You don’t hear much about rim brakes these days. Very un-trendy I seem to find. Discs are everywhere, motorbikes have discs, so everyone else wants discs too.
Unfortunately not all of us have the cash, nor the compatibility to run discs both front and rear. Being the proud owner of a Hügi rear hub and an S-works frame, both of which were middle aged before international standard mounts were but a twinkling in Mr.Shimano’s eye, I don’t have many (affordable) options for fitting a rear disc. After struggling along with a gammy cable on my rear XT V-brake I decided to revisit the world of Magura, after a 10 year absence.
Unsurprisingly, Magura rim brakes have progressed startlingly in a decade; the brake levers are 2 finger, they have QRs, they’re much lighter, they come in a variety of colours, the pads are bigger, the pistons smaller and best of all…. They are one third of the price!!! Only £50 (after some haggling) kitted me out with a greyish import in a placcy bag. Maybe not 100% cosher, but hey! £50 is £50. Tasty blue colour, but I had zero choice after landing a bargain like that.
Just for the techies reading, there are actually some reasons to prefer rim brakes over discs. They don’t overheat as readily. They aren’t as affected by stray lubricants (WD40, leaking shock oil etc). The advantages of discs over rims are repeated ad nauseum in bike mags, so I don’t need to spell them out. Anyway, I often feel that having a rim and a disc brake on the same bike is a good way of guaranteeing that at least one of your brake levers will actually do something even in the worst of conditions!
Fitting is one of the nastiest experiences in the world of bike mechanics. Be warned!! Check out the advice on some of the unofficial Magura websites before even starting. One of the best tips being to remove your tyres before you begin. They just adjust in too many directions all at once, with inflexible hydraulic hoses springing the whole thing out of adjustment as soon as you reach for the Allen key. Give yourself 2 hours per brake for your first attempt. Note also that the brake levers are, a) not made from the best quality aluminium, b) don’t truly integrate with STI levers. So don’t over tighten the bar clamp bolt, and wave bye-bye your STI ‘windows’.
Surprisingly, I managed to disconnect the hose, thread it through my cable guides, and reconnect, without needing to re-bleed or replace the olive. But if you’re careful that often seems to be the case with hydraulic brakes. My Hope M4’s obliged in the same way recently when I shortened their hose.
The performance of these brakes is superb. Now that they have ‘proper’ sized pads, combined with the reduced diameter master piston, the power is excellent. Also the modulation is superb, which is afforded by the “no-stretch” characteristics of all hydraulic brakes – not just discs. Certainly there is no comparison to XT V-brakes at the end of a long cable run. If the modulation of discs is ranked at 100%, then XT V-brakes are at about 20%, and Magura HS33’s at hmmm…. about 75%. Put another way; “I don’t miss brake cables!”. I find it reassuring to have a rear brake that has positions other than “on” and “off”.
The stock black pads aren’t up to much in the wet. So I upgraded to the “green frogs”, which set me back £25 for four. These work great; dry or wet, muddy or dusty. I ran mine against X618 Mk 2 ceramic rims. The first set of pads lasted 18 months! They were only half worn, but the lever adjustment screw was fully wound in, so I replaced the pads rather than faff around adding extra fluid to the system. But consider this: After 18 months you replace the pads; and the pad change takes about 15 seconds. A pretty good ride / maintenance ratio!
Talking of the “turbo-pad-adjuster”, it also works well. It can be accessed while riding, and offers you the possibility of altering the brake bite point. I find that on long downhills a close-to-the-bars lever position reduces hand ache, but on singletrack a hair-trigger position is preferable. With HS33’s that adjustment takes just a second or two, without loosening grip from the bars. In fact on extremely long descents, the brakes can pump a tiny amount, and so the TPA serves to dial-out the expansion, just like on closed system discs.
Frankly, my major gripe. The aluminium is of dreadful quality, so poor in fact that the whole thing is only painted fancy colours to hide the awful finish on the castings. I’ve also heard of several people snapping off brake levers in crashes. The brake lever still doesn’t fit properly with STI levers, and could be much much lighter (if they made it from half decent metal!). The brake itself is a bit better, but all the bolts are made from low-grade steel, that rusts in no time. Even the brake booster is painted steel. I replaced mine with a swanky carbon one!
The part I can’t understand is that Magura could easily produce a higher model than the HS33. £110 a pair barely gets you top-notch V-brakes these days, and hydraulics wipe the floor with anything operated by a cable. A lighter, polished and anodised version, with perhaps centralising screws on the slave cylinders, stainless fittings, and a CNC lever, would warrant £200 a pair no problems. So why not? It mystifies me!
They’ll infuriate you when fitting them, they’re made from monkey metal, but they work superbly. Death to cables!
If you hate brake maintenance, but can’t afford / can’t fit discs, then invest in some.
April 2002
Last Updated 02-05-2002
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