We all joke about never using our brakes, faster the better and all that jazz yet I think the most tech talk I hear on trails is about people comparing their brakes and trying to figure out what the best brake is. Well over the last year I have been on models from SRAM, SHIMANO and now MAGURA.
Simple job; stop you before you run into something, but like everything, there are a million variants to just how well they do it. I think one of the best features of the MT7’s that I am on is just how much adjustability there is to dial in and get things working perfectly for your style of riding.
Right out of the box, I knew I was onto something pretty awesome. 4 piston design, 4 brake pads, single finger levers and enough adjustment knobs to fly a plane. The mounting was a breeze, I literally dropped my bike off to the guys at Sticky Bottle in Manly and when I finished my first coffee my brakes were ready to roll.
Straight to the steepest gravity trails that I could get to. It took me a while to get them dialled in, right out of the box the MT7 had so much power I was locking up on every turn. Fun to skid but not so good when you were just trying to ease into an off camber turn. But with no tool adjustment getting things dialled on the trail is so easy. Long steeps squeezing the brakes normally would have your brakes on fire but the 4 piston design from Magura keeps them cool and consistent from top to bottom. The modulation is amazing.
I can honestly say I haven’t found a negative yet, I have had a few crashes lately that before I would have bent or broken levers and nothing but some dirt and grass stuck in a knob. BOMBPROOF. I haven’t had to bleed them yet but after watching a few clips and talking with other athletes I don’t think it’s going to be that tough at all.
Thank you so much to the guys from Eurocycles Australia for giving me the opportunity to ride these brakes. I think this has been the best upgrade for my bike that I have done.
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Words: Steve Leeder
Photos: Ben Sykes
Brakeset provided by the Australian distributor, Eurocycles Australia / Instagram @eurocycles_australia