Contemplating a brake upgrade on one of my venerable antiques…. Anybody got any info on the pros/cons of Magura HS33’s vs HS11’s or indeed these vs vees? No ‘get disks’ comments please, she willnae take it Captain 🙂

Maguras are good for trials etc but not really needed for XC/pootling.

I often found that a good set of Avid V brakes were just as good and didn’t need as much time to setup.

I’ve had both 11s and 33s in my trials riding days. The slave pistons and the bits at the wheel end are identical on both apart from colours.

The lever is the main difference. The 33 has a shorter lever for 2 finger braking, has on-the-fly pad adjustment, and has an all metal construction.

The 11s have a plastic/resin lever construction apart from the lever blade itself, and pad adjustment is via allen key. They flex a bit more in use, and dont look quite as good, but preformance/power is very similar to the 33s.

As for the comparison with Vs. Well both the 33s and 11s will be heavier than a good V setup. When both are set up properly the power is similar. The main advantage for me was reliability. They were put on the bike, abused for around 5 years in all weathers, then sold still working the same as when they were new. I find Vs need regular attention to keep them working properly.

The other advantage was they looked cool. Especially as I had SID blue ones when everyone else had yellow 😀

****updated info****

For the afficanados….. Just spoken to Magura’s UK support Agent. Apparently, the 33 lever is now the same as the 11 (both composite) and as the slave was always the same, they are now the same brake! However, the 33 is sold c/w brake boosters and a nice plastic lever cowl emblazened with a ’33’ whilst the 11’s are not.

So the question is modified to: vee’s or Maguras?

Magura are the best brake I ever used

V-brake for cost

magura for bling

I have 2nd hand HS33 eisbars on my SS commuter…probly cost as much as the rest of the bike did to do up!

But how do they compare in the stopping department?

the Maguras are far more consistent as it’s a hydraulic not mechanical system.

liek all rim brakes limitign factor tends to be whether you’re riding in the wet or knee deep mud.

if you have a svelte steel frame I’d recommend the boosters – they do put a worrying amount of force through the stays.

I had a set of HS33’s on a disc-less bike years ago – they were much better than many disc system’s I’ve used since. Also pretty much maintenance free for the 5+ years I had them. They were very, very good.

If I had a disc free bike again these would be absolutely the first purchase.