Magura MT5/Trail/MT7 questions

I'm interested in trying out a set of the Magura's - there are decent reviews here on the Trail and on the MT5 elsewhere.
 I really like the modulation of the the 2018 Guide RS's I currently run and the Magura's appear to have great modulation, great stoppage and a good setup system with mineral oil so I'd like to give them a test.

The question I have is do they just slot onto my existing SRAM Guide setup - 203mm rotors front and back. DO I need magura adapters or will I be ok, sticking them onto the existing adapters I'm using for the Guides ?

Any other interfacing issues that may arise? I usually find out about these only when I start to work on the bike past shop hours so I'd like to avoid the usual swearing, youtube scanning etc etc

I'm running a Sram mount on my Fork with my MT5s and had to file a tiny bit of material to make it work. The lower piston contacted the bridge of the adapter but just barely, really not a big issue. Just to make life easier though just order the proper adapters.

Love the Maguras but... Caution: The levers are super delicate. They seem to crack easily inside after a light crash and will lose pressure very slowly.

Does this get mitigated by using the HC levers that were used in the MT Trail review?

Any other info or experience would be great as well - it's this kind of thing I'd love to know.

I replaced a set of guide RSC with MT trail sports (HC levers). The actual lever bodies are still plastic so I dunno if that mitigates the durability issue. Maybe indirectly since the lever shape makes it less prone to getting twisted when the bars hit the ground, but I dunno. 

No issues as far as caliper adapters go, straight swap. Keep in mind if you're using matchmaker clamps you need to buy the extra clamp piece to mount your shifter. For My wolftooth dropper lever, wolfooth make a specific adapter for maguras. It works awesome but it's a little expensive.

Other than that the brakes are awesome. I have saints on my "other" bike. I feel like the maguras have the power of the saints and the modulation of the guides. I hated the levers my first ride. Took a couple rides to get the reach and angle set up right. They look so different visually that I think it lead you to positioning them incorrectly. Also I bleed them using the Shimano cheater style, like the funnel, but you need to buy a magura bleed fitting and connect it to the bottom of a syringe. Takes some patience.

Now that I have the levers set up right I love them. They are also crazy cheap.

not cheap, economical. i recently got a set and am pretty happy with them. easy to shorten hoses and bleed. great feel. first two rides were iffy but by third outing they worked wonderfully

Ha fair enough, by cheap I meant well priced. :)

I saw people querying the thickness of the Magura rotors (2mm) compared with the shimano/SRAM offerings? Any problems with using the non-spec Storm rotors? 

I'm guessing using 1.8mm will advance the pistons a little more at the beginning but nothing crazy once the bleed has been done

I was looking heavily into the MT Trails as well, great value and generally well reviewed. 

I ultimately decided on some TRP Slate T4's mainly due to a stock of Zee/Saint pads I still have on hand. Just throwing something else in to consider

Another positive vote for MT5's. I really like mine. 

No issues for me running non Storm rotors. I've crashed a couple times and no issue with cracks or breaking as mentioned above.

Orange here in North Van is the distributor so should be zero problem for any local shop to get pads or parts on short notice.

Also the Kool Stop 1 piece pads work awesome and cheap af

Posted by: DanL

I saw people querying the thickness of the Magura rotors (2mm) compared with the shimano/SRAM offerings? Any problems with using the non-spec Storm rotors? 

I'm guessing using 1.8mm will advance the pistons a little more at the beginning but nothing crazy once the bleed has been done

I run MT7s (and Martas and Louises) on centerlock XT and XTR rotors and I've found that if you run the pads down really low, the levers will start to get spongy.  Gently pushing the pistons back in to install thicker pads usually purges the air back into the reservoir and restores proper firmness. 

I did recently squeak one last ride in on a set of excessively worn rear pads which resulted in the lever going to the bars and allowed enough air into the line that I had to do a bleed despite putting in new pads.  I think the MT7s have less excess fluid in the reservoir (relative to the piston area) because a number of years ago, I ran some Louise pads down until packing plate hit rotor and still didn't get too much air in the lines.

Posted by: T-mack

Also the Kool Stop 1 piece pads work awesome and cheap af

Pad replacement time for Magura MT-5's. One piece pad is better I take it, and sintered or metallic for better bite? I can't remember exactly how each compound feels from previous brakes. 

Btw, been very happy with these. Lovely feel, and bite point hasn't moved in 6 months I've had them.

Any pad suggestions?

Posted by: Hepcat

Posted by: T-mack

Also the Kool Stop 1 piece pads work awesome and cheap af

Pad replacement time for Magura MT-5's. One piece pad is better I take it, and sintered or metallic for better bite? I can't remember exactly how each compound feels from previous brakes.

Btw, been very happy with these. Lovely feel, and bite point hasn't moved in 6 months I've had them.

Any pad suggestions?

I recently got the sintered (Gold Back) 4 piece Kool stops and they're meh. Not sure why but not super impressed. The organic Kool Stop (Red Back) ones wore faster but seemed to stop better for me and I'm a big guy. Kind of backwards I know.

http://www.koolstop.com/english/disc_magura.html

I'm more of a fan of the 4 piece setup just from the ability to balance the pistons easier but I really have no complaints towards the 1 piece either.

Cheers