New 2002: 2-finger lever blade with integrated reach adjust. The black anodized caliper features an enhanced shock durability with a long lasting finish.
Tech features: No compromise fully hydraulic disc
brake with a dual piston fixed caliper featuring
automatic pad wear adjustment. Slotted steel rotor
with 180 mm diameter front and 160 mm rear.
Composite brake lever (master) with silver anodized alloy lever blade.
Submitted by
Brentwoodrider
a Cross Country Rider
from Livermore, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: August 20, 2008
Strengths: Good stoping power
Weaknesses: NOISE NOISE NOISE & no bleeder screws
Bottom Line:
They work great until they heat up and the air in the system(that I cant get out due to NO BLEEDING SCREWS!!!!)expands and they squeek like heck and drag. They are tough to adjust as well. Thay also squeel under moderate pressure. Otherwise ok for stock brakes.
Submitted by
Jap
a Cross Country Rider
from Nijmegen, Netherlands
Date Reviewed: October 30, 2006
Strengths: Very reliable, stopping power. Never leak, super reliable (ad yes, I know I said that already.
Weaknesses: none
Bottom Line:
Super stuff. Never had any problems with them. They brake good, don't overheat and don't make noise. Pad tend to wear a bit fast though, or is that my riding?
Submitted by
Paul Rintoule
a Weekend Warrior
from Sydney Australia
Date Reviewed: February 13, 2006
Strengths: Generally reliable. 5 year warranty with great after sales service.
Weaknesses: Lever travel becomes a little excessive as pads near the end of their life.
Bottom Line:
The front Julie was an upgrade on my prevoius Fisher Sugar. The rear Julie was bought for my Trek Liquid frame. Plenty of power - I generally only use my index fingers for braking. On long steep Blue Mountain downhill sections two fingers are needed but brake fade is minimal even when the pads are HOT. Lever travel gets a little long as pads near the end of their service life. Despite the water and sand around Sydney I get good pad life. The front Julie's master cylinder started leaking after 2 years service. Full points to Manly Cycles and Magura for quickly providing a new replacement master cylinder unit including lever. Overall they have been excellent brakes with excellent after sales service.
Submitted by
Warp2003
a Weekend Warrior
from Mexico City, Mexico
Date Reviewed: October 17, 2005
Strengths: Great modulation, excelent price. Loaded with features (self-adjusting pads, lever reach adjustment, twin pistons, etc)
Weaknesses: Tricky to set-up (but no more than your average disc, ecxluding Avids) A bit short on power IS only as standard (corrected in '03)
Bottom Line:
Excelent brakes for those under 160 pounds. I bought the bike used and the brakes were trashed but held a lot of punishment from previous owner. They're still going strong.
I'm 145-150 (depending on gear) and I have enough with these brakes. Nice power, but not impressive as you'll find yourself using two fingers on the lever. The redemption of these brakes is the awesome modulation they have. The wheels just roll over muddy stuff. My rear suspension is supposed to stiffen and squat under hard braking but the Julies don't amplify this tendency but rather mask it a little bit.
The brakes start to bite as you press the lever but to get full power you need to get really medieval with the lever. Full power is more than sufficient though (ie... OTB if you depress the lever too violently).
Bleeding and servicing is easy and Magura and Magura Cult have extensive and detailed literature.
Service from Magura is top-notch. Jimi is the man. Spares are available thru magura from caliper to washers.
Only for organic pads (or semi-metallic with VERY LITTLE metallic compound - again, organic only is better) and several brands make pads for these. Still the same pads since '01 thru '05 which is a good thing.
Similar Products Used: Avid Mechanical 160mm, Shimano Deore 515-LA 160mm
Bike Setup: Giant Warp DS2 '04 upgraded to discs. The rest is stock or budget stuff.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Dylan
a Weekend Warrior
from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Date Reviewed: October 12, 2005
Strengths: THIS IS FOR THE '05 MODEL CHEAP!!! Larger front rotor, wavy rotors look awesome, works awesome.
Weaknesses: Just recently started "buzzing" under hard braking, like I could feel every wave in the rotor. It started doing this after a few really hard stops (bent a manitou black in the progress) It does not act like the buzzing makes it grabby or anything, but it vibrates through the bars. It'll probably go away with time.
Bottom Line:
I love em! Dirt cheap! I think they are the cheapest hydraulic out there and they still have tons of power and modulation. Coming from the hayes mechanicals which were on/off and unpredictable these were a huge upgrade. I think they are about on par for price with the better mechanicals out there. Like I said above these things are strong enough to bend a manitou black without even locking up. I probably should not have turned so hard while braking down a steep with good traction - my bad. The only drawback is their weight if you count grams. I think they are about 100-150g heavier a set than the hayes 6" or 6" avid juicy's. I'm about 225lb down the trail, and these brakes have plenty enough power for me. I'll be building a full suspension this winter, and these are going on it. Also, once I got them broken in and set up properly, they don't drag at all. Highly recomended cheap stuff. Mountain Bike Action magazine did a 2000 dollar trailbike shootout in the september '05 issue and the GT I-drive had these brakes, and everybody liked them there too - they liked them better than the more expensive hayes 9's by the sounds of it. I would have went for the juicy 7's if I had more cash at the time, more bells and whistles, and they can be found quite cheap online now. The julies work really good so I'll keep em for a while.
Bottom line: perfect for your budget trail bike build, not for weight weenies, probably not the best choice for lift acess riding.
Submitted by
Bûcheron
a Weekend Warrior
from Geneva, Switzerland
Date Reviewed: October 5, 2005
Strengths: Reliable They brake very well once broken in Cheap 180mm front and 160mm rear rotor to distribute brake power
Weaknesses: a wee bit heavy
Bottom Line:
These are no-nonsense brakes that do what they are supposed to do, and do it very efficiently at that, considering they are some of the cheapest hydros available. About the 5 year warranty, it's written all over the manual that comes with them, or all over the Magura website, that the warranty only works for registered users and for users that have only used Magura - made brake pads. No 3rd party pads. That is the reason for somebody's anger down below... He just didn't stick to the warranty terms.
Similar Products Used: Magura Louise FR, Hayes 9, Hayes Mag, Deore mechanicals
Bike Setup: BMC Golddigger
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Tony
a Cross Country Rider
from Gainesville,Florida
Date Reviewed: September 19, 2005
Strengths: low priced,the rotors can be used on the new 2005 Julies,great for Florida weather and good in wet weather.THEY NEVER LEAK unlike Hope disc brakes.Very strong rotors.
Weaknesses: Ugly,brake pads wear out fast
Bottom Line:
I got over 3 years use before they just started to fall apart but I am very happy with them. 3 years is a long time for brakes that were only $200 for the set! I love Mgura products. I now use Louise 190 front and 180 rear. I plan on buying the new 2005 Julies for my new Klien!
Similar Products Used: Hope Mini,Hope Mono Mini,Magura Louise.
Bike Setup: Cannondale F800 with lefty fork,Mavic 819 UST rims,Magura XC rear hub,Maxxis Larsen TT Ust Tires,Race Face Dues X-ype Crank,With XT drive train and SRam PC-99 Chain.
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
PhillyGTA
a Weekend Warrior
from GTA Ontario
Date Reviewed: July 14, 2005
Strengths: The most important ..very Realiable ..good power , but I am only 150lbs. Rode them thur dust to snow and anything in between , no issue to speak off and stop me ever times.
Weaknesses: Small dealer network. Hard to find good pads.
Bottom Line:
Overall very good brakes , I believer the German have enough pride in them to make any thing real crabby..
These brakes are fuss free and realiable , I think people ditch them because Magura did not spend enough money on marketing in bike rags or shows.
If your bike comes with them , I say give it a go.
Strengths: reliability,smooth lever feel,solid stopping power
Weaknesses: a bit heavy (480g),plastic lever body(not the lever though),but for the money paid you`ll soon be forgeting that
Bottom Line:
JULIE 05 review: My first hydro,it was either julie or hayes nine...but went for julie couse of magura´s so praised quality,and hayes9´s unreliability... Great break for me couse i mostly ride XC,nice feel and enough power for allhillriding except serious DH... So far no squelling,loss of power or any problems at all...what can i say--get one!!!
Strengths: Amazing Stopping power, very dependable.
Weaknesses: Occaisonal squeal from rear brake.
Bottom Line:
Excellent stopping power for the price, very sensitive and easy to control. Occaisonally a loud squeal comes from the rear brake, but I think this is more of a problem with the brake pads because it only happens after I clean the brakes. I weigh 195lbs and stopping on a dime from 30mph is no problem. I have rode on this setup about 150 miles or so, and I'm very impressed and happy with my purchase.
Submitted by
Feri Tivadar
a Cross Country Rider
from Slovenia
Date Reviewed: February 17, 2005
Strengths: cheap, good, reliable
Weaknesses: on the first there was some squezing
Bottom Line:
It is my first hydraulic disc brake and I enjoy it a lot. I tried my friends mechanic disc's Haxes and they sucks. Julie is reliable, I bought it a year ago, and have No Problemo's..Only the first two weeks there were some squezing noises, but they dissapered after. I put a lot of biking-stress-pressure on this disc's but they survived it. I only cann say- buy it, try it, and enjoy..
Bike Setup: bike Focus Black Forrest 2004 with setup: XT/LX, Magura Julie, Ritchey parts, Suntour Axon fork
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Roberto
a Weekend Warrior
from Mexico, D.F., México
Date Reviewed: October 4, 2004
Strengths: hmm.... disks?
Weaknesses: They squeal if not clean. I wasn't impressed with theyre braking power.
Bottom Line:
Got them on a used bike, so I don't really know how it was driven, but they kept making noise until I took them to my LBS and they changed Pads and bleed the stuff.
Now that I changed them, they work, but I'm not very much impressed by them. Let's see how they work out.
I think as they work, the difference over my other bike with v-brakes is on the all-weather brakes.
Bike Setup: Cannondale Jeckyl 800, pretty much standard.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
jason sperling
a Cross Country Rider
from vt
Date Reviewed: September 20, 2004
Strengths: stopping
Weaknesses: none
Bottom Line:
If you know how to do the little manual adjustments (pulling the rotor toward the side thats rubbing and squeezing the lever a few times slowly to reset the pad actuation) these things just keep going without any issues. These are my first disc brakes but I seriously could not imagine upgrading. They work as well as brakes can work.
