Are Lousie or Julie any good or should I just get some Shimano SLX?

I have gone round in circles and lost the ability for independent thought so all suggestions welcome.

I kinda like the industrial magura look

magura brakes are excellent. but a few more £ than the shimano. loved my louise fr but ended up with xt on the last build and very happy with them to.

I love my Louise’s, I prefer them to previous hayes and hope brakes I’ve had, but I’ve never used shinano so couldn’t compare.

I had to bleed one after three years. Shoddy.

i have magura louises on both my bikes and have been very impressed.

they are literaaly fit and forget except for a bleed every couple of years.

one comment i do have is that they can go through brake pads quite quickly.

I remember an interview with Magura in Singletrack a while ago, where they said that the most important product they made was brake pads. They seem to last well on my Julies, though I do bed them in as per their very specific instructions.

BTW, 6 years with no maintenance. Also have a Magura fork, again very little maintenance.

I’ve had two set’s of Louise and one set of Marta. I also rode quite a bit for 5 weeks with Julie. I think they are all great, especially I was surprised that you could get such a good brake for the price of the Julie. It did fade after an hour or two of decent though. 😀

But yeah, Magura seems to make good brakes.

The new Julies are easily as good as SLX in my opinion and a fair bit cheaper.
The only downside is the plastic parts in the lever body that are easier to damage than the all alloy slx. Function wise, they are great however.
The louise have the same caliper but a better lever, but are probably the most expensive of the three.

I have 2 sets of Louises. 2006&2007 models. Absolutely faultless. OE pads are easily the best and last me about 8 months, but they are organic ONLY. My 06 Louise Freerides take Shimano to pieces for sheer power and control.

I have had Marta brakes on one of my bies for about 2 years without any problems at all. I had Julies on another bike a while ago and thought they were very good.

I’ve had a set of Magura Louises on my bike for the last 2 and a half years, having only ever run the ultra reliable Hope C2s for 9 or 10 years before that. All of my riding buddies have some issue or another with their brakes (assorted Hope, Shimano and Avid users). My Maguras have performed absolutely flawlessly with almost zero maintenance. Think I’m still on the original pads too! I probably won’t use any other make of brake.

Bought some of the very black Louise FR off ebay, waiting for them to turn up. Hope they are as good as PP says

I’ve got the Louise FR 2006. No maintenance except pad changes and the occasional rotor clean since I bought them and yet never had a problem at all. Amazing reliability really.

Another happy marta owner here. one thing to say that i only found out by accident. Magura will get a but huffy with your warranty if you dont use magura brand pads. understandable to a degree but not something you would think about.