I just had a Magura Marta SL brake from late 2007 fail. It appears that the seals in the master cylinder (brake lever) have failed, and they’re not replaceable. I’d have to replace the entire brake lever assembly, but they’re no longer available from Magura. I’ll look on ebay and such, but its a bit of a roll of the dice there.

So I may need to buy new brakes. While I loved my Maguras, I doubt that I’d buy them again because they are expensive. And parts like brake pads aren’t commonly available in stock at a LBS.

I do prefer mineral oil over DOT; which Shimano uses. And Shimano brakes are much more common than Magura, so pads and such are easy to find.

Does anyone have a feel for how long spares (would be caliper and master cylinder) are available for Shimano after a newer model is introduced?

Caliper and lever assemblies? A good few years (madison still show some 960 stuff in stock).
Spare seals/pistons etc?They don’t do spares.

Joe – re you very last point / question: I have some xt brakes, seal went after appx 18 / 20 months, LBS didn’t stock seal and were sceptical about availability, so they sent them back to shimano – who didn’t have seals, but replaced under warranty – no questions! So if outside of warranty period, I may have struggled…

Never had any issues with hope, either the specific part is available – or they just replace component regardless – no messing (which is why I always start with Hope).

I’m American, so Hope is sort of like Magura over here; not mainstream like Avid and Shimano. The LBS does like Hope stuff, but its not easy finding pads in stock.

What is the Shimano warranty period?

What is the Shimano warranty period?

from memory 12months for everything other than XTR, which is 24 in the UK, but for the US market?????

US warranty per Shimano’s site

So, buying XTR gets you an additional year of warranty over XT…

US warranty may well not be the same as UK.

Bear in mind the (universal?) compatability between all calipers and levers, old and new.