PRESS RELEASE: Cascade ComponentsThe downhiller’s trail bike taken a step further. We give you our new V4 Tallboy link. When we first started in on the Tallboy link there was some hesitation. With a 120 mm bike would the changes be as noticeable as desired? We believe that question was answered on the first test ride. This link is made to amplify the Tallboy’s best traits without hindering its agility when you’re on the pedals.
The link increases the amount of progression to 32%, bumps travel to 128 mm, and increases the chainstay length by 5 mm. This link, as with our others, is about the leverage curve changes though. The leverage curve is designed to provide a smooth ramp up between a supple top of travel and a supportive bottom of travel, which results in what we feel is a surprisingly bottomless feeling for a bike in its travel range and improves descending across the board.
The Tallboy link is available in black, red, and silver
The Tallboy link is designed around the stock 190x45 shock size and is compatible with all shocks that are compatible with the stock link. We get a lot of questions about coil shocks and Santa Cruz bikes that are listed as not compatible with a coil. Here’s out take on it with the Tallboy: Yes, coil shocks will fit with this link, as they do with the stock link. For most riders, a coil shock is not the way to go on the Tallboy. The size of impact that a coil spring can absorb is decreases very quickly as the shock stroke is decreased. The Tallboy uses a relatively short shock, so this requires over-springing or running excessive damping, both of which are generally detrimental to how the suspension behaves. As such, our recommendation is to stick with air.
Specs and Details:• 128 mm of travel (with stock shock)
• Progression increases to 32% from 26%
• + 5 mm chainstay length
• Sealed Enduro MAX bearings
• CNC'd out of 6061-T6 in the USA
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$331USD Typically, we don’t include anti-squat data with these releases since we don’t want people to get too caught up in them. The pedaling performance is always comparable to the stock link. In some cases, it’s improved, but not to the extent that it would be noticeable. Since this bike is more pedaling-oriented than any of the other bikes we have done links for in the past, we figured we’d include it this time. This graph will take a slight bit of explaining, so bear with us for a second. It displays the chain growth rate, which is almost like a leverage curve for your chain forces. The reason for doing this, as opposed to anti-squat curves as they are normally displayed, is that it removes all variables that must be arbitrarily chosen (rider CG location, gearing, etc.). This makes it more clear how the pedaling will be compared to the set up you use.
As you can see in the graph, the two curves practically overlap for the entirety of travel. The chain growth rate for our link is actually a hair higher than that of the stock link, but not by an amount that is anywhere near noticeable on the trail.
For more details check out
cascadecomponents.bike/collections/santa-cruz-linkages/products/v4-tallboy-link
Bearings on my Sentinel were due a change, so If you figure $12/per bearing, thats $72 of the cost that you’d spend anyway. Ive lent the bike out to several riders who were curious, and everyone who throws a leg over it is blown away.
People like to bitch about “why should I have to change this, or that” or “why didn’t the engineers do this in the first place”. Its all about changing something to suit YOUR OWN PERSONAL needs, no different then grips that fit your hand better, or larger pedals, etc.....
In my highly unscientific tests, even back to back runs, I’m faster (marginally) happier (subjective) have more traction (marginally), but above all, can not get the smile off my grubby face!
Stop whinging, try one out, get dirty and muddy, and have fun riding around in the forest like kids.
Keep on kicking ass Cascade, and the stuff looks like jewellery for your bike!
Have to give it to them... Cascade Components has cornered the market on sugar pills for mountain bikers.
All banter aside, yeah things are marginally better with this link installed. Lets not assume this one chunk of polished, machined aluminium is some sort of cure all for weak legs, not enough sleep, stress, worn out chains, grubby cables, on and on.
When I first rode the bike with the link installed, I had a knot in my gut, I was concerned, as the trails here are mostly ride out of the big gully, to turn around and ride back down. It was soft, too soft, way too soft I thought! The additional traction wasn’t apparent at the time, cause I just kept thinking I’ve thrown away a couple hundred Canukistan bucks on some shiny bits that I dont think works (for me). When I reached the top (thats a boast, midpoint if I’m honest) of the trail, I turned around to try and rip back down. I do enjoy riding down rather than suffering up, and was fairly blown away by the changes descending. Blah blah blah, I could go on about the experience, but i wont bother you with it. It was by all accounts marginally better than before, yes marginally, however I’m not sure if any new bit of bike jewellery has ever been groundbreaking, like you are referring should be.
The change from my old Norco ,to the Sentinel, was by all accounts a huge change, this link, much like most things bike related are marginal improvements, but are indeed improvements,
If you’re ever in the area, I’ll let you take it for a ride, with and without link, you can get first hand experience on what the change feels like. Maybe make an informed opinion on those sugar pills..........
Or have I put the wrong mushrooms on my pizza again?
My favorite attribute of the TB4 is how versatile it is. In my current setup, it can handle some really rugged terrain. With the stock shock and 130mm fork + lighter tires, it's perfect for smoother 'flow' type trails and XC days.
The frame is very stout and the geo is great for aggressive riding. This link plus a 140mm fork should make for a sweet setup for folks who feel that their stock Tallboy could use just a touch more travel.
Look for> FOX Dialed: Bike Check with Jordi Cortez (2:30-3:05)
The bike feels more plush off the top but still pumps and climbs well. On bigger hits + high speed rocky terrain the Dpx2 feels a lot better. I just swapped back to the stock factory DPS for my ride tonight to confirm. Dpx2 is going back on tomorrow.
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If I had money lying around, I’d buy this link plus a 190x45 Dpx2 to compare.
I wonder if anyone at Cascade has tried the longer shock and has thoughts on the difference?
to me looks like the TB needs a 140 fork even if the rear is kept stock. I wonder with riders upping travel how the 128/140 setup compares to the HT 140/150. At some point doesn't it make sense to just jump up to the next model? It'd be cool to get a comparison of a burly TB vs a HT. My HT demo revealed that bike (carbon S build) is a little bit portly and not great on the ups, the dh was great though.
Assuming the tallboy is similar, wouldn't increasing the leverage ratio make it hard to achieve proper sag while also using the full shock travel? I currently have a DPX2 on my tallboy and feel that at 210lbs I need to have more air pressure in it than I would like. I worry that if I add this, I'll have to pump it even higher and get a custom rebound tune to increase the ability to slow down rebound more, since I'm already close to the max rebound clicks.
That statement is true for all shorter stroke shocks surely? Or are you referring to the naturally progressive nature of an air shock? I would imagine your 38% progression with this link would be more than enough for a coil no?
To @BenTheSwabian s point, people can probably achieve an equally satisfactory result with shock tuning.
Linkage progression affects the damping too, not just a spring that ramps up (increased shaft speed deeper in the travel... in effect position sensitive damping)
Somehow these brands are cool, most likely due to high amount of advertising budget which surpasses actual engineering development and research budget.
Is it maybe a bit steep when just looking at raw material and component costs? Sure. Is it worth it buying a part made by a small manufacturer in the US? I'd say so.
The bearings are the same or similar enough to the ones that came on my stock linkage, so I have no complaints there btw.
No magic required, just use some quality SKF, NSK, NTN etc. plenty to choose from if you do your research.