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

I ❤️ my MT7s. They have a great feel, no fade and plenty of stopping power. Im probably 210-215 lbs when riding.

I see your Fiver World Series training is right on target.

Lol don't get me started. I've never been so obese before.

I thought I'd share with you fellow board readers.

You can match Shimano SLX lever (or XT/XTR/Saint) and MT5/MT7 caliper. Such combination is even better than original Magura set :)

After one of winter crashes I completely broke my MT5 brake lever into pieces. Looks like the plastic it's made of is utter crap and will break easily. There are several reports here in Europe about MT5/MT7 prone to breaking. The same happened to fellow biker I know with his MT7.

You just need proper Shimano lever (newest ones) like M7000, M8000 M9000 etc.

My current set is SLX M7000 lever + MT5 caliper (with original Magura hose) bled with Shimano mineral oil.

There are several pros of this combination
- Shimano parts are lots cheaper than Magura stuff and they are available everywhere
- Shimano levers are tough made, not from platstic-fantastic like Magura
- brakes work better: Shimano levers are less spongy than original Magura and you get lots of extra power just from changing lever
- you can choose SLX, XT, XTR or Saint levers an pair them with either MT7 or MT5

I thought I'd share with you fellow board readers.

You can match Shimano SLX lever (or XT/XTR/Saint) and MT5/MT7 caliper. Such combination is even better than original Magura set :)

After one of winter crashes I completely broke my MT5 brake lever into pieces. Looks like the plastic it's made of is utter crap and will break easily. There are several reports here in Europe about MT5/MT7 prone to breaking. The same happened to fellow biker I know with his MT7.

You just need proper Shimano lever (newest ones) like M7000, M8000 M9000 etc.

My current set is SLX M7000 lever + MT5 caliper (with original Magura hose) bled with Shimano mineral oil.

There are several pros of this combination
- Shimano parts are lots cheaper than Magura stuff and they are available everywhere
- Shimano levers are tough made, not from platstic-fantastic like Magura
- brakes work better: Shimano levers are less spongy than original Magura and you get lots of extra power just from changing lever
- you can choose SLX, XT, XTR or Saint levers an pair them with either MT7 or MT5

What about the modulation? I find the gradual increase in power to be a substantial benefit to the Magura brakes.

What about the modulation? I find the gradual increase in power to be a substantial benefit to the Magura brakes.

True. Increased power of Shimano+Magura combo could feel like "too much" in wet but I have to find it out yet. If people can ride Saint/Zee brakes despite being "very sharp" at first glance but from my personal experience Shimano+Magura combo offer much more modulation than Zee.

What about the modulation? I find the gradual increase in power to be a substantial benefit to the Magura brakes.

My favourite thing about their on-trail performance for sure. Progressive power with tonnes on tap when needed.

In my experimenting performance with Servowave levers was very poor. No modulation and a weird power curve likely due to the pads sitting static much closer to the rotor with the Magura calipers compared to Shimano. Raw power is fine but definitely not an improvement over either system as a system.

Running the Magura calipers with non-Servowave Shimano levers performance is very good. No point in doing it with the MT-5 since those blades have a huge range of adjustment (unless if you're wrecking levers all the time - not something I've seen/heard of) but I played around with options because the 7's weren't the best with my small hands. Ended up modifying some stock 7 blades and preferred those.

Now I have HC blades and they're awesome for smaller hands. I prefer the feel of the Magura levers (modified or HC) for a few reasons but that's personal preference.

Unsure about new brakes: Shimano Saint (current brake,) Hope Tech 3 V4 (don't know what the Stealth Race means), or Magura MT7 or 5s (I have smaller hands)

Posted by: Endur-Bro

Unsure about new brakes: Shimano Saint (current brake,) Hope Tech 3 V4 (don't know what the Stealth Race means), or Magura MT7 or 5s (I have smaller hands)

I can highly recommend the V4s.... the Stealth Race refers to the lever... less adjustability versus the standard Tech Evo lever.   They contrast well against Saints, but have better modulation... haven't tried the MT7s or MT5s but I've heard great things about them as well... the good news is that they are all great options.

Posted by: GladePlayboy

I can highly recommend the V4s.... the Stealth Race refers to the lever... less adjustability versus the standard Tech Evo lever.   They contrast well against Saints, but have better modulation... haven't tried the MT7s or MT5s but I've heard great things about them as well... the good news is that they are all great options.

Reps.  Thanks for the info.  Was unsure what "Stealth Race" actually was.  Does one need to use Hope rotors with their brakes or would I be able to use the fancy pants XTR Freeza rotors?

I am using Hope sawtooth floating rotors (which are now discontinued I believe) with XTR brakes and Saint brakes on two different bikes, they've been great. I don't imagine that it would be an issue going the other way.

What exactly does this mean?  I want to be able to clamp my brake levers to the bar separate of my shifter and dropper post

Furthermore the brake levers are I-spec B certified, this means I-spec B compatible shifting levers mount directly to the brake lever clip.

This is for the current gen Saint brakes.  I'm finding this in product descriptions but not in the items title.  Product listed as this:

Shimano Saint BR-M820 + BL-M820 Disc Brake with Ice-Tech Brake Pads Set FW + RW

Posted by: Endur-Bro

What exactly does this mean?  I want to be able to clamp my brake levers to the bar separate of my shifter and dropper post

Furthermore the brake levers are I-spec B certified, this means I-spec B compatible shifting levers mount directly to the brake lever clip.

This is for the current gen Saint brakes.  I'm finding this in product descriptions but not in the items title.  Product listed as this:

Shimano Saint BR-M820 + BL-M820 Disc Brake with Ice-Tech Brake Pads Set FW + RW

I-Spec is Shimano's system for attaching brake/shifter to the bars with one clamp. The brake levers always come with clamps, it's the shifters that can be specced with either a clamp or an I-Spec mount. You can also convert the shifters between one to the other. I-Spec B is the Saint/Zee/XT785 standard, there is a new I-Spec II for XT 8000 etc.

So you are fine buying the brakes, just use your shifter mount that you already have.

I wanted to update this with my experience as the info here helped me get my MT7s working after much messing around.

My buddy (who is mechanically minded and I trust was suitably gentle with them) bought them, and had leaking issues from brand new.  Both sets were leaking from the lines, the front one from the factory (the rear I believe was internally routed so hard to know if it is a factory or installation issue). Magura provided him good warranty service and sent a new set of lines.  He got tired of messing with them and went to the xtr 4 pistons, and sold me the mt7s at a loss.

I installed them on my SB 150 with the new lines being very careful to follow the torque and installation instructions.  I could get them to about 60% of the lever firmness I would expect, but they were in consistent and I kept losing brakes on rides. It seemed like the system was sealed when the levers were adjusted horizontally in the bleeding position, but had a slight air leak when tilted to riding position. I tried bleeding them multiple times and had a friend who is a mechanic try as well with no luck.

I read about using shimano levers, and my friend had an old tektro lever (which uses mineral oil) around which we tried. It worked perfectly, isolating the issue to the lever.   I pulled the pin on some current Gen non-servowave xtr m9100 levers.  We installed the xtr levers with the magura hydraulic line bits, and now the brakes seem amazing.  Got the xtr levers for $82 cad each off bikeinn.com, which I read many bad reviews of, but had no issues dealing with them.

My takeaways:

-The levers are very fragile and over complicated.  Made of plastic with many more seals than are necessary.  For example, two plastic on plastic bleed ports on one lever? That’s a recipe for leaking.  I would not trust these levers for any extended trip away from the ability to repair them based on my experience.

-I have little trust for the magura lines base on the leaking issues with the original lines. I will swap mine out for Shimano lines and fittings next time I feel like messing with brakes (which will be a long time from now).

-These are not a good set of brakes to buy used from anyone, unless it is just for the calipers and rotors.

-The Magura calipers are a very nice design.  I like the magnetic pad holding feature and the one piece design.  Using thicker rotors for heat dissipation seems logical to me, and magura makes 220mm rotors which I may try in front.

-Combined with the shimano levers the initial impression is they seem to be a very nice brake and a much more reliable system.  I can update further once I have some miles on them.

Posted by: eknomf

I wanted to update this with my experience as the info here helped me get my MT7s working after much messing around.

My buddy (who is mechanically minded and I trust was suitably gentle with them) bought them, and had leaking issues from brand new.  Both sets were leaking from the lines, the front one from the factory (the rear I believe was internally routed so hard to know if it is a factory or installation issue). Magura provided him good warranty service and sent a new set of lines.  He got tired of messing with them and went to the xtr 4 pistons, and sold me the mt7s at a loss.

I installed them on my SB 150 with the new lines being very careful to follow the torque and installation instructions.  I could get them to about 60% of the lever firmness I would expect, but they were in consistent and I kept losing brakes on rides. It seemed like the system was sealed when the levers were adjusted horizontally in the bleeding position, but had a slight air leak when tilted to riding position. I tried bleeding them multiple times and had a friend who is a mechanic try as well with no luck.

I read about using shimano levers, and my friend had an old tektro lever (which uses mineral oil) around which we tried. It worked perfectly, isolating the issue to the lever.   I pulled the pin on some current Gen non-servowave xtr m9100 levers.  We installed the xtr levers with the magura hydraulic line bits, and now the brakes seem amazing.  Got the xtr levers for $82 cad each off bikeinn.com, which I read many bad reviews of, but had no issues dealing with them.

My takeaways:

-The levers are very fragile and over complicated.  Made of plastic with many more seals than are necessary.  For example, two plastic on plastic bleed ports on one lever? That’s a recipe for leaking.  I would not trust these levers for any extended trip away from the ability to repair them based on my experience.

-I have little trust for the magura lines base on the leaking issues with the original lines. I will swap mine out for Shimano lines and fittings next time I feel like messing with brakes (which will be a long time from now).

-These are not a good set of brakes to buy used from anyone, unless it is just for the calipers and rotors.

-The Magura calipers are a very nice design.  I like the magnetic pad holding feature and the one piece design.  Using thicker rotors for heat dissipation seems logical to me, and magura makes 220mm rotors which I may try in front.

-Combined with the shimano levers the initial impression is they seem to be a very nice brake and a much more reliable system.  I can update further once I have some miles on them.

Thank you for the info...and looking for the feedback. 

I am probably buying a used bike with MT7 and I am already planning on getting shimano non-servowave levers and hoses for the calipers. 

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

And already excited. On my current park bike I still run the Gustav Ms....such a nice brake.