Fully hydraulic rim brake system with a 16mm diameter master piston and two 14mm diameter slave pistons. Composite brake lever with forged 3-finger aluminium lever blade.
Similar Products Used: shimano lx v-brakes, shimano xt diskbrakes
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Submitted by
Adam Fenner
a Weekend Warrior
from Bath / Bristol England
Date Reviewed: June 22, 2004
Strengths: Powerfull super durable. No need to service.
Weaknesses: Paint finish isnt very durable, underneath the nice paint is some ugly alloy, aghh salty.
Bottom Line:
These brakes are awsome, OK so the HS33's are loads more powerfull, but if your not puney, both will fully lock the wheel. I have had these 6years and only once touched / serviced them, after a crash I snapped a pipe, make sure you get some quick release's as their not standard on the old HS11's, with a broken pipe the pads lock-up, so I had to drag my bike home hobbling all grazed up - no its not that funny.. Do get boosters too, these can flex any frame even my oversized bad boy.. I have HS33's on a trials bike, they are better, but I was more than happy with the HS11's.. Magura are better than all other rim brakes and most disk's
Bike Setup: Cannondale Beast of the East - standard setup exept swapped gripshifts for leavers, didnt like them since first encountered on a Grifter
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Submitted by
Al
a Cross Country Rider
from Derbyshire, England
Date Reviewed: February 13, 2003
Strengths: When set up they work, in the context of rim brakes, these are the best. You must use boosters, even if you've got the strongest, most rigid frame and forks going, because the break mounting lugs themselves will flex and bend! The do work well, just lots of but's...
Weaknesses: 1. The hex-screws that fix the breaks to the mounts are not designed correctly - the heads are too flat and the hex-hole is too deep, so there is approx 0.4mm of actual metal connecting the head to the shaft of these bolts. If you are heavy handed then get used to drilling them out and glueing a small screw into the broken off stub so you can get it out of the mounts. 2. When fitting, they say it's easy to trim the cables and refit to the lever tapered connectors - my ar**! Unless you are the incredible hulk, you'll need to open the end up by inserting a screwdrive or some such down the cable and twisting it to make the whole big enough. Heating the cable doesn't work, it just cracks. The blood fitted as standard (green stuff) is rubbish, you need to get some thinner synthetic stuff and feel the difference. Quite why they skimp and put this grean slop in expensive breaks is beyond me, they'd work better with cooking fat. 3. The levers are plastic, if you do XC then great, if you are likely to hang a lot of weight on the levers when doing tricks, or bail out often, then don't even look at these breaks - in this case they may as well be made of lime jelly. 4. The nature of they way the breaks flex means that the wheen should really only be run with the wheel running into them, if that makes sense. Ok, maybe not, but I mean that back is fine, but the front should be mounted behind the forks if possible, facing backwards, not on the front - unless you want to stop best with the front wheel when you're rolling backwards. 5. The black pads are average - middle of the road - standard compound jobs - but they do last ages. You need green-frog's for worn rims in bad weather, or red for polished rims in bad weather - but they'll wear out after a month or so.
Bottom Line:
The only reason you should consider these breaks is if it's technically impossible to fit disks to you frame and forks, or on a trials bike where you're likely to break/bend disks on a rock or something! If you've already got V breaks or something, just keep them till you can save the bit extra up for disks, you'll regret getting stuck with Maguras after you've tried some average disk breaks. You think they're cheaper than disks and disk-hub wheels? Try paying £22.00 ($33.00) every month or two for break pads from those profiteering people at Ven Hill Engineering (01306 885111), or £24.00 ($36.00) for a mini service kit to blead them - they refuse to sell a blead kit for £7.00. Overall, after 6 months - 1 year - they they work out a heck of a lot more expensive than disks, and don't work any where near as well as disks. Forget them, they only became popular on trials bikes and before mountain bike disk breaks became affordable with standard mounts. One the distributors get their hooks into you, you'll be paying out lots of money for the pads and bleed kits. Still gave them 4 Chilis because in the context of rim breaks, they are still the best.
Bike Setup: Monty Hydra, x-lite cranks handlebars and stem. HS33's, etc
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Submitted by
calum
a Downhiller
from rainy scotland, uk
Date Reviewed: July 9, 2002
Strengths: Cheap (£40). Very powerful (a lot more than even the best v's if set up properly). Need practically no attention or adjustment once set, even when removed and then re-fitted on bike.
Weaknesses: Fiddly to set up, especially the first time, but once set brilliant performance. Can be too powerful - my frame started to bend worryingly, sorted with a booster though.
Bottom Line:
Excellent stopping power. Cheap, light, looks good. Booster increases power even more and allows you to set them even more precisely (which can take a while, but wont require re-setting). Very reliable, had no problems with them since I got them more than 2 years ago, and I've never had to bleed them or even clean them - once set they work for ages. A great product and great value for money.
Similar Products Used: Cheap V's, Shimano XT v's, Formula Activa discs.
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Submitted by
dave
a Weekend Warrior
from barnsley, UK
Date Reviewed: March 29, 2002
Strengths: + when setup well = stopping power + Cheap when considering performance
Weaknesses: - if you do any XC in wet forget it. The pads run down in a matter of hours - Pretty hard to setup. I'd recommend getting a store at setup for you inless your confident of your ablility - I found lever to be a bit too long and its not 2 fingered.
Bottom Line:
Very good brake if you just getting into trail and want something good but cheaper. Not really for the hardcore rider, the lever dont take too much abuse. Saying that a good brake system work the money...
Bike Setup: Planetx Jackflash, XT crank + gear setup, sun rhino lite and sun MMF, bomber z4
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Submitted by
Alex Green
a Weekend Warrior
from London, England
Date Reviewed: June 12, 2001
Strengths: Solid construction, quiet, reasonable stopping power on soft blocks.
Weaknesses: No stopping power on hard/medium blocks, soft blocks last 5 minutes, pain in the ass to set up and maintain, make the back of the frame flex even with a booster on. Completely useless in the wet.
Bottom Line:
I have the latest HS12 model, which is a marginal updtae of the 11's. I wouldn't really recommend these as the HS33 setup doesn't cost a lot more. If you get them setup properly with new soft blocks on clean rims you can scare yourself with the amount of stopping power, 25 mileslater they are lifeless and need a good hard yank to work. Not much for tricks as you need to use both hands to get the brakes to pull hard enough. Budget for regular block changes or dull performance on hard blocks. Easy to release wheel though. Get full of mud at the slightest hint of the sticky stuff and stop working all together wen the going gets tough. Build quality is very good and solid and will last a long time, if kept in check these are good brakes, but can you really be bothered? not me! I'm changing to a front disc as soon as finances allow. It does make a good back brake (with an alloy booster) as the amount of graduation in pull makes it easy to get out of a lock up. very good if road riding is your thing (I'm about 50/50 on road to off).
Similar Products Used: Assorted V-brakes, lotsa discs from Hayes mechanical to hope an enduros.
Bike Setup: GT Palomar 2001, Shimano STX shifters, aluminium stem and flat bars, Magura HS12 brake setup.
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Submitted by
Robert
a Weekend Warrior
from Glasgow
Date Reviewed: March 27, 2001
Strengths: Very powerful. plush lever pull compared with Vs. Very lightweight
Weaknesses: very squeaky when wet. a real pain to set up perfectly. if not fully bled pistons make an annoying popping sound. pistons can be too slow sometimes to decompress
Bottom Line:
these brakes can be very good when in perfect form. however if u buy a set i suggest u buy a bleeding kit with them cos when u go to adjust the pistons they always slacken off, bleeding kit would eliminate this due to only having to align the pistons and not needing to move them any closer to the rim. dont get me wrong, i really like these brakes and i wouldnt go back to Vs, but if i had tried discs before i bought the maguras i prob would have saved up some more and got hope C2s
Submitted by
Herve
a Weekend Warrior
from California
Date Reviewed: November 4, 2000
Strengths: Definitely these brakes will stop the bikes ... when they work !
Weaknesses: Already had Hydraulic disk brake in the front. Had doubts about also having Hydraulic brakes for the rear. Discussed this with the local shop I bought the Cannondale from. He convinced me that they had been around for a while and were reliable .... Turned out that after 5 or 6 week-ends, the lever was leaking. Took me 2 trips to the shop to have them understand that it was not enough and not normal to have to refill these things every 3 weeks. Everything has been sent to Magura to fix or replace. we'll see ...and I'll update the story
Bottom Line:
My initial fear turned out to be true.Brakes broke in a middle of a ride. Had to downhill 15 miles on the front brakes ..interesting experiance I wonder why they still have this plastic lever ...
Submitted by
Matt
a Cross Country Rider
from Rhode Island
Date Reviewed: July 19, 2000
Strengths: *Holy inexpensive *Great Modulation *Holy Power! *Works the same in any outdoor condition *Great design *Totally adjustable
Weaknesses: *Can't fit with brace and use QR effectively (see below)
Bottom Line:
I struggled with the Cantis that came with this bike when I got it, and pegged brakes as my first upgrade. I wanted something to really hold me over until Hydraulic Disk brakes came down a bit in price and found these on mail order for under 80 bucks. Couldn't be a better deal. About the same price as LX v-brakes and less than XT (which I would have gotten). Gave them to my LBS to set up because I heard they were a pain, and forgot about them since. Work like a dream. Other reviewer mentioned the levers on the HS-11 as a worry spot, and I share that plastic concern- but they have held up fine so far. Only real "problem" that I have found is that you can not keep the brake booster on and use the QR at the same time (you have to unbolt the brakes in order to install/remove each time, and then put it back together and readjust- so for those of us with fork mount roof racks it is a five minute ordeal everytime you want to ride). The quick release works beautifully, mind you, but the arch on my old Manitou 3 sucked and could not handle the power of the brakes, therefore nullifying the mechanical advantage that the hydraulic brakes give you. Problem has subsided somewhat due to two correctional actions that I have taken: -Adjusted the stiffness of the lever by tightening the hex screw in the lever. -Bought a brand new shock with a much stiffer arch.... (as if I needed another reason)
I would not suggest using the Hydraulic Brakes on the rear without a brake booster- even if you have a new frame with the fancy bend in the tubing to alleviate frame bend- because it can cause quite a lot of flex in the frame and possibly do some damage (as well as mentioned earlier- reduce your stopping power). Overall- I can not see why more people do not have these things on their rides- Braking is ALL about mechanical advantage- that is why Linear pull works better than Cantilevers, and that is why these work better than v's- hey, think about how the brakes on your car work...... I'll update this review if any problems arise- especially when it comes time to bleed and change fluid!
Favorite Trail: Gotta love Mt. Tom N&S in Arcadia....
Duration Product Used: 6 months
Similar Products Used: Cantis, V's, Scott/Mathuaser hydraulic
Bike Setup: Old School Cadex ALM1 w/full XT, '00 Marzocchi, etc.
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Submitted by
bladteth
a Cross Country Rider
from Lodz, Poland
Date Reviewed: June 9, 2000
Strengths: + good stopping power + great modulation + almost no maintenance needed (install and forget) + durability + replacing brake pads takes a few seconds + no problems when it comes to remove the wheel + do not need tiny clearance as in v-brakes
Weaknesses: - a bit heavy (who cares anyway ?) - costs of maintenance (brake pads) - hard to install and set up, but when it is done it will last forever (until the brake pads wear out entirely) - low quality brake boosters (better than nothing) - price - plastics used in the construction of levers that makes them too flexy when forced to excessive braking
Bottom Line:
Pros and cons above can be put into description of any Magura's hydraulic brakes. Only differences between HS11 and brothers are the lever piston diameter (HS33 with smaller one is even more powerful) and the construction of the levers themselves. Obviously aluminum used in HS33 is far better solution than creepy plastic in HS11 but does it explain the price difference ? Brakes works perfectly in most conditions but do not try to ride on worn pads - it can turn painful. Replace them with new ones, possibly with red Koolstops.
I'm treating myself to some maggies for my hardtail. I have a touring bike with HS11 evo's and I love them. I was planning to get the same for the hardtail. But I see that HS33 are Read More »
Hi all,
My son has a onza T-vee with the above brakes. The front is fine but the rear is a pain?
He bought a Magura bleed kit inc all pipes fluid etc. He changed all pipes unions Read More »
