Sea Otter 2012: Magura

News

by 4

Magura was at the Sea Otter, doing its usual tech support stuff, but also showing off a few of its 2013 goodies.

The road world was equally excited and puzzled by Magura’s new road product; a full hydraulic road rim brake for time trial bikes. However the slightly niche offering meant that it didn’t have to worry about integrating shifters into the system and it could help alleviate the oft-circuitous brake routing that time trial bikes have in the name of aerodynamics.

Now, to add to its road offerings, Magura is doing a cable actuated, hydraulic rim brake version for more normal drop bar setups. This now means that it’ll work with your preferred gear shifting levers, but allow you hydraulic (rim) braking. So the cyclocrossers needn’t get too excited, but it might be of use to racers and tourists. It does seem a bit of a stopgap though as it doesn’t do away with the unpredicability of rim braking in the wet and the reliance on the destruction of your rim sidewall for braking friction.

Side-entering cables seems a neater solution than the front mounted ones seen from Hope and TRP

 

Magura's RT8 brake. Not just for time trial bikes.

Magura has entered the 29er fork wars with its TS8 suspension fork. With 32mm stanchions, it comes in 80/100/120mm lengths (set lengths with internal travel adjustment available) and 9mm or 15mm thru-axle. There’s the usual range of Magura options with the DLO Dynamic Lock Out and the Albert Select optional platform damping adjuster.

Magura's big wheeler fork. For original big wheelers.

 

Magura has gone with its own 15mm axle setup. It's a screw and tighten with a T25 Torx. There's an L-shaped tool that handily fits in the axle and pulls out when needed.

 

The other side of the 15mm setup

Magura was pretty ahead of the game in saying that it was going to product 27.5in/650B forks. Here’s the TS8 650. It’ll come in 120 and 150mm lengths and has Maxle Lite 15mm lowers. There’ll be TS8 and TS8SL versions of the 27.5 and 29in forks with weights for the SL100 forks being approx 1299g for 26in and 1630g for the 29er.

 

Magura was one of the first to publicly offer a medium wheel fork.

 

 

Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 23 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

More posts from Chipps

Comments (4)

    footflapsfootflaps April 30, 2012 at 1:57 pm

    I really don’t get the Hydraulic rim brake…..

    marsdenmanmarsdenman April 30, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    torx activated axle on the 29’er but a more ‘normal’ one on the ‘medium’ setup…?

    speaking of ‘medium’ – is this going to be the bike ordering conversation of the future – ‘i’d like a medium wheeled bike, in large, please’

    ChippsChipps April 30, 2012 at 2:58 pm

    ‘Medium’ seems a better way to refer to 27.5/650B than ‘Baby Bear’ – not too big, not too small, but just right. 🙂

    marsdenmanmarsdenman May 1, 2012 at 11:31 am

    Just read the articles on ‘medium’ and (i was the guy who first pushed) ‘large’ in the latest issue – bet the manufacturers are all up in arms at the mo – which to commit to, how many…

Leave Reply