Cascade Components Introduces New 5010 Link

PRESS RELEASE from Cascade Components – We are excited to announce our most recent addition to our link lineup! Our new Santa Cruz 5010 link brings the alterations we have made to the kinematics of other Santa Cruz models to the 5010 with the addition of a new adjustment. The link employs a flip chip that, instead of creating minor geometry changes, alters travel by 10 mm. What this yields is a link that can be set to 130 or 140 mm of travel with the stock shock. These two settings correspond to 31% and 29% progression, respectively, compared to 24% with the stock link.

As a bonus, for those that are interested in Bronson-like travel numbers, increasing the shock stroke to 55 mm results in 140 or 150 mm of travel depending on flip chip setting. So there are options… lots of options. Each setting improves on bottom out resistance and small bump sensitivity. Due to travel changes, how they feel in the mid-stroke range varies. The short travel (ST setting) has a hair less ramp than the long travel (LT) setting, but because the ramp occurs over a smaller amount of wheel travel, the mid-stroke brings more pop.

The LT setting has even better bottom out and small bump than the ST setting, but because of the travel increase, the mid-stroke range has a little less pop. If you look at mid- stroke support as a percentage of travel used during something like a berm or g-out, both settings will use a similar percentage of travel, but with the LT setting this correlates to more wheel travel to get to that point.

Specs and Details

• 140/130 mm of travel (LT/ST settings with stock shock)
• 150/140 mm of travel (LT/ST settings with 210×55 shock)
• Progression increased to 31/29% (LT/ST) compared to 24% with stock link • +5 mm chainstay length
• Sealed Enduro MAX bearings
• CNC’d from 6061-T6 in the USA
• Colors: Black, silver, orange
• Cost: $337 USD.