I found one thread from a few months ago but not much info then, anyone had any real time experience with a Shigura set up? I am thinking of going with deore levers and MT5 calipers.

Cheers in advance

I just set some up at the weekend for the first time. Lots and lots of power and it’s not as on off as I was expecting. I like having the levers really close to the bars and they work well as the levers have a small amount of pull before they engage.

It was easy to do, magura hose, magura pin and Shimano olive. I used Shimano fluid to bleed (it ended up purple when mixed with the royal blood).

Old style slx M675 levers with MT5 calipers.

Do it!!

@neb which model MT5’s? 2015 or 2018? I can find both at the moment and am leaning towards 2018 for the sake of a few quid. I am attaching them to a new set of M520 Deore levers or some Older SLX levers, haven’t decided which yet. Good to hear your whole hearted approval as it seems a bit odd mixing and matching

I Google translated lots of the massive mtb-news.de thread about shigura to find any shortcomings. The only thing I could find was that the pads sit quite close to the disk, which to be fair is a magura problem and nothing to do with the Shimano lever.

The other thing is that the master cylinder in the Shimano levers is smaller than the equivalent magura, so when the pads are nearly worn out you can pull the levers to the bar (it happens gradually so you do get a bit of notice!) I thing to overcome this you can intentionally overfill the system or use thicker disks (the magura ones are thicker)

I bought the bike discount MT5s, €150 for 2 full brakes with massive hoses! (€190 with disks) I’m assuming they were 2018 model?

To be fair I’ve only used them for a couple of rides and I’m comparing them against an old set of SRAM guides (fully bled) but the power is a big step up. I guess I’ll see how they hold up over the winter

I might go with the Magura specified discs as well then to avoid the issue you mentioned. Looks like the price is the same as you paid so I am hovering over the button. Did you try the Magura lever first or go straight for the swap?

I picked the lever up and it felt like a kids plastic toy, it felt awful. The caliper is the opposite, really heavy and sturdy. The standard lever blades looked uncomfortable so I just chopped off and replaced them with the Shimano levers I had.

The bleed was ok, I used the funnel on the lever with a syringe on the caliper and just push-pulled until the bubbles stopped.

tried Shigella once – that was shite

Keenly watching this thread. How do they compare to Sram brakes regarding lever feel? I’ve ran Shimano previously but didn’t like the on off feel so reverted back to Guides which Im really happy with, I’m just looking for a bit more power…..contemplating putting Code calipers on but read about Shiguras and now I’m intrigued.

I have a set of MAgura mt5 calipers on Shimano zee levers which feel great to me all the power you could possibly need and a nice feeling lever, I only changed the levers as I have had too many magura levers fail and leak. Getting the magura hose to seal on the lever took a couple of attempts and I ended up using magura olives and barbs as the hose diameter is smaller than Shimano hose. Been running them a month with no issues. I also have a set with deore levers which don’t feel quite as good but that may be because they are old levers

I was worried that they’d be too on/off coming from guides but they seem ok. I thought I’d have a few scary moments, but I noticed more how quickly I could slow down, braking late was fine.

Currently have a MT7 and the front of the MT trail which is basically a MT5 but looks cooler in silver, sitting in the shopping basket. Which one to choose 🙂
Also I am going to be using existing hoses that are attached to my current Shim levers, any issue you can see?

I think the hoses are different and you have to use the magura hoses. The banjo that fits to the caliper is the difficult bit as it will only clamp to the magura hose.

The calipers of the mt5 and mt7 are identical other than the pads which you can retro fit.

The calipers of the mt5 and mt7 are identical other than the pads which you can retro fit.

So basically pick the cheapest or best looking depending on your requirements?

That sounds about it. You can also customise the circles on the outside of the pistons to make them suit your bike if you really want to, although it’s expensive for 4 bits of plastic!

Done! MT5 set with discs £169.00.
Thanks for the info @neb & @Luke

Nice one! Let us know how it goes!

I know this is taking a long time and it isn’t quite panning out as I planned. I have fitted the MT5’s and shortened the hoses but decided to keep the Magura levers on for a while. It felt wrong to just discard them so I am going to give them a bash. Probably use them over winter and when I do the big clean in spring I will swap the deore levers onto them.

No riding yet as I messed up on a few parts on the rest of the build so waiting for new things to arrive before it is all complete.

Thoughts on XTR 9100 lever with MT SL 2 pot caliper both front and rear with 203/180 rotors?