Magura Hydraulic V brakes?

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Apr 30, 2011
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410
Location
Bradford, UK
I've been looking at some Magura Hydraulic brakes on fleabay as a potential replacement for the piss poor cable V brakes on my beach cruiser. Even after a thorough clean after a few weeks one pad will drag on the rim and wear itself down fast. I go through an alarming amount of brake pads riding everyday. The frame has no disc mounts so I've got to go with V bakes,

Does anyone have any experience with the magura hydraulic V bakes, are they going to play nicely with 2.5" hookworm tires and the front fender?
 
I use 'em and love 'em! Modulation and feel is truly exceptional.

Unfortunately, I've never used em with hookworms but do with 2.4" CST cyclops tires and seems to be plenty of room. Cool thing about em is no need for a master cylinder since little, if any, heat ever reaches the fluid. You'll need a service bleeding kit, an extra fitting and Magura blood fluid.

I found some Magura metallic pads to be pretty aggressive and chew the rim a bit. Clark's sells pads that work well and much easier on rims for about $8 set.

For the front use a "multiplier" or whatever it's called? Basically, an arch hoop that prevents the forks from spreading as much when applied with a lot of force. These things can crush a rim if you wanted to. My rear set doesn't seem to need the multiplier since the swingarm is very sturdy but you'll probably want to use one on the front forks.

Some forks can be a problem fit though. My cheapo Mongoose steel suspension fork wouldn't work but Marzzochi MX Bomber work fine. Throw up a pic of your forks and I might be able to tell if you'd have trouble?
 
Yep, Magura HS brakes absolutely need a booster, front and rear. They will be better than your mechanical brakes and will fit a 2.5 tire if you buy the proper booster for this, or grind the one that comes standard with the brake set.

Not every brake pads for the HS are suitable for speed. Consider that those are trial brakes and are made to be precise at low speed.
 
I agree, thanks everyone for the advice so far, I was looking at the Monark II springer fork which supports disc mount but it doesn't support a front fender, which I really need as it's for daily commuting on wet roads. It is indeed a 1 and 1/8th headset and I have no problem with upgrading to disc forks, I have a spare BB7 calliper knocking around but want something that is in keeping with the cruiser style. Any recommendations? would love a springer fork.

So is the Magura universally compatible with V brake bosses like those on the rigid steel forks of the Schwinn Panther?
 
I fitted a set of Magura HS33's onto my lads Trials bicycle, we fitted the boosters aswell which definitely make a difference, yes they fit onto standard V brake mounts.
I dont know how well brake pads stand upto contact with a rim at high speed on an ebike but at low speed on the trials bike these are better than discs.
 
I'm interested in their ability to not suck in terms of one pad dragging or working fine for the first 10 miles and then being crap after that. My bike doesn't go over 20mph so high speed isn't really a problem, the back rim is an alexrims DM24 but the front is the standard Schwinn, if it's anything like the other metal components of the bike it will probably brake in two with the added force of the Hydraulics, guess it's time to take the plunge on at least a front brake and see how it goes.
 
Setup properly they do not drag plus they wear very consistent and last a long time for me. Allen wrench adjustment works quite nicely to take up wear slack and with the right combination of quick release levers they're easy to take on/off should you need to remove a wheel or change pads. They're also very quiet on my Mammoth Fat rims with Clark's pads.

There seems to be an entire science about their pads so I just stick with the rubber Clark's for over 4k miles and no complaints. 30 MPH bike...

Booster is the word for that arched contraption, thanks guys. Yeah, I trimmed a little off to squeeze over 2.4" tires.

Great brakes though, something nice about squeezing a rim with hydro power instead of a disc rotor that's attached by spokes to the rim. Easy to see why trick riders would love em!
 
Ykick said:
I found some Magura metallic pads to be pretty aggressive and chew the rim a bit. Clark's sells pads that work well and much easier on rims for about $8 set.
/quote]
My bike came with some Magura hydro V brakes, and I like 'em. I have yet to try them in the wet however. Are all the pads compatible between models as I'm needing some new ones soon.

Also I found they do 2 kinds, red and black:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=35456

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=55831

Are the red ones worth the extra?
 
HypnoToad said:
Ykick said:
I found some Magura metallic pads to be pretty aggressive and chew the rim a bit. Clark's sells pads that work well and much easier on rims for about $8 set.
My bike came with some Magura hydro V brakes, and I like 'em. I have yet to try them in the wet however. Are all the pads compatible between models as I'm needing some new ones soon.

Also I found they do 2 kinds, red and black:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=35456

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=55831

Are the red ones worth the extra?

Dunno about those red pads, never tried em? Double $$$

IIRC pads fit all Magura models, HS11, 22, 33. I notice little difference wet except after crossing a deep puddle there's sometimes one rotation delay as the pads scrape the water off the contact surface. Isn't as bad as some solid disc rotors I've used on motorcycles though. These things can squeeze like mad and they tend to easily overcome water films.

I've got disc mounts front/rear and yet haven't felt any need to install discs. I wouldn't spend crazy money on 'em for a commuter but if the price is right, they're pretty cool...
 
The hard, ceramic pads can destroy a thin rim in no time with hydro pressure, better use rubber with your rims or buy Sun BFM that are really made for those brakes. The red rubber are perfect after some wear, they are black inside and it is when you start to see the black spot in the middle that they are at their best. A bit noisy in the rain, the wet is their limitation and they don't come close to a good disc brake for that.
 
nonlineartom said:
I've been looking at some Magura Hydraulic brakes on fleabay as a potential replacement for the piss poor cable V brakes on my beach cruiser. Even after a thorough clean after a few weeks one pad will drag on the rim and wear itself down fast. I go through an alarming amount of brake pads riding everyday. The frame has no disc mounts so I've got to go with V bakes,

Does anyone have any experience with the magura hydraulic V bakes, are they going to play nicely with 2.5" hookworm tires and the front fender?

I used Maguras twenty years ago. They worked very well, but I did not keep them very long.

Power and feel are excellent. Pad life of the harder compound pads is also excellent. So I had no qualms at all regarding performance. I was not crazy about the available levers at the time, bleeding the brakes was a PITA, and disconnecting them to get the wheel in and out was also needlessly fiddly compared to cantis or linear pulls. They were not tunable at all for feel or lever response.

They'll clear any tire and fender, even 5" Surly fatties if you want, but you might have to put in a longer bridge hose between the two slave cylinders.

It would be WAY cheaper and more convenient to just get some good quality long arm V brakes or wide profile cantilevers, set them up right, and keep the pivots lubed. Just because your current brakes are trashy doesn't mean you have to use something exotic to get satisfactory performance. Good brakes will stay centered and not drag, and salmon compound Kool Stop pads wear like iron.

Chalo
 
I always found that after going to all the trouble of aligning the spherical slave cylinder seats and aligning the pads getting the pad clearance balanced etc it was far easier to leave them in place when removing the wheel but let the tyre down instead so it would fit between the pads.
 
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