Anyone every try them? May need to sell my Elixrs with my bike so I can sell it complete. But I've found some Louise brakes pretty dang cheap... just don't know anything about them.
Magura Louise
- Thread starter golgiaparatus
- Start date
No one has ever ridden a bike with these before... never tried them or anything?
I had an old pair of Louise FR's on my bike before Wifey bought me a new set of Stroker Aces for my birthday last year. The Louises worked well...good stopping power for my freeridey self and responsive. The Louises were getting old and started to break a lot. I wanted to replace them with something new and lighter, since I've been keeping my wheels on the ground the last couple of years.
Thanks IR.
I've never ridden them, but I have worked on about a million sets of luises. From a mechanic perspective they seem cool, easy to bleed, solid feel on test rides, easy to rebuild the pistons and master cylinders.
John aka acair422 here on Ridemonkey has ridden them for DH for a long time so it might be worthwhile sending him a PM.
Reading the specs... they don't seem like a DH brake to me. More trail/XC leaning.
I've had a set of Louis for years that have been on a handful of different bikes. They are currently on my Knolly DT. Great brakes, easy to service, great stopping power, self adjusting pads, good stuff. My only complaint about them would be lack of lever reach adjust on the model I have.
Easiest pads to change ever. Magnets.
How do they work?
I have been using a regular pair and a FR pair since 2004. Still going strong...maybe I'll bleed them one of these days.
The only difference between the FR and regular is the rotor size and housing length.
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I have the Louise BATs and like them well enough. Two things bother me, though. One is that the levers seem eager to slide out of the housings (they snap in from the side) at the slightest provocation. Maybe there's something broken on mine.
Second is that despite the lever reach adjust being dialed in close to the bar, the levers have a weird ability to snap past that set travel. You can pull on them lightly and they come to rest where they should, but it's very strange. IIRC I searched on this at the Magura help forum and the answer was "yeah, they're like that."
As much as I'm riding and as much as it's commuting or just burning up the neighborhood with the kiddo in the iBert seat, I just haven't worried too much about either characteristic. They feel good, nice if not remarkably mind-blowing power, and have been reliable in use.
Second is that despite the lever reach adjust being dialed in close to the bar, the levers have a weird ability to snap past that set travel. You can pull on them lightly and they come to rest where they should, but it's very strange. IIRC I searched on this at the Magura help forum and the answer was "yeah, they're like that."
As much as I'm riding and as much as it's commuting or just burning up the neighborhood with the kiddo in the iBert seat, I just haven't worried too much about either characteristic. They feel good, nice if not remarkably mind-blowing power, and have been reliable in use.
tried a set of those two years ago, really liked them, good power and modulation... really considered them for the DH bike, but got an awesome deal on codes so went that way.
definitely worth a try
PS: anybody tried the new Magura MT8?
definitely worth a try
PS: anybody tried the new Magura MT8?
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I think I'll make the MT6 my next brake, just noted the anno is coming off the master cyl bore in my Hope's, pretty sure they had no lube in them from new.
The MT6 is a tiny bit heavier and has extra cooling fins, an MT8 lever assembly with a 6 caliper would be nice.
I have had two older sets of Maguras and they were both horrible however lever feel and shape were the best I have felt, also that magnet pad retention thing is amazing.
Pretty similar to my experience.
Rode them on various FR/DH bikes. Had them, with Danger Boy levers, on the Bottle Rocket for a bit. Also had them on the Nicolai UFO ST. Had the 210 rotor for a bit, but went down to the normal 8"/200mm size. Also had the BAT version with carbon levers. They have tons of modulation and a nice feel to them, though a bit weak for my DH likings. The Saints had way more power and I didn't miss the difference in modulation. They were good, solid brakes. Not amazing, but nice. Not sure what happened, but a ne point I did notice the front brake lost some of the grip it had, but new rotors and pads didn't bring it back to life (FR, not the BAT), though it never got bad. For trail riding, it was never an issue. For DH, I'd go Saint for life.
Rode them on various FR/DH bikes. Had them, with Danger Boy levers, on the Bottle Rocket for a bit. Also had them on the Nicolai UFO ST. Had the 210 rotor for a bit, but went down to the normal 8"/200mm size. Also had the BAT version with carbon levers. They have tons of modulation and a nice feel to them, though a bit weak for my DH likings. The Saints had way more power and I didn't miss the difference in modulation. They were good, solid brakes. Not amazing, but nice. Not sure what happened, but a ne point I did notice the front brake lost some of the grip it had, but new rotors and pads didn't bring it back to life (FR, not the BAT), though it never got bad. For trail riding, it was never an issue. For DH, I'd go Saint for life.
My Brother runs them on his trail bike. He wants to get new brakes just because he hates the levers.