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Brakes & Gears Etc

MAGURA MT5/7 BRAKES

Over the past few years we’ve seen some impressive products from German brands roll the Dirt office doors. YT, Canyon and more recently Radon have dished up incredibly well sorted bikes with very keen pricing. In the last year, mostly through testing e-bikes, we’ve been reintroduced to the German brand Magura.

Well known in the past for their early entry into the hydraulic rim brake and disc brake market, we’ve seen very few of this brand’s components as standard spec on production bikes – until now. The Magura Gustav was a very well regarded heavy duty brake back in the day and a popular sight. SRAM and Shimano have mostly dominated the current market, with Hope, Formula and now TRP making occasional appearances. 

It seems that we’ve been missing out though… and the experience with these brakes on the Cube Stereo Hybrid HPA 160 and Moustache Samedi e-bikes had us talking. These German stoppers were exceptional performers and we ordered both the MT5 and MT7 brakes in for further testing. Fast forward six months and they’ve found a slot in this year’s Dirt 100…

The MT5 and MT7 are the two models that sit in Magura’s range of gravity brakes, with a special edition Danny MacAskill version of the MT7 available too. The MT5 is basically a cheaper version of the MT7 but both brakes use a four pot calliper and run on Magura’s low viscosity mineral called Royal Blood and share very similar characteristics and feel. Built in their German factory, both models have a very well engineered look and feel, with plenty of the brand’s motorcycle braking tech and thinking in their design.

‘It almost feels like your fingers are on the discs, so sensitive is the feeling. Simply superb’

The MT7 really is the one to go for if funds allow but we really do love everything about both these brakes. Primarily it’s the sensory stuff that this Magura brake is simply so good at. There’s a super sensitive connectivity between lever and disc, which no other brake manufacturer offers quite like.

The materials feel right, the lever shape is spot on and stiffness/flex is excellent too. As we’ve found with heavy e-mtb’s the power delivery is consistent, precise and reliable. It’s all you need in a brake on a downhill bike or e-bike.

In terms of details, this ‘heir to the Gustav’, which was one of the brands most iconic stoppers, is said to deliver ‘optimum heat transfer, a clearly defined pressure point, with maximum power’ and it really does live up to Magura’s promise. The MT7 has an adjustable, tool free bite point adjust, 4 piston design, and weighs in at a respectable 375g .

One of the surprises of the year and instant hit for us at Dirt. Superb stoppers, whether you plump for the higher spec MT7 or the more affordable MT5 – Magura are well and truly back on form with these brakes.

PRICE: MT5: £185.98 PAIR (no rotors/adapters) 

             MT7: £365.98 PAIR (no rotors/adapters)

magura.com

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Selected for Dirt 100 2017

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