Want some now brakes than the saints on my current bike, saints were there for Alp duty but I can’t see that bike going again so I’m down grading the frame and bits to a more UK suitable level.

While Shimano Xt would be the most obvious, I can’t help being pulled to the Magura MT trail brakes.

Had Magura before, always been good to be fair.

Any reason why not?

Same or similar power to the saints up front so not really a downgrade, just a different lever feel

And a nice set for sale in the classifieds….

I got some from CRC a few months back and have been very pleased with them.

Cheers groundskeeperwilly but need to pay cash…Yours were tempting though.

Do Magura still do the magnetic pad / piston thing? I used to love that on my Marta SL, such a German thing to do.

I have them on our hire bikes.

Very powerful, magnetic pistons so pad replacement is a doddle

Only gripe is that the whole lever is plastic and very easy to break in a crash, we have broken two..

I put the MT5’s on a bike recently and didn’t realise that Magura discs are thicker than other makes. Bled the brakes a million times and they still felt a bit soft untill I bought and fitted the Magura discs.

Bled the brakes a million times and they still felt a bit soft untill I bought and fitted the Magura discs

D’Oh

Got a set of MT5 on my full suss, they’re damn good if you can get past the plastic lever

They’re stupendously powerful. I reckon I could switch them off my bike onto my car and they’d stop it without a shrug.

In comparison the XT’s I’ve got on the hardtail feel like a set of V brakes.

And all Magura stuff is bomb-proof. They eat pads though! But Superstar do job lots of Kevlars. What’s not to like?

I had some and disliked the wooden feel and the cheap plastic levers. Felt like a huge step down from my hope e4. OK if you can get them cheap but otherwise I’d look elsewhere.

Lever assemblies are made out of a weird plastic/carbon/cheese. Be careful you don’t overtighten and ring them

You can fit upgraded ALU levers that give MT7 adjustment.

Circa £29ea I think.

MT Calipers with Shimano levers, its the future, ive seen it.

If only I could swap over the carbon levers from my old Magura Louise……

Not sure about the Shimano/Magura mix as the Magura oil is known to degrade the Shimano seals. No idea whether Shimano oil will affect Magura seals though.

The ‘Trail’ brake set doesn’t really make sense to me since the MT5s can be found for the same price if not cheaper and means you don’t have to worry about having 2 different types of pads to keep as spares.

Yeah bleed with shimano ideally.

The ‘Trail’ brake set doesn’t really make sense to me

Apparently most of the Magura staff/riders were mixing 4 and 2-pot set ups for better control on the rear – for which the idea caught on and went to market.

I was all set for 4 pot up front and back, but the Trails have had such good write ups that im now awaiting a pair to arrive so I can find out for myself.

The mt5s have different lever blades as well don’t they.

Magura works for some
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukwiWsHXgcM[/video]

I put the MT5’s on a bike recently and didn’t realise that Magura discs are thicker than other makes. Bled the brakes a million times and they still felt a bit soft untill I bought and fitted the Magura discs.

I’ve got mt4s in the hardtail which are excellent with lots of bite, and mt7s on the full susser which aren’t as good. Both on non Magura rotors.

Does having the slightly thinker Magura rotors really make a huge difference? Don’t the pistons just compensate?

There’s only one way to find out..

Found out. They’re great.

Complete opposite to grabby Shimano, bucket loads of gradual modulation, which suits me just fine.
The front 4 pot is silly powerful and the levers are indeed the proper 1-2 finger jobbies and feel really good. The 2 pot / 4 pot combo does seem to actually compliment the brake bias well.

Seems like a no brainier to me. Deffo well worth a look if you fancy something non-Shimano flavoured.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Shimano make excellent brakes and I’ve loved my XTs – but I feel like I’ve instantly gained more control with the MT trails.

That was my feel with lowly M2’s as well – same power, better feel and control.

Was never happy with my MT8’s. Found them lacking in power rather than modulation – soft feel but didn’t feel like the power really increased enough as you pulled them harder. When they get overheated they lose power dramatically (mine didn’t cope with a Basque MTB trip. Lever very flexy so when you pull hard you’re flexing the lever. Maybe the latest revisions are better but I was glad to see the back of them.

I like brakes with modulation but SRAM Guide, or Hope for easier bleeding/repairabilitiy, much better IME.

I’ve read one too many reviews on Hope lacking in ultimate power for me to take them seriously unfortunately.
I haven’t really tested my 4-pot MT to its limit yet and I’ll be disappointed if it fades on a hard descent, but so far so good.

I admit that at first I found them less responsive than I’m used to (most brakes feel like this to me after riding Shimano), but when I applied more lever to the front brake I had a genuine near OTB incident.

Haven’t noticed the any lever flex myself, but the ‘carbo-tech’ (plastic) bodies don’t really look as sharp as other offerings. Despite that, I think they look quite good fitted. The Trail levers look and feel ace though.

These are £124 delivered at Bikester.co.uk with their black Friday discount code.

If you register on their site you get a £10 voucher, not sure if they can be stacked.

Mine arrived today and look fine (no adapters or disks included but it comes with mounting bolts and some spare ferrules and olives if you need to shorten the hoses).

Now £136 with the £10 sign up voucher.

Make sure you use the appropriate rotors, i’ve found them to be excellent.

Have had several OTB near misses on descents whilst getting used to them, i’m loving having this much power on tap.

First ride feedback,

Bloody brilliant. 😀

😀