Saint/Zee vs. Magura MT7/MT5 : mini review

I'm not sure you can get away from the Magura hoses. The Shimano banjo fitting does not work at the Magura caliper as I recall, though the Shimano barb and olive will fit the Magura line

Posted by: UFO

I'm not sure you can get away from the Magura hoses. The Shimano banjo fitting does not work at the Magura caliper as I recall, though the Shimano barb and olive will fit the Magura line

Yup Magura hoses are required to run on the calipers OR Jagwire makes a slick universal line that I've been running with no issues. It comes with a thread on adapter at the caliper end so when/if you run another brand you just buy the banjo fitting and leave the line in the frame. The shimano olive/barb work on the magura or jagwire line.

Posted by: Mic

I read that non-servowaves are the better option. Which ones did you chose?  

I went with the current xtr m9100s.  They are very light, solid feeling compared to the magura levers, and overall as nice (or nicer) as you would expect.  I found them for about $80 cad each online from europe.

https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/xtr-m9100/BL-M9100.html

There are no other current non-servowave shimano levers that I am aware of, unless you go with used older levers from several years back.

Just picked up a pair of MT-5's. Weighed them, 250g with the million feet of hose they come with. Master cylinder is all carbowhateveritscalled (plastic) even the mount, except the lever blade which is aluminum. Caliper is alu. Price is amazing on these, paid $139usd for set. Blade shape is not awful, exact same length and upsweep at end as SRAM Level they are replacing. The little circles on the caliper are raw aluminum which looks quite nice, especially compared to the painted yellow of the MT-7.

Try and install them today.

Edit: Installed and rode the brake today.

The course threaded screws into the plastic master cylinder are sketchy. Tighten top until it stops with low torque, then tighten bottom. Super easy to mess up and strip I'm sure.

Squeezing the levers the whole master cylinder flexes a bit.

Levers are quite wide and flat which makes them feel a bit meh. The hook on the end is fine.

Took a lot more stops to bed in then I was expecting, but once bedded in felt great.

On the trail brake had Shimano level power, but the power was a lot less immediate.

Generally wish everything was a bit stiffer, as in aluminum, but the power is definitely there and the delivery is subtle. I'll happily keep these on my bike as is for now. Perhaps swap out the lever or even the whole master cylinder at some point in the future.

I can see now how a quality stiff aluminum master cylinder like Shimano paired with the Magura caliper would be the bee's knees.

Here's some photos of my setup:

220 mm magura rotor in front; QM45 adapter
200 mm magura rotor in back; QM26/QM44 adapter
Shimano M9100 levers
Magura hoses, barb and olive
Magura MT7 calipers

Nice. Thanks for including the detailed specs.

My buddy's got some unused 9100's...

Shortened the hoses on my MT-5's and bled them today. I must say that screw-in bleed port on the caliper is mighty handy. I'm ranking Magura up there with the easiest brakes to bleed I've encountered, up there with easy-as-pie Shimano. If Magura had a proper aluminum master cylinder with screw-in a bleed ports they'd be absolutely perfect. 

Also gotta say after running internal hoses and cutting and bleeding 2 mineral oil brakes this week I've realized DOT is always going to be dead last in ease of bleeding due to the corrosive fluid. I'd have drops of that shit inside my frame right now if I'd been routing DOT brakes.

My first disc brakes 20 years ago we're Magura, I'm so glad they didn't do away with the screw-in bleed port. Back in the day the Louise's we're so unreliable I had to bleed them at the trail head before each ride lol, everyone would groan when I took out a syringe but because of the screw-in ports, 2 minutes later bike was good to go...for one run.