Submitted by
adam
a Weekend Warrior
from killeen tx
Date Reviewed: June 17, 2004
Strengths: good looks, light, powerful, bend "easily"
Weaknesses: none
Bottom Line:
I have broke an lx lever(causing a puncture wound in my hand) and the deore. this gives you no option but to buy another set. the avids are designed to bend rather than break this is safer and gives you a chance bend them back. my sd5's did bend about ten degrees on a rather hard crash not the first one i promise and i rode my bike like that for over a month and then fixed them and put them on my hard tail still working fine the mags have seen their fare share of wrecks too and no problems yet. for those that are bending them all the time try these two things; rotate the levers so they are not pointed straight up and keep the bike on its wheels
Similar Products Used: deore,lx,avid sd5,other cheap no names
Bike Setup: 04 stumpjumper fsr w/avid mech disc brakes and mag levers
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Submitted by
Phil Guiver
a Cross Country Rider
from Ottawa
Date Reviewed: April 2, 2004
Strengths: Light Adjustable Strong Powerful Looks kool
Weaknesses: None so far...
Bottom Line:
These are the best levers I have tried... yet the only ones besides those crummy stock levers that came on my bike. Adjustability is a good addition to these levers. Buy them now! ...And they also look insanely kool!
Bike Setup: Cannondale F400 Stock except for Easton EA70 Flatbar, Avid Mag Levers, Avid Single Digit 7 Calipers and Michelin Tires.
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Submitted by
Derek
a Cross Country Rider
from Edmonds, WA
Date Reviewed: May 17, 2002
Strengths: Light, look good, setup really easily, feel better than anything Shimano or SRAM. Simple design.
Weaknesses: Bent twice in crashes, now the finish is cracking off because of the bending, and I'm afraid for the magnesium, especially since I'm not sure but I think magnesium gets really weak when it is bare and exposed to water.
Bottom Line:
These levers would be perfect if you never crashed. But this is mountain biking, and if you never crash every once in a while, you're not pushing yourself enough. I'm kinda sad to toss them because they worked soo soo well. Oh well, I'm getting the Ultimates now, those will work even better and not break (I work at a shop, and can still barely afford them).
Submitted by
Oscar
a Cross Country Rider
from Miami, FL, USA
Date Reviewed: March 3, 2002
Strengths: Good looks, Great feel, Stiff and works great.
Weaknesses: These levers bend easy and break.
Bottom Line:
If your an aggressive rider I don't recommend these levers. I've had to bend the levers back to place more then twice and this past week the lever broke off on a fall. Yes they look and feel good but unless you don't plan on falling get something that can with stand a little more punishment.
Bike Setup: trek 6500frame: uraccos: xt: bonti's and ritchey the rest.
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Submitted by
E-Train
a Cross Country Rider
from Ridgefield, CT
Date Reviewed: June 27, 2001
Strengths: Sweet feel that you come to expect from avid
Weaknesses: Might be a little heavy
Bottom Line:
I've had good luck with these levers so far. I was able to buy them online cheap, so they didn't cost me much. It seems like there is a real problem with these levers braking, but I've been lucky so far. Overall, there a good pair of levers.
Submitted by
Calvin
a Cross Country Rider
from Muskoka, Canada
Date Reviewed: June 14, 2001
Strengths: typical Avid feel and performance
Weaknesses: bends as easy as cooked spagetti
Bottom Line:
I've read the other reviews and I have to agree with the two recurring trends I noticed: levers bend way to easily, and poor customer service. When I e-mailed Avid with warranty issues they responded by insulting my intelligence and attributing thoughts and opinions to me that I simply did not express. They were far too defensive and after reading the other reviews I now know why: it seems the problems I have had with the Mag levers is very prevalent. On the plus side, after about five weeks the did eventually send me Ti levers as replacement. Overall, I like Avid levers but would suggest getting the old 1.9's if you can. The ones I've had on my hardtail for three years now are barely recognizable from the abuse they've taken from crashes, yet they still perform almost as good as they did new.
Submitted by
Nate
a Cross Country Rider
from Waldport ,Or 97394
Date Reviewed: June 13, 2001
Strengths: They work great when there not bent or broken.Geat feel but I think that just comes with any Avid lever.
Weaknesses: Boke two Damn pair! Not to mention that I've bent them several time just on stupid stuff before they broke.
Bottom Line:
Don't buy these unless you love to buy stuff and have it break.Not to mention loosing a ride because the damn lever broke in your hand!If I coukd give these things a negative rating,I would.Regular SpeedDials are tuff,but the mags just to soft.
Bike Setup: Custom Ogel Ti frame,lots of RaceFace and XTR.No Rapid Fire,thus the Avids.
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Submitted by
næstep
a Downhiller
from SF Bay Area, California
Date Reviewed: April 25, 2001
Strengths: Avid Customer Service Speed Dial modulation adjustment Nice Feel
Weaknesses: Heavier than advertised Some slop in pivot (problem solved?)
Bottom Line:
After breaking a Shimano lever in a low-speed endo and going through the frusteration of trying to get a replacement part, I gave up. I turned to Avid for their reputation of strong customer support and replacement parts availability. I wasn't disappointed.
I settled on the Mags more for the asthetics than anything else. Every indication in the mtbr brake forum and here in the reviews shows they are heavier than advertised, so if you're watching weight, don't be surprised. From that standpoint, they are a little overpriced.
The Speed Dial feature is a very useful adjustment to have literally at your fingertips. This allows me to find the right balance of power and modulation with my disc up front and my Arch Rivals in the rear. The Shimano levers I used previously had only 3 settings, and involved removing the brake cable and tweezing out little plastic blocks — not very practical on the trail.
One of my levers was missing a small Ny-lock nut in the Speed Dial adjuster. I wrote to Avid asking for an extra nut, but instead recieved 2 brand new levers in the mail no more than 3 days later.
The new levers solved another "problem" I didn't know I had: the original levers had a little slop in the pivots, the new ones did not. The slop was only noticable when the levers were free. Once I connected the brake cable, there was no slop apparant and no difference in feel between the new and old levers.
Avid's customer service shouldn't be overlooked. It impresseed me enough that I eventually purchased their mechanical disc brake, and just recently their Arch Rival side-pull brakes. They've since sent me new-compound pads for the discs, and a tighter noodle for the AR50s, free of charge. I don't think I'd see this level of customer support from Shimano or SRAM. That definitely adds to the value of their product.
Submitted by
uglyvern
a Cross Country Rider
from SF
Date Reviewed: April 24, 2001
Strengths: Works well, reach and modulation adjustments.
Weaknesses: Overpriced and deceptively marketed.
Bottom Line:
Avid's speed dial Mags were marketed on the Avid web site as the thing to get "when every gram counts." Well, that's a load of crap. These levers work fine for me, but they cost a lot. For the price, you are supposed to get a lightweight component. The pair of levers specs at 142g, but when you put them on a gram balance, you find out they actually weigh 174.3g -- that's the spec weight for the much cheaper Speed Dial 7's. Avid doesn't sell the Mag series anymore, now they have the Ti series, which looks the same as the Mag stuff, and supposedly specs to a similarly light weight. They're probably lying about those, too.
Bike Setup: GT hardtail frame with assorted components
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Submitted by
Kelly Paasch
a Cross Country Rider
from Utah
Date Reviewed: March 8, 2001
Strengths: light, cool looking
Weaknesses: weaker than anything I've ever seen, bad costumer service
Bottom Line:
Got the levers on my new 2001 rockett stage 1. Out of the box the right lever was straight but had hos stretch marks. I didn't think to big of a deal of it. I went on two off road rides and like five street rides and after one crash on the stairs the left lever just broke off. And the right lever bent, not because it hit something but because of the pressure from my hand on it. For the record, I also have never broke a lever before. So I called avid about a warrenty and the guy was nice and said he would send me a new set if I sent the old ones back (I work at a shop) and so now its been over three weeks and NOTHING has arrived from avid. I am very disapointed with there customer service also and will never get a speed dial mag lever set again, because they are so increadibly weak. Not only did the levers suck but the customer service either flat out lied or is to unorganized to do their job.
Similar Products Used: XT, XTR, LX, AVID 20, Avid 10, REAL
Bike Setup: 2001 rockett
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Submitted by
Troy
a Cross Country Rider
from Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: December 18, 2000
Strengths: Cool bronze colour and groovy cutouts.
Weaknesses: The lever arms are SOFT and bend very easily.
Bottom Line:
I bent the left lever arm on my first ride.
I am a small rider in my mid 30's and I enjoy cross-country riding. I leave the gnarly downhill stuff to the younger crowd. But, like most cross-country riders I do occasionaly wipeout. On my first ride I went over the bars at about 5Km/H. Quite graceful actually, and I landed in a soft pile of brush. My bike was perfectly fine except for the bent lever.
In another similar mishap a few months later I bent the right lever.
The levers are VERY easy to bend back to their original shape, owing to the absolute softness of the material used in their construction (I think it's some kind of jello with a mild hardening agent). However, I don't know how many times I can rebend the levers before they snap. Also, the bending forces the brake hoods apart resulting in a very sloppy and loose brake lever.
I recommend that everyone avoid these levers like the plague until the arm material can be improved.
Submitted by
Tom
a Weekend Warrior
from Woonsocket, RI
Date Reviewed: November 9, 2000
Strengths: Strong braking, Good modulation, Good feel, Super adjustable, Light weight
Weaknesses: Bend way too easy
Bottom Line:
I've been using Avid brakes for almost 3 years and have always been impressed with their braking systems and these are no exception. They work great but bend way too easy. I had a pretty soft crash and bent both levers pretty good. And for the record I have never bent a lever in 4 years of mountain biking. I heard that Avid has a great crash replacement policy so no big deal right? Wrong! One phone call and two emails later they have not even responded to me. Their website promises they will answer all emails. They obviously don't(It's been over 3 weeks). When I called I was told that their customer service rep was at lunch and was promised that if I left a message on his voice mail he would get back to me as soon as possible. I've been waiting 2 weeks on that one. I will try calling one more time and if this isn't taken care of I will never buy another Avid product again. Overall I can't reccommend these levers. 5 chillies for performance minus 2 for bending too easy, minus 3 for piss poor customer service. I'd give them a zero if I could.
