This summer I decided to do some maintenance on my bike. Occasionally I run into situations where I am unable to complete maintenance due to a lack of knowledge or a lack of specialty tools. This summer I ran into a situation where I ran out of time. I was working outside, and the sun went down, and I was working in low light. Instead of stopping like a responsible adult I decided to do a quick brake bleed. I didn't see the bleed block correctly and one of my Pistons pushed the O-ring out of my brake running the seal on my Saint brakes. I didn’t notice the leak until I was in the middle of a bike park day, and I had to cut the day short.
I was able to get online and look up some possible solutions. I was intrigued by the option to run Magura calipers with my Shimano Saint levers. Chris who helps run the online shop uses this on his xc rig but with two pot brakes. I wanted more power. He ensured me there would be a significant increase my braking power while keeping the on off feel of the Shimano Saint brakes that I loved. Running the thicker 2mm Magura also helps with stopping power and increased durability.
It took us a couple hours to get everything sorted out and get the bike ready for the trail. One thing of note: I used the cables from my existing Saint brakes. The Shimano Saint has a brass fitting on the end of the cable that's substantial. It's about 2 1/2 inches of brass. Everything worked great except for I had a little bit of leakage on the back brake. I ride a Santa Cruz Bronson. The routing for this bike caused an increased amount of pressure on the caliper connection to the hose. I had put a slight bend in the piece of brass at the end of the Shimano cable and I've had no leaks since. After getting my brakes dialed in and changing the rotors, I was off to the mountains!
Day-to-day use of these brakes has been phenomenal. The brakes have more stopping power than I was used to with my straight Saint setup. This setup might not be for you if you like brakes that modulate more. Personally, I like brakes that have a on and off feel and have loads of stopping power. I find that I'm able to use less force/fingers with brakes that have an on off feel which frees up fingers to hold onto my bike.
Maintenance these brakes is similar to a standard shimano setup. The Magura compatible bleed kit come with an adapter for the caliper. The standard Shimano brake bleed kit works on the levers, but you can also use a universal kit that adapts to the lever port. I chose to use shimano mineral oil in the system, but Royal Blood works as well.
All together my build list consisted of two sets of Magura brakes, back up pads, Magura rotors to match the caliper spacing for Magura and a Magura compatible bleed kit. I decided to get the get the complete brake setup in case I needed a spare caliper or decided I wanted a brake that modulated more later on. I couldn't have been happier with the new brake setup and looking forward to my next ride!
Nick