Inverse Shigura (magano?)

I’ve read plenty about Shimano lever Magura caliper mixes but am wondering if anyone has tried or seen anything about a Magura lever Shimano caliper mix? Why, because the Magura caliper does not fit the back of my frame (clashes with the seat stay). I like the levers and have shortened/threaded all the hose etc then discovered the caliper won’t go on. Wondering about putting a Shimano caliper on the back instead.

Levers renowned for being weak, plus the added bonus of calipers that like to dribble lubricant on braking surfaces? I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t want that. :p

Seriously though, I’ve now seen my 13th and 14th leaking Shimano caliper. I won’t be fitting them to any more bikes I own or recommending them to anyone.

Yeah it’s an odd combo. I’ve not had issues yet with the Magura levers and like the feel/power (it’s an mt trail set). I don’t want a full Shimano setup for various reasons. First thing I’m trying is an offset 180mm adapter but I’m not hopeful. Neither the 2 or 4 piston Magura caliper clears (though the 4 is closer).

Came across the big ride monkey brake thread, seems Magura are 22mm caliper pistons as are some Shimano calipers.

I’d maybe cannibalise a Clarks M2 if you’re after a cheap, non-leaky, mineral oil compatible caliper.

Try it and see.

I’ve only had one leaking Shimano caliper but over 10 levers with sticking pistons (family of 4 with multiple bikes all running Shimano brakes for “simplicity”). Levers are sometimes saved by stripping and cleaning / silicone grease on the piston but I’ve had to bin a few that couldn’t be revived. The problem seems to be a combination – slight swelling and roughness of the plastic piston (even though I only use Shimano fluid) and friction from the black aluminium gunk that comes from the inside of the bores. At least the plastic Magura levers won’t have that gunk and the plastics generally seem resistant to their fluid.

And I wouldn’t touch Clarke’s – my commuter was running Clouts and you could see leakage from the two halves of the caliper flexing….

M2 looks to be a one piece calliper with 22mm so could be suitable and shouldn’t suffer from flex like a 2 piece.

Where does the caliper hit the frame, can you use an offset mount like this? (+20mm mount pictured)

I’ve got a hope L mount to try and a spare 180mm rotor though as it’s fitted on my other bike I’m not sure it is going to help as it appears to shift the caliper up and backwards. One like in the picture might help, that is a position that if you hold it looks better. Do you know what mount that is?

I’d maybe cannibalise a Clarks M2 if you’re after a cheap, non-leaky, mineral oil compatible caliper.

Or look on aliexpress as iiiPro, ZRace, etc sell calipers.

I currently have Shimano brakes and they’ve not leaked so far.  But my longer term plan is to upgrade the levers (currently Deore trekking levers) to XT/XTR if some come up cheap, then if the calipers leak get some zRace/iiiPro ones.

Think I saw a review of them that said they were similar but not the same, the porting is different, or maybe they are the same but one was just revised to make installation easier.

Those will probably take too long to arrive.

This is the clash, caliper needs to move forwards to clear the seat stay.

And I wouldn’t touch Clarke’s – my commuter was running Clouts and you could see leakage from the two halves of the caliper flexing….

I was thinking of the M2 (I have two pairs now running just fine), never tried the ‘Clout’ TBF.
I have considered swapping the levers On one set to Shimano would that make them Sharks? They’re not bad calipers, especially as donors for the asking price, some people spend more on pads for other brands.

Or look on aliexpress as iiiPro, ZRace, etc sell calipers.

Also an option, the default solutions for brakes are being challenged these days, which I reckon is a generally good thing.

Looking at those photos, that brake mount is in a terrible position, looks like a total afterthought, I wouldn’t say that Magura caliper is particularly fat, do you have any other brakes available just to compare before you end up spunking more cash on another caliper that won’t clear the seatstay?

Looking at those photos, that brake mount is in a terrible position, looks like a total afterthought, I wouldn’t say that Magura caliper is particularly fat, do you have any other brakes available just to compare before you end up spunking more cash on another caliper that won’t clear the seatstay?

Yeah, looks bad, but I think because the seat stay isn’t shaped to give more clearance. Most other similar mounts have the seat stay splaying further outboard. Look at Scotts, you can run 4pots on their xc bikes with a similar mount.

Anyway, a 2 pot magura  caliper is c40mm wide. A 2pot shimano is c 36mm wide. Also the shimano is less offset towards the seat stay than the magura. So it might work, but try and get hold of one first to check.

A shimano caliper should work, there are some bike checks for pro riders on the same frame running XTR brakes (visible in the pics). It came fitted with sram level brakes which appear to be 37mm wide. I think it is the offset that is more of an issue. Here’s the two calipers side by side, as you can see the Magura sticks out a lot more.

I have tech e4s which I can offer up and a low end shimano on one of the kids bikes. Other child has clarks clout brakes which have never setup correctly on the bake of her bike (though this might be the frame). Also the level in the picture above but running those is at the bottom of the list as far as options go.

Should be fine then if levels were on there. Well fine from a fit point of view. I have no idea about the magano set up though! Worth a go then! Which hose are you going to use? Normally on Shigura it’s the magura hose. Will this all go together at the shimano caliper end? Banjo’d fitting or deore type non- banjo? Lots of questions! Or I suppose the question is more, can you get a shimano hose to fit with suitable olives/barbs into the magura lever? That would avoid the high likelihood of magura banjos not fitting at the caliper end.

I was thinking the Magura hose. You can get shimano sized banjos so could fit one of those to the hose if the magura banjo is a different size.

If you’re committed to to the idea I’ve got a pair of Shimano M785 XT calipers in my spares.

I think they’re unused, might have fitted them and taken off, I cant remember.

But crucially they’re a banjo connector and pre-date the shimano leaky caliper issue so will probably fit straight on and at least won’t leak.

Happy to swap.

[edit: looks like the new ones are banjo’s as well, maybe it was just an intermediate model that had the straight in connector]

I had a similar issue with my 2017 Spark. Couldn’t fit an FSA caliper so had to use XTR brakes. Wasn’t just a factor of caliper width, but also that the pistons bore was a little further to the rear than the shimano caliper.
No option to use any other adapter though as it was a frame specific hardware mount.

At the height of the post-COVID parts scarcity, I had a Magura MT7 caliper leak when on a road trip and the local bike shop didn’t have any spares, so they put a Shimano Zee caliper on (with the MT7 levers).

It worked perfectly fine for years (with zero maintenance). In fact, I only swapped it back to Magura calipers a couple of months ago.

( I’m 90kg and ride plenty of long, steep descents so the brakes didn’t have an easy life.And it was the front brake as well).

I can’t remember whether the LBS swapped hoses and/or banjos.

Thanks tisnas but going to buy new parts. I borrowed a 785 caliper to check clearance and the banjo is on the wrong side.

I’m going to give it a go, have ordered a slx caliper and jagwire hose kit. Decided to use the jagwire hose as you can get appropriate fittings for both ends (though initially I’m going to use Magura oem fittings in the jagwire hose).

Parts are all here and assembled. Magura OEM fittings went into the lever end of the Jagwire hose fine. Bleed easily enough using royal blood and the lever feel is the same as my other Magura set. Seemed to work just fine last night on first ride (other than needing to tweek the lever reach).