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They have a sale on most products including links and brake callipers. I just grabbed a linkage for my Sentinel for £235 down from £337
https://cascadecomponents.co.uk/
Nice PSA. Thanks. Been trying to justify one for my sentinel as well but kept putting it off, for that price I went for it!
Hhhhmmmmmm interesting......
At that price it's almost justifiable.
Any articles discussing whether the benefits are real?
Im very happy with the sentinel stock performance...not really sure whether to go for it or not!
I picked up a bargain cascade link for my 2022 sentinel alloy - it’s really made the bike for me with a coil shock.
With the standard float x shock I was having to run it a bit higher pressure than idea to hold it up nicely in the mid range (I find this on every bike with an air shock - it’s not a sentinel thing). Megneg helped on rockshox air shocks I’ve had - but ultimately found I prefer coil.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">On a coil shock on the standard link I found I was bottoming out too easily on say a 400 or 450lb spring - but 500lb I was running about 23-24% sag and it was a bit hard - but still better than the float x.</span>
The cascade link with the 500lb spring has made it perfect for me. Loads of small bump compliance / decent mid stroke support to avoid wallowing through compressions / enough ramp up to avoid bottom out over anything I’ve hit so far. I’ve still got some hsc adjustment to use if I need it on the biggest drops I do.
As an added bonus it looks ace
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Sod it. Bought the link for my v1 sentinel.
Thanks for the PSA ..I think..
These are ruining me!!!!!!
🙂
Oh why did I have to see this 😂
I’m not unhappy with my sentinel but definitely curious! Wonder if my ohlins coil will clear the medium frame
Sorry everyone!
Oh why did I have to see this 😂
I’m not unhappy with my sentinel but definitely curious! Wonder if my ohlins coil will clear the medium frame
Same here, I’m really happy with the stock link and ohlins coil. For me I’m planning an alps trip and thought 165mm out back and a 170mm fork travel adjustment might be just the thing for it.
thankfully / frustratingly (delete for want vs wallet) they only have the Levo long shock kit in a goping orange colour on sale!
Thanks for this. A mate has one on his sentinel and I’ve just been talked into one too……
bloody PSAs cost me a fortune!
@joebristol can I ask roughly what you weigh?
I want to run a coil on mine also and would usually go for a 450 spring, but see that you tried both 400 and 450 before settling on 500? Not sure if that was something you found from the new link or just generally went too soft to start with?
If i got one of the linkages for my scout, is it likely that the ohlins will need a retune?
I guessed at the 400lb spring to start with based on the TF Tuned spring rate calculator and it was just way too soft. Should have started on the 450lb spring - which is what I ran on my previous Bird Aether 7 on a Fox dhx2 factory. That bike had 30% progression vs the 24% of the standard sentinel.
I’ve decided I must like my suspension to ramp up fairly quickly - I hate the mid range wallow you can get on air shocks through compressions.
I think if you ran something like an Ext or the new RS Super deluxe with the hydraulic bottom out you might be able to get away with a 450 - 475lb spring at my weight as they have extra resistance against a harsh bottom out. I’m exactly 76.6kgs today in my birthday suit - I’m pretty much always between 74.5 and 78kgs but fluctuate up and down quite a lot.
If i got one of the linkages for my scout, is it likely that the ohlins will need a retune?
Cascade suggest that you’ll want a bit less compression damping with their link so I think it’ll likely depend on where you are in your clicks currently. For me I’m about half way through the compression clicker so I plan to increase my spring rate and test it with a view to backing off my compression damping but keeping the same tune.
@joebristol that’s really helpful info, I weigh 76kg also and based on extrapolating cascade’s spring recommendations I was going to start at a 480 spring. Seems like that’s in the ballpark.
edit: that less damping info isn’t actually correct. They suggest more to quiet pedal bob and less to improve small bump. I guess the take away is to start with your current settings and tune from there.
Hmmm. I just bought a Privateer 141 to cure the mushyness of my Norco Sight. I wonder if one of these could have done it for slightly less cash.
I don’t really think my cascade link has made the climbing any worse which I’d been warned it might do. Just the same bit of small bob but nothing major at all. It’s actually got quite a nice platform to pedal against when seated. If you stand up and honk on the bars then it’ll have a good wallow I think.
On the Kitsuma I put all the dials back to the middle point which is what Cane Creek say to start at. Think I added a touch of lsc and had to add some hsr otherwise it was like a pogo stick on wheels over rollers. I think hsc and lsr are broadly still at the mid points.
Not all manufacturers do a 475lb spring - I think Nukeproof and ext do. I went with a Cane Creek Valt as it was quite light and quite cheap.
@appltn cheers.Thathas probably saved me a little money then as i don't want to pay for a retune as well
@appltn cheers.Thathas probably saved me a little money then as i don’t want to pay for a retune as well
Apologies to your wallet but I'm saying you probably won't need a retune and that a few clicks of compression either way might be all the adjustment you need, if any at all.
Unrelated, I made a little graph to read off spring rates in between the 50lbs/in increments that Cascade provide and it puts me right around 480 which is available from Ohlins.
Dammit, I will have a think then
Haha sorry 🙃
Anyone heard anything since putting their order in? I've had an email confirming my order on Monday, but nothing since. Tracking just shows confirmed, and that they'll email again when it's ready. Are they shipping from the US first?
Nope not a sausage. Saying 'unfulfilled' under my account in the cascade website.
Same here, no news since the order confirmation. The website says that they fulfil orders from the UK so I'm not sure what could be going on.
I've emailed to ask them what's up.
I’ve emailed to ask them what’s up.
Me too.
Max mailed back Wednesday, from the US, I think. Said he'd check with UK shipping office and get back to me.
If the links are in the UK, I can understand that they'll probably account for a single shelf "somewhere" in someone's freight handling depot, so order notifications might not be jumped on in the same way they would be if they were going straight to Cascade HQ.
Still, a bit rubbish.
I just had a reply from Max and he said that the UK shipper had to go on an emergency trip and will be back on Tuesday so they will ship out then.
Thanks for passing that info on
came on to post the same as muggo
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<p dir="ltr" data-ogsc="rgb(27, 29, 30)">Max (Cascade Components)</p>
<p dir="ltr">Feb 10, 2023, 10:14 PST</p>
<div class="zd-comment" dir="auto" data-ogsc="rgb(43, 46, 47)">Hey,
I have news he had to make a last minute trip and he will be back monday and will ship all orders out Tuesday. Im sorry for the delay and let me know if i can do anything else.
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<p dir="ltr" data-ogsc="rgb(43, 46, 47)">Max</p>
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pfff. looked fine in the preview!
Max is having quite a day of it dealing with moaning Brits - I had a similar reply.
Surprised they have no competition yet to undercut them a bit or offer more colour options, Betd have links for retro bikes for around £100 so it can be done cheaper,. they're finally at a justifiable price, sort of.
I know a lot of it boils down to R&D and they improve on the original but it makes you wonder why the bike companies don't offer alternative links or get theirs optimal in the first place..
Surprised they have no competition yet to undercut them
Looks a lot like the Cascade Levo link (std travel)
you wonder why the bike companies don’t offer alternative links or get theirs optimal in the first place..
TBH I’m left wonder, if after years of R&D by a manufacturer, that these linkages are better? Ive seen one comment suggest a suspension tuner didn’t recommend them (don’t have details). Are there any reviews of them, that explain how they improve on the manufacturer design?
I’m not sure they improve as such on a manufacturer design - just change the feel. By upping the leverage curve it increases the progression so works better with a coil shock. Having tried the air shock on there with the link I wouldn’t say it’s an improvement for that particular air shock (float x) - felt like it was wheezing / struggling a bit.
Thats on an alloy Sentinel where you have to run a shorter shock stroke for 155mm travel (5mm increase on standard). On the carbon sentinel you’re upping the travel to 165mm from 150mm as well as increasing the leverage curve - putting it right near the next bike up in the range - which Transition obviously wouldn’t do (Spire).
There's a review on vital MTB for the MK1 sentinel (which is what I've got). On the MK1 sentinel there is very little progression, the link basically tunes the suspension so it works the same as the MK2 sentinel.
Am interested to try it out with an air shock, but coil curious also
Yeah - ultimately with the v2 sentinel it’s a compromise as standard - they need it to work well with air as that’s what they come with and it’s not their full enduro bike. It’ll work with coil at 24% progression for some people and with certain shocks - for me it didn’t feel enough with the Kitsuma coil. Perhaps with a shock with an hbo (ext / new RmSuper deluxe coil) it would have been ok with that increased bottom out resistance.
A mate is running a Mega 297 with an Ext coil and that’s got less progression than the sentinel but he has the hbo and so he can run it quite soft / plush but get away without a harsh bottom out.
It’ll work with coil at 24% progression for some people and with certain shocks – for me it didn’t feel enough with the Kitsuma coil. Perhaps with a shock with an hbo (ext / new RmSuper deluxe coil) it would have been ok with that increased bottom out resistance.
A mate is running a Mega 297 with an Ext coil and that’s got less progression than the sentinel but he has the hbo and so he can run it quite soft / plush but get away without a harsh bottom out.
I remember when you were getting set up with your shock and found it really interesting how far apart you and I ended up on spring rate when we weigh roughly the same and the only difference was that you have a CC shock and mine is Ohlins. I just found the WPS spring rate calculator yesterday which takes a lot of factors into account including the actual shock and it does indeed recommend about 50lbs/in more when I change from the Ohlins option to Cane Creek. I guess the shocks have different damping characteristics which accounts for this.
The other thing that’s really curious is just how different the WPS result is versus the recommendation I had from J-Tech versus Ohlins’ own recommendation. These are all for the standard link but at least with WPS you can adjust it for the CC link also:
WPS has me on about 475 lbs/in
J-Tech recommended 434 lbs/in
Ohlins suggested 388 lbs/in
The only consistent recommendation is to run sag at about 30% so I guess the answer is what we already knew which is you just have to buy springs and use trial and error to find what works. I’ve found a 480 lbs/in Ohlins spring on the Pinkbike buy & sell which will be my starting point when the link arrives.
I’ve been following the Ripmo AF threads on mtbr and pinkbike and a few people on there said that the CL helped sort out the issues they were having with not being able to get the balance right with volume spacers, which is the same as I’m having.
Also I had a shipment notification via shop earlier with tracking info, so hopefully they should start arriving in the next few days.
Looks like changing the linkage is just the beginning of the tinkering for some, spring rate is a tricky one, on a related note I was surprised at those limited edition coil Nukeproofs all recommending a different spring rate for my weight. Spring calculators are unreliable in my experience, I always go higher and still get 30% sag.
Cheers for the PSA, got the forbidden lower chain guide.
Link and a spring from the pinkbike buy & sell arrived today.
Unfortunately I broke my hand yesterday when a tree jumped out at me so it’ll be a few weeks before I can try it out ☹️
My cascade link arrived today. It’s very shiny.
I will get it fitted this afternoon and try and get out for a ride after work tomorrow
Yep mine turned up also.
So, anyone fitted their link, ridden it, and what are your thoughts?
I fitted mine to my V1 sentinel at the weekend and did a very short ride.
Based on that very short ride and also advice on other forums I also reduced the air volume spacer token from 0.8 cubic inches to 0.6 cubic inches and removed a couple of clicks of compression damping. his is on a fox dpx2
Got out yesterday on a longer local fairly regular technical loop. Plenty of chattery bumps, not many rocks, one medium sized drop.
Well, I'm pretty impressed.
Pedalling seems better. Small bumps seem better. More support in mid stroke definitely. I was very impressed with how it felt on one medium sized drop also - that was a lot better.
I don't really see any downside other than the small increase in weight.
Is it worth the money? Hmmm I guess, at PSA prices.
I didn't quite get full travel, that's kind of expected as I only did one medium drop to flat. I need to take it somewhere rockier and/or with bigger drops really. Although I may experiment with slightly lower shock pressure, removing some more compression damping, or reducing the volume spacer further
You've got the link now go all in with a coil shock.
I tried to get the dpx2 working better once I fitted link and although it did improve slightly it was still just polishing a turd! The DPX2 is not the right shock for the sentinel.
Finally bit the bullet and fitted a coil. Genuinely couldn't believe the difference on my first run with minimal setup..
The link and a coil shock have transformed my Sentinel into the bike it should always of been....
I fitted it this week and the 480 spring is giving me about the same static sag as the 434 spring on the stock link. That’s about all I can tell you for a few more weeks while my hand heals up though.
That’s great to hear about your experience. I had this idea that I’d use the stock link most of the time and the cascade for uplifts and big days but maybe it can stay on full time.
I've put mine on along with a DHX2 with 60mm stroke to get 160 travel out back. No ride on it yet though as I had to wait for shock HW for the coil to arrive.
Current plan is to switch between the X2 air and DHX2 coil depending on where im riding, likely both set up with 60mm stroke, but will see once i've had a go. I think any additional weight on the link is negligible but obviously a coil weights a bit more than an air shock.
Interested in others weights vs spring weights. I know the leverage on the CC link means running a stiffer coil. Im about 12 stone and currently have a 475 spring on as a start point which is in line with CC recommendations.
Im about 12 stone and currently have a 475 spring on as a start point which is in line with CC recommendations.
Pretty much the same here. 12st and on a 480 spring.
Sounds about right give or take. I’m 76.8kg as of today and on a 500lb Valt spring on mine. 57.5mm stroke as I’ve got the v2 alloy sentinel and you can’t run more than that without something bad happening (so I’ve got 155mm rear / 160mm front).
Anyone know if cascade are closing down their uk website or something?
On all items that are out of stock it says:
"This product has sold out and will no longer be restocked"