Magura Hydraulic rim brakes; any thoughts and experiences?

I’m considering changing the v-brakes on my wife’s bike, as she complains of sore hands and arms on long descents (she really doesn’t like descending at speed, so will drag the brakes on long/steep descents). Her bike is v-brake/canti only, no disc mounts sadly. So I was wondering if a set of Maguras would help improve matters. I know it’s a compromise, but short of changing the frame, buying new wheels and disc brakes etc buying her a whole new bike, the options are limited.

So I’d be interested in anyone who’s done similar. Ta.

Better than V’s for sure but should be left in the early 90’s imo!
At this time of year, I’d just look for a full bike in a sale with discs. With modern geo and confidence inspiring discs, it could make all the difference to the good lady and turn her into the next T-Mo!

You can pick upp XTR vs on the bay for under £40 which don’t have the weight penalty of the maguras and stop well.

i think they’re ace, and i put them on the trials bike. Certainly more powerful and reliable than my lx and xt vbrakes.

however, they are pricey. You can often get second hand bargains on ebay. Also, if i remember correctly, with the HS33 you have a little dial to turn which adjusts the pad positioning, which is not a feature on the HS11. This little dial makes it so much easier to set up correctly.

As an avid retrobiker BUT someone who loves good brakes I went back to Maguras on my older canti stud only bikes. Quite a few guys on Retrobike use them, either a good condition old set or some newer ones. I have some 2011 ones are they are easier to set up than the old ones as the evolution mount is less fiddly than the original L-shape post idea.

Once they are set up they are a genuine fit and forget purchase. Clip in new pads every so often is all you have to do.

Power wise, they are equal to discs in the dry and I reckon close in the wet too. With small blocks and a lot of power they tend to cut through water and mud straight to the rim.

I have some pretty nice brand new XT V’s but they aren’t a patch on the Maguras.

There is a reason a 20 year old set in good condition, ready to use, costs £60-70+ – they are brilliant!

My 1991 Dave Lloyd in the mud in Scotland (Innerleithen!) with 2011 HS33’s.

Before spending lots of money on new brakes/bike have you treated your wife’s bike to new cables (inners AND outers AND noodles) and stripped and greased the pivots? A properly maintained and set up set of vees should be more than up to the job, in the dry at least.

^^what MB said. Also, have you considered better wheels, or, more specifically, better rims?

I bought a pair of old Mavic Crossride wheels in excellent condition off Ebay. £80. The difference in braking power was remarkable.

Thanks for the replies.

Current brakes are XT Vs with Avid SD7 levers. Decent quality, clean free-running cables. Clarkes brake pads. So they are decent stoppers, but obviously need more effort to keep speed down on long/steep descents.

The bike is a very nice older Cannondale, with hand built wheels (Mavic 717 rims). She loves it, and it would cost a lot to replace, hence why I’d like to upgrade the brakes if possible.

So, the HS33s will be easier on the hands? Worth it to buy new, or are older ones still good?

About £130 for a set, so comparable to a high end v-brake set up. A lot less than a comparable new (s/h) bike.

Any more thoughts from anyone?

Just a thought, have you tried adjusting the reach and angle of the brake levers? I suffer from achey hands on long descents and bring the levers in closer seems to have helped.

Levers adjusted accordingly, but that doesn’t solve the problem. If the Maguras need less physical input at the lever, then this will help a lot. just wondering how much less input they require, as I’ve never properly ridden with any.

there are some good offers on CRC

Not actual experience, but from what I’ve heard (10 years ago) they are a very off/on type of brake, without much modulation. Great for trials, less great for long draggy descents?

Very interesting, tomhoward. Anyone else found this?

Not actual experience, but from what I’ve heard (10 years ago) they are a very off/on type of brake, without much modulation.

that’s rubbish.

I switched to HS33s very early on as they are very powerful (will flex the frame outwards as they push onto the rim) and modulate well.

More importantly they don’t squeal – which was important as I was riding bridleways in areas with lots of horses and is something that discs are prone to when wet and/or contaminated.

I think they wear the rims less as well as they are more effective in the wet as they are more powerful, so you don’t have to drag them on the rims for so long.

I am just fitting some onto my Birdy folding bike.

There is some skill to setting them up properly – I used to set them up square on to the rims but with the ‘calipers’ loosened off a bit and then depress the brake to push themselves back into the loosened calipers a bit, and then tightened them all up.

Punctures just involved removing one side of the caliper, which was easy with the lever arrangement.

There are loads of videos on youtube about it anyway.

My mates use them f & r on a fully loaded tandem, with a trailer so there must be enough stopping power…

Brother in laws wife has them and she must weigh 50kg and she is happy too…

Definately not on/off feel, unless you have the hand control of a Muppet.

Similar problem with the missus and ended up sticking a disc on the front, quick rebuild of the wheel to a disc hub (or cheap halfords wheel) and some cheap RC36’s off ebay.

Deores are dirt cheap although with the SD7 you could get a bb7.

So for ~£100 you have a disc front wheel which does most of the work.

Used to love mine on D521’s.

Found in the wet they took a few seconds to bite, but in the dry they were great – lots of power; beware flex damage to frames – use the Magura booster.

Fitting pads is a cinch, but setting them up in the first place is a pain in the ass.

I found they wear the rims very fast too.

I think they wear the rims less as well as they are more effective in the wet as they are more powerful, so you don’t have to drag them on the rims for so long.

No way, they eat rims!

IMO the effort at the lever is more than a nice v-brake, but you don’t need to squeeze as hard for equivalent power. Make sense!?

Got a pair of HS33s in the cupboard if you’re interested in buying. iirc they’re pretty good nick will need to dig em out, clean up and check.

Echo what Njee said, don’t feel as “light” as really spongy Vs but plenty of power.

IMO the effort at the lever is more than a nice v-brake, but you don’t need to squeeze as hard for equivalent power. Make sense!?

which must therefore imply that the effort is also going to be more than a modern hydro disk brake, and HS33s aren’t much different.

Plus they use mineral oil, so bleeding is rare.

Why must it imply that? Until I used current XTR brakes I think my XTR v’s had the lightest ‘standing still squeezing the lever’ action. That didn’t translate to more power obviously, and is entirely useless as a measure, but you could be forgiven for thinking they’d be less fatiguing.

No way, they eat rims!

Not mine they don’t. Mavic 618 ceramics, see? 😉

Why must it imply that?

because the effort for hydro disk brakes is pretty much the same as for HS33s, so if HS33s are more effort than a V brake, then so must a hydro disc brake be.

I have an HS33 on the back of my 1996 Cinder Cone. Fitted in 1998 iirc and not touched since other than pad changes. Superb power/modulation and look great. Mine are the John Tomac ltd edition with a carbon fibre booster.

Bought new forks so made sense to fit a disc on the front, better in rain/mud but not that much difference in the dry.

then so must a hydro disc brake be.

Ah, yes, I agree that a nice, well set up v, is less effort to squeeze than a hydro disc (current XTR notwithstanding, as they’re lovely!), thought you were saying the opposite. That of course doesn’t translate to less effort in use though.

Not mine they don’t. Mavic 618 ceramics, see?

Still do eat those, just takes a lot longer!

So not actually ‘eating’ at all then?
More like nibbling or sucking. 🙂

Had hydrostops on my pace rc100, bolted to the frame, were a hell of an improvement over cantilevers at the time, especially if you used the red, soft pads.
But not as good as the xt v-brakes when they came out in 96ish, probably down to pad material and set up with the half moon things.. nearly went over the bars first time i used them!

This was 20 odd years ago though, so not sure how new hs33’s compare

Had similar prob, so changed to HS33’s.
Definitely an improvement but prone to clogging in the mud.
When my forks needed replacing went disc on the front and put the V back on the rear which I feel is a better year round set up.
Have you tried stickier brake blocks – cool stop or similar?

So not actually ‘eating’ at all then?
More like nibbling or sucking.

D’you know I nearly put ‘nibbling’! As soon as you get a chip in the ceramic that’s it though, they’ll be gone in no time!