

Posted: Jun 9, 2022 at 6:06	Quote
It voids the warranty and drops the bb low so people seem to get a ton of pedal strikes. I see the links for sale all the time on the santa cruz facebook pages. If you really need 160mm of rear travel buy a megatower.

bikebasher

Posted: Jun 9, 2022 at 7:17

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No negatives for me, running it with a 170 Lyrik and 55mm stroke shock for a 64 degree HA. I measured BB height at 339mm which is 2mm higher than my Spire.

I think many people don't understand you need to significantly increase air pressure/spring rate when running a C-Link and they end up running 35% or more sag and drag their pedals in the dirt. Especially on SC bikes where it is more difficult to measure sag.

Set it up correctly and it makes the HT more aggressive than the current MT V2...

Starsky686

Posted: Jun 9, 2022 at 10:28

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fourfourone wrote:

It voids the warranty and drops the bb low so people seem to get a ton of pedal strikes. I see the links for sale all the time on the santa cruz facebook pages.

If you really need 160mm of rear travel buy a megatower.

160…………..5

Newfaces

O+

Posted: Jun 12, 2022 at 21:42

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I didn’t like mine. I think it accomplished it’s purpose- made my Hightower into a long, low, super squishy enduro bike. Completely deadened the rear ended of the bike for me. If I wanted a super planted enduro sled I would have bought one. That being said, customer service was amazing- even went back and forth on another pink bike forum post with one of cascades guys where they offered tips. Just wasn’t for me. Maybe with a full season I could have dialed it the way I wanted to but it just didn’t feel great to me

gspottickles918

Posted: Jun 14, 2022 at 13:08

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Newfaces wrote:

What shock were you running with it?

Newfaces

O+

Posted: Jun 17, 2022 at 9:25	Quote
@gspottickles918 super deluxe select+

MT36

Posted: Jun 17, 2022 at 9:34	Quote
I was also considering the C Link for my V3 Bronson. I went with the MegNeg aircan upgrade instead and feel like I got a similar result for a third of the cost, whithout geometry changes. I have also heard of people combining MegNeg with C-Link and really liking it as well.

benhg

Posted: Jun 17, 2022 at 17:08

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MT36 wrote:

I was also considering the C Link for my V3 Bronson. I went with the MegNeg aircan upgrade instead and feel like I got a similar result for a third of the cost, whithout geometry changes. I have also heard of people combining MegNeg with C-Link and really liking it as well.

There is a thread in the Santa Cruz forum about exactly this - I am one of the happy customers

gspottickles918

Posted: Jun 18, 2022 at 15:43

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Im running it on mine as well. Ive also custom tuned my SD ULT with Vorsprung's Tractive tuning. Night and day difference to how much better it rides IMHO. It corners better than it already did, stays much more composed in high speed rock gardens. I tried the Megneg but didnt like how much "forced" sag you have to run. I really didnt notice a difference with small bump sensitivity either. The Cascade link gives you better small bump so and also increases bottom out resistance so there's really no need to use the Megneg. What i would suggest is send your shock in to a tuner who offers Tractive tuning and have them set it up for you specfically.

Ralph14836

Posted: Jul 5, 2024 at 12:24

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Cascade link went over center over compressed rear shock jamb rear tire against seatpost I went over the bars took 3 mechanics to pull it out sent link and frame to cascade for evaluation and they could not find anything wrong except minor bearing wear and they sent all it back said tuff pal we can’t find any fault with our product. Lesson learned Factory engineers design frames best not to try to make a frame travel further than it was designed for! Now I’m stuck with a damaged $4k carbon frame front triangle. I changed Hightower back to Santa Cruz standard link to be safe. I have videos without shock on that I sent to cascade they you can see how link allows head of bolt gouge into frame and jamb

Mattcon20

Posted: Jul 5, 2024 at 12:49

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Ralph14836 wrote:

Cascade link went over center over compressed rear shock jamb rear tire against seatpost I went over the bars took 3 mechanics to pull it out sent link and frame to cascade for evaluation and they could not find anything wrong except minor bearing wear and they sent all it back said tuff pal we can’t find any fault with our product. Lesson learned Factory engineers design frames best not to try to make a frame travel further than it was designed for! Now I’m stuck with a damaged $4k carbon frame front triangle. I changed back to Santa Cruz standard link to be safe. I have videos without shock on that I sent to cascade they you can see how link allows head of bolt gouge into frame and jamb

You should try and redo this post, no clue on what actually happened here

Ralph14836

Posted: Jul 5, 2024 at 13:02

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Thinking about buying the cascade link for my sc hightower any negatives I should know about? - Pinkbike Forum (2024)