10 years ago when I built up my first Cotic Soul I had some Magura Menjas I think they were called on it. I really liked them!
Is Magura kit still a “Thing”? Never seem that hear it mentioned now?
While I’ve got you, Pikes on an Orange Crush. Decent upgrade?

Brakes are still good and used by ‘a few’. Forks are no more. Droppers they do make.

They’re a bit like Hope brakes; very popular in their home market but not seen that often elsewhere.

Bike parts are only a very small slice of their business though so it’s not like they’re going bust.

They’re a bit like Hope, but instead of using CNC machines to make brakes from a suitable material they use plastic. Wood screws in the bar clamp and a bleed port grub screw made from blu-tack.

They pretty terrible all around.

They make good, very powerful disc brakes that are popular with ebikers.

They make the hydrostatic drive systems for Pistenbully and ski lift station brake systems.

They make terrible motorbike clutch systems. So terrible that I contemplated sending mine back to Germany with detailed instructions as to where it should be inserted.

Apparently, their brake lever bodies are made of the same material as their moto clutches 🙂

As for being terrible though, I disagree. They make awesome brakes, and the calipers are bombproof. If you manage your newtonometers right, the levers are pretty darn robust too. Love the modulation, not going back to shimano.

If you really, really can’t stand the plastic you can always go shigura.

Crush is an unbelievably capable bike. Yes put Pikes on it, then marvel at how slow many FS bike riders are. Down the same track I doubt I’d be that much faster on my Alpine than on my Crush. Are you mulleting it? I’ve got 29″ 34s on mine but with a 27.5 wheel. It subseqeuntly refuses to stand still when leaned against a wall (as in it’s properly possessed and defies physics). Her only vice.

i run Magura MT7 brakes, two or three of my mates also run them too. they’re incredible stoppers but the levers are a bit brittle… i would change them for something else (but keep calipers) if they didnt feel so nice!

The brakes are among the best feeling I’ve used, but they appear to have a few design flaws (including snappy levers).

I’m still a Shimano guy, but I’d consider them if I had to go elsewhere.

I used some Thor forks for a bit, and then they needed a service kit and replacement some parts and at the time the distribution in the UK was a bit up in the air. They were good forks but it was such a struggle to get parts I moved them on

They do a nice more affordable wireless dropper too, takes a bit to get used to the mechanism but it is nice 😊

The only real gripe I have with Magura brakes are the bleed ports, other than that they’re very, very powerful in either their disc or rim incarnations.
Jnr recently destroyed her hs33 lever, but that’s what happens to most brakes when you dump a bike onto a rock. Definitely a proud dad moment ☺️

Took a punt on some Magura MDP-R rotors in 220mm and have been really liking them, would get them again instead of centre lines or ice tech rotors.

I thought the fix for the fragile Magura brake lever, was to buy one half the price of a new brake..HC LOIC BRUNI Lever Blade

icyseanfitz
They do a nice more affordable wireless dropper too, takes a bit to get used to the mechanism but it is nice 😊

Now if only they did 170mm or longer version…

They used to make an excellent Cannondale Headshok upgrade unit.

My town / pub bike is still running a 15+ year old Marta SL disc brake.

I see Magura brakes on a daily basis in Scotland, never thought they unusual at all. Their brakes are brilliant both in terms of feel and power. However, brakes are often a very personal thing. Some can’t get over the plastic lever body. In many years of use it’s never caused me the slightest issue, but there you go. They can be tricky to bleed though and have a tendency to rub.

I’m assuming the lever body is Delrin or some variation thereof? Never seemed to be an issue for bash guards.

There’s also Oak components, making aftermarket levers and offering a little reinforcement to the hose connection.

There’s a pair of Julie HP brakes on an old bike of mine. They work well, and are onto their 13th year of service.
Pads replaced regularly and have been bled a grand total of two times with a full change of fluid.

I have nothing bad said of these particular brakes.

I thought the fix for the fragile Magura brake lever, was to buy one half the price of a new brake..HC LOIC BRUNI Lever Blade

I think the fragile lever thing is a bit misleading. I assume people mean the master cylinder.

I’ve crashed mine plenty and not broken a lever but I have busted a master cylinder (the lever was still complete, the master cylinder was ruined though which was clearly very fragile, just like the forks wheel and handlebar I killed in the same crash I guess)

One thing with the levers is if they’re over extended backwards they can break the stop tab on the pivoty bit.
There’s two fixes to that (beyond not opening them up to 90 degrees to the bar in the first place obviously which I don’t suppose does wonders for anyone else’s brakes either)
A dab of jb weld or similar will replace the stop tab as a bodge but…
To fix it properly, with a bit of patience and a couple of teeny screwdrivers or other poking sticks, the spring that the stop tab protects can be pushed back into place in the lever and Bob’s your mother’s brother.

^ interesting. I have bruni levers with broken tabs and I just used a small cable tie to avoid them over extending. Works well, looks bad.
I will look more carefully at the spring.

I will look more carefully at the spring.

It’ll be obvious hopefully if one is good and one not but…

Assuming it’s not broken off over time you should see the arm of the spring poking out between the lever blade, and the body.

It should push back past the silver metal pivoty/plunger roddy thing, and then hooks behind a shoulder waaay back into the lever, it is fiddly and definitely a two handed job but once you get it past the shoulder that’s it done.
(Pro tip, push from the middle of the spring so it curves a bit and lift it away from the side of the lever at the same time, in order to engage properly its “too long” to just push straight past)

Cheers! Will try and see how I get on.

Hmmm. The spring is there but the gap is v tight and the plunger is massive with no room to move anything past it. I couldn’t really move it at all tbh.
Maybe I need the lever completely off the lever body to do this.

Cable tie back on for now!

https://youtube.com/shorts/mtysTkr8oTA?feature=share

Not sure if this helps @yak

I did mine with it attached to the bar, I did have the bike vertical though which helped with access/visibility

Cheers all, fixed now. Perfect, no falling away, no play. Ready to ride! Well I’m not….. still injured from last weekend’s stack, but hey, brakes are good.

Magura’s old stuff, forks (have some Wotans from new that were amazing once a few internals swapped about, and are still going on a back up bike), rim brakes etc.

Most folks problems are that bikes sold online/distance just come out of a box, then a random end user is using a torx for the first time (or just hammer a 3 or 4mm in there) and ‘tighter must be betterer’ kind of attitude = split master cylinder.

They have a bad rep for leaks too, usually hose/olive/barb/union type of leak rather than pistons crack n fail like shimano (again often down to end user hamfists), and many bike shops do not stock or even have access to the right parts from magura, instead jamming some shimano jobs in there, which are close, but not quite.

When working well, the e5/e8?? series of Magura 4 pots are epic, but many folk through in the towel before they get that far.

My only gripe with them is the 4 pots run very close to the disc, so alignment has to be several times better than most can manage. Many bikes need a proper facing before they go out with these brakes, any misalignment in the mount at all = infinite annoying pad rub