Thinking about new brakes. How does the Louise rate against Shimano's offerings?

i had some, and tbh they were terrible. Never got on with them at all. I sold them and bought some SLXs instead for half the price. Easier to maintain, more reliable/consistent.

Wow…

I had Louises, but sold them and got LX when I changed to a centerlock wheel set. The LX was terrible, so got Hope M4. The Hopes where pretty similar to the Louise in terms of power and modulation but really squeaky in the wet.

So went to Magura Marta which where almost as nice as the Louise.

Mate had Louises and raved about them, so I got a set to upgrade from Hope minis as I was taking the bike to Morzine, loads of problems with them, in the end got a new MC under warrenty-

They are pretty good now but I think they are marginly better power wise than my old minis. Not worth it unless you can get them for a bargin imo

i've run louise fr for 20 months.

powers great, modulations great, reliabilities great. i have no issues at all.

We run Louises on all the demo bikes and they're very good. No trouble with any of them and they've had a tough life. I use Martas on all my bikes, and only had trouble when trying to bleed them (now fixed with proper technique!). Martas replaced a load of Hope brakes on my bikes and they're lighter but more powerful. I like 'em. I'd be surprised if you could get Shimano brakes for half the price these days. Louises were only £120 an end last time I looked?

Now on my second set of Louises. (First set got passed on to my son). Never had any problems with either brake, so I've also got Martas on my H/T too now, which are also really good.
Have had Hopes,C2's and Minis, and thought the serviceability was really good, but then I had to regularly take them to bits and bleed etc. The Magura brakes are, except for pads and a new hose and bleed when fitting from one bike to another a couple of times, pretty much untouched from the first day got them. Loads of power and modulation too. 😀

I've got 2 sets (2006 Louise FRs & 2007 Louise BATs, and MrsPP has some Julies) and to be honest, I wouldn't swap them for anything. Stupidly reliable, as much power as I'll ever need (More than XTs for the same size rotors) and as light as XTs as well.
I've tried Hopes, XTs and Avids and all are good, but the Maguras are better the lot of them in all aspects (apart from looks) especially smooth, controllable power, and plenty of it.

Of the 4 of us who went to Morzine this summer, the only one who didn't get brake issues was the one using Maguras. I was on the Avids at the time. D'Oh!!

I'd recommend them to anybody 🙂

I've used to run Louise FRs. Brilliant brakes, but a right pain in the kneecap to bleed. I think the reservoir seal has gone on both of them though. I should really get round to fixing that, as they were great brakes.

Now on shimano – much easier to bleed, just as good on power but don't feel quite as nice.

I've run the FR version. I'd say besides getting to grips with the best technique for bleeding they are very good. fit and forget. (fitting is trckier than hope thou. The discs are much better quality than the other brands in my experience, which in turn has an effect on over heating etc.

Got Louise brakes. Not had a problem with them in 2 years. Didn't have a problem with the one before for the 2 years I had that. Not had to bleed them so can't comment on how easy they are to bleed, but I lost count of the times I had to bleed (no matter how easy) my Hopes in the few years I had them (Minis and Mono Minis).

More powerful than Hopes for the same size and a firmer lever feel (although i'll put that down to the very flexible Mini lever on the brake I had, the tech lever may well be different).

Set up is crucial from day one on disc brakes… 😯

Most problems we get with discs have been caused by poor set up from day one, poor maintenance from then on…..

@ Brown: New ones have a little bleed valve in the res cap. Makes things much easier.

Got Louise FR, Louise Bats and Martas…….simply the best and I have used hope hayes shimano formula of various flavours, louise are my faves. Bed the pads in properly and they last an age, dn't and gone in less than one ride. Modulation the bet, FAFstuff at the best, bleeding is a pain but took them to LBS this time.
One of the best buys you can get 😀

I run a two sets of Magura Louise's (BAT models from 2007/8) and have to say they have been excellent. I had a slight problem at the start with a split diaphram but Magura UK sorted that in a couple of days.

I run the brakes on a har tail and full squish and they bring my 100kg to a halt in a controlled manner.

I have even been experimenting with Magura/XTR partnerships – the skids I can pull are amazing 😆

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I had the newer Louise brakes with the bleed hole in the res cap. I also did have a Magura bleed kit, tried to bleed them in the same way as I used to bleed my Marta brakes but I failed big time, I would need at leas another hand as the syringe didn't want to stay put in the bleed hole. Went to a shop, guy finally gave up as well and bled the brakes in a way You bleed Avid brakes so caliper, hose and lever separately. I must say they were working very nicely after a proper bleed and I was reasonably happy with how they performed. Lever shape is very nice and newer clamp design is better than Shimano as You don't have to take the grips off to take the lever off. Eventually thanks to Classifieds I picked up a pair of LX brakes and that was my best buy. Sold Louise brakes and the Magura bleed kit, kept the rotors as they look very nice and now I'm using LX. LX just work and do the job fine, never boiled them even in Selkirk when I was sh*tting myself on some descents and using the brakes very often, still on original set of pads. I did have XT one piece brakes before and they were similarly good or even better. Maintenance free, easy to set up, zero problems and even now my mate passed them on his friend and he told me recently that they still work great. Also thing he did, he put levers from his SLX brakes to XT (older silver ones) calipers and they work very well in that setup. SLX calipers are now with XT DC levers.

If I would have to pay £200 for Louise with venti rotors and all that extras I wouldn't. I got mine brand new off ebay for £120 but they didn't have the BAT thingy on the lever (probably OEM). But after my experience with Magura Marta and Louise I think I'll stick to Shimano. Magura weren't that bad, but there was always something that made them not work as I would like them to. Shimano all the way for me if You want something dependable, maintenance free with easy service.

Got three pairs of Louises on different bikes and very happy with them, never tried shimano mind…

I had Louise's that came as standard on a 2000 Cannondale. They were pretty poor and suffered a lot from loss of fluid. Then put minis on an dthey were better but not perfect. Now have Marta SLs on and they are fantastic,

C

Best value brake on the market IMO, stacks of power and modulation. The new bleed system is easy, syringe on at caliper end and tilt the lever just past the 90 degree mark and then remove the little plug in the res cap and stick an empty syringe in the hole and push the fluid through. I'm now running the new marta which uses the same pad and they are amazing, took them to the Alps and has no issues. And finally they are still the only company that give a 5 year leak proof warranty… Nuff said.

A group of four of us all run Louise FR brakes, and have done for the last 3 years or so.

All with no complaints at all (& I speak for all of us)

I have always used the 3.2 pads which I prefer (compared to the 3.1s).
You do need to bed them in, which means, take one long tarmac hill, dry day and mix together with about 5 stops from speed and you are done.

i have 3 bikes all with Magura Louise brakes and would highly recommend them.

Good modulation, power and bads last for ages if bedded in correctly.

09 BAT Carbons – excellent modulation and power. No issues at all.

If I didn't use Marta's I'd have Louises.