Has anyone been sectioned after working on Maguras I’ve come close. Between a infuriating bleed and stripping out the sleeve bolt to then on to a second leaver and being too scared to tighten anything to bizarre gurgling noises sucking in air from unseen sources. Is it time to switch to Formula?
No such issues. Well I had to re-bleed one, but only because I thought I knew best and hadn't read the instructions properly. I RTFM and all fine since.
Gurgling noise - just the rotor pattern? I haven't got galfer rotors now, but before when i last had some they would make a turkey/gurgling noise.
I found bleeding to be really easy, no problem with any threads or hardware either. Just took my time, worked gently. Bleed was actually better and faster than with my previous Codes and Guides.
I like them.
We've managed to snap one bleed screw in 5 years of owning, plus one crash damage.
I also found the bleed easy 80% of the time (did it once a year or after the crash) and only once did I struggle. And that was a mare...
The gurgle noise was air being sucked into the system, I’m wondering if I hadn’t sealed the olive after the 1st attempt stripped out. I’ve been using torque wrench but after the 1st experience still tentative. Solid bleed 3rd attempt. Not as easy as Shimano by a long way. Performance at price makes up for it though.
Yes, if you come from shimano the bleeding "procedure" is painful, but as long as you follow the protocol, just do it once and everything is fine for a year or untill you just feel to bleed them again.
I can bleed shimanos with my eyes closed, but could I get the same regularity in breaking performance? not really.
Shigura might be the next step if you don't want to wrangle with plastic levers anymore.
I find it tricky to get a good bleed on the rear brake...I really don't know why. They are brilliant brakes though and generally do not need bled often. If you're stripping stuff....that's on you I'm afraid.
Brad Kelly (Toolbox Wars winner) has some great Magura bleed tips (along with lots of other tweaks for bike setup) on his IG:
https://instagram.com/bee_kay77?utm_medium=copy_link
His account is fantastic - got to be one of the most fastidious bike mechanics I've ever seen.
The trick was on a hidden German magura video.
When pushing the fluid through from the caliper rock the lever so it points upwards and downwards, maybe 20° off horizontal. Flick the lever while doing this. I only ever push through about 50ml.
Shigura all the way. Screwed my MT5 lever after two days ownership. Wacked on some SLX levers, quick bleed and away. Brakes more powerful than the Zees I came from but importantly they feel consistent over the life of the pads. Shimano Would always need the pads walking out manually to take up the slack otherwise the levers would need require increasing travel to take up the bite point. Same experience with Zee/Saints/Deore/XT. With shigura no issues, just constant all the way. Stock Magura levers are total shite though.
Fitted MT5's couple months ago. Only rode with the standard levers a couple times before changing to some Deore levers.
No issues with the bolts etc, only bled once after shortening the hoses.
Just couldn't get on with the feel of the levers after years of using Shimano.
Brakes now feel familiar and the most powerful setup I've ever used.
Only time will tell if the Shimano wandering lever travel happens but I'm happy to take a chance.
(Deore levers, MT5 calipers, 4 piece Magura performance pads and 200mm Magura floating rotors)
Plastic rubbish.