Ha! Strengths!

Poor design at clamp and the thing is made of BRITTLE MAGNESIUM.

I purchased these (2011 version, white/red) second hand although they were still in as-new condition. I go to mount the front (left) lever using a standard procedure, that is tighten until barely movable to allow final positioning then give it another small turn to keep it from moving. On that last step I heard a SNAP and lo-and-behold the clamp broke clean in two! I never even got these brakes mounted up and they already failed. My 2006 Louise BAT's have been on numerous bikes and never broke!

Similar Products Used:

magura Louise BAT

lightweight, good stopping power.

fragile, pricey. It has been used mainly for cross country riding and never suffered crashes and the very first time it did failed. A poorly designed handlebar clamp, was redisinged as a split 2 pieces in the 2012 new Magura brakes.

Good brake until it suddenly failed. My bike slid inside my apartment and the handlebar hit the pavement, the handlebar clamp of the brake broke in pieces,end of the story, gone the brake. Bad design. Most of the other brakes out there are deisgned with a split handlebar clamp. Very ragile brake too, I have ridden other systems (hayes) for 14 years, and they never failed, not even after the most terrible crashes. If this was not enough I had to endure also a very bad support service from the Magura representative here in Italy . They asked me to ship the brake and they are still holding it it there after more the 2 months!

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hayes nine hfx carbon

LIght, Powerful, Good Reach Ange

Expensive compared to standard marta sl,

I upgraded from my old hope mono m4's a couple of years back and had a real problem finding something as good. I tried the tech X2, Avid Juicy ultimate and XT. After having a real problem finding a brake i liked, i had a purchase of these based on the single track review. Great odens raven are they Good, Best brakes i have ever had!

Similar Products Used:

Hope Tech M4

Low weight, stoppingpower and modulation, reliability, mineral oil, easy bleeding, finish, looking good, quiet, magnetic pistons for supereasy pad change

none, perhaps the old Discs and the price

These brakes haven't disappointed me in two years. Set it and forget it. They have great stopping power and good modulation, once bleeded ans set up correctly they don't need any care at all. These brakes are well build and solid. The finish is great and there are many cool details - instead of a spring between the pads for putting them back after breaking the pistons are magnetic. I'm looking forward to the Storm SL Discs which should provide even better performance. After very long and steep descends there was a little fading (180160), but i don't think this is negative because it is a FR and DH track. These breaks are worth the money! I haven't experienced any problems.

Similar Products Used:

Magura Louise, Avid Juicy

Do what they're told.

White paint job would have "looked" better with dark paint. White is so hard to clean.

Having gone straight from the "V-brake" world, my only comparison is with that. But I feel that I went straight to the top with precision German engineering. These brakes are phenomenal. Saved my life in many "downhill" situations where the vbrakes would have ended my life. I would be interested in testing out the Formula R1's to see what other disk brakes might be like, but for the time being, these brakes read my mind and keep me going faster.

Stopping power, reliability, light weight (when compared with brakes of equal stopping power, they look good...

They were supposed to be all magnesium but the calipers are the same as just a normal marta sl with white paint. They sure were hyped up a lot and it took forever for them to be released.

These brakes work very well considering how light they are. As mentioned in the previous review, you can get a lighter brake, but these do not sacrifice reliability to shave any grams. I am slightly annoyed by the lack of a magnesium caliper to top off the package, but will be on board when they are available (hopefully soon). I am running 160/160 rotors, and at 160 lbs, I find that I have plenty of power for the kind of riding I do. Modulation is also very pleasing with these.

Similar Products Used:

Hayes Stroker Trail (160/160)

better design, more of a coming together of the best aspects other brakes in Magura's line up: cleaner looks, bigger+ better brake pads, easier to bleed, better carbon levers with considered intelligent design.

5 year warranty, excellent customer service, good availability of spare parts + aftermarket parts.

the first production run (which had been a very long time coming) has only a magnesium master cylinder, alas the calipers are the usual Marta SL alloy jobbies due to some unprecidented forging issues that will apparently be resolved sometime in the near future.

this is not a weight weenie product, unlike many manufacturers Magura refuse to compromise braking quality with a flimsy fragile + unreliable brakeset. if you want to impress your mates with your (weight) weenie (bike) there are lighter brakes to be had, but if you want the best XC brakes you must make the sacrifice!

Magura don't like to mess about with their products, they have such high standards other mtn bike brake manufacturers can only hope to aspire to.

09 Marta's are at the very pinacle, you simply wont find a better brakeset for XC/XC Racing, they are certainly not the lightest on the market - but the best really is better.

...shop around there are some amazing prices to be had, about the same as the standard 09 Marta SL if your lucky.

Similar Products Used:

Hayes, XTR, 07 Marta, 08 Marta SL