Great XC stopping power, but no worries at 35mph+ downhill either. Great modulation, have never failed me, a 205lbs rider.

Have had to adjust horizontal spacing between pads using slim adjustment washers provided from time to time to avoid rub. Brakes are light but rotors belong on Eric Estrada's bike.

Virtually maintenance free! I have swapped out everyting on my bike in an upgrade frenzy, but I just can't justify replacing these, especially after hearing horror stories about crashes, bleeding probs, etc. I have never bled the brakes on my Louises. I just bought some new pads in prep for some new light rotors, but the old ones look fine. Although this is an '02 I admit it sat around for a few years but there's at least 2000 miles on the bike.

Works better than Vs

I have had many problems with these brakes. They have been in the shop 15 times in the last 6 months.

Review of 2001 Magura Louise which came on a Wheeler bike with full XTR. I got this bike for x country racing in sometimes wet conditions.

I have had an awful lot of problems with these breaks I tell you. I have taken the bike into the repair shop a total of 15 times. The first problems I have had were that the brake levers kept pulling back to the bar no matter how much adjustment was done with the pads and with re bleeding. In the early months I had the bike in the shop while new parts came in (A 6 week wait!). They replaced the brake levers, but still no relief, so they replaced them again, still not working. So (You guessed it) they replaced again, but they still pulled back to the bar even when just bleed and even when both pads were touching the rotor. Finally they put Julie levers on and the brakes have not leaked since and have worked OK (With the different Brake Lever there is a slight loss of power). Some of the problems can be explained by an apparently flaw in some 2001 brakes. I wait for a new new set of levers and after that I hope to finally have them working properly.

On the positive side the brakes certainly work far better in the wet over XTR Vs even with ceramic rims and I have been able to use this to my advantage while racing in the wet. In the dry they give you increased confidence too.

So overall I have had many problems, the importer here in New Zealand has not been all that helpful insisting he see physically busted brakes before replacement meaning I am off the bike for another day. The guys at the bike shop have more recently been helpful always fixing the problems. They they assure me that the problems I have had are not characteristic of all their customers which I sure and hope is the case. Hopefully I will soon get new replacement levers and can give a better review, but for the moment I suggest you try the slightly more expensive Hope or other brands.

lightness and looks because it is slim due to the fact it only has one slave piston.

not a lot of power unless set up for ages

im surprised that no-one has noticed the awesome performance if you spray the disc with water; it acts as if it is a 2 piston brake. however, this can piss me off always making it wet. overall, it is a crap brake and unless you do very soft cross country, NEVER buy this brake. ps. does anyone know how to do a 360 pivot on the rear wheel?

Similar Products Used:

magura Hs33, shimano xt v's

+ Cheap
+ Quiet
+ Easy to adjust for pad wear (which you will have a lot of)

- Very bad fad / lost of power on long descents
- poor pad life
- poor caliper construction
- have to pump brakes to build up power

Bottom line - avoid these brakes unless you are just looking for disc images.

Brakes came with the bike and I always intended to upgrade - never did until now. This was my second set of disc brakes. My first were Coda on another bike - nice F2000. Comparing the two, I would go with Coda although I have not compared or considered other manufactures.

After two years of use, the brakes continue to fad on long descents. I have bled and changed the fluid and they still fad. (fyi...I am 180lbs). Brake pads are too small in my opinion. I go through brake pads every few hundred miles.
Recently, I discovered that the caliper design is poor. I got lazy and did not check the pads for a while and wore through the pad backing into the calipair cylinder! Cylinder should be designed to never come in contact with the disc!!!

So I am finally upgrading. Don't know to which brand, but nor Magura Louise.

Overall, if you don't ride hard, are not heavy and/or primarily ride in dry areas then these brakes are for you - but why would you buy disc brakes anyway?

Similar Products Used:

Coda Discs

Power, modulation, lever feel

None yet

This review is for the 2002 Louise FR system.

The system is pure joy. Mounting is a snap. Just put them on, shim the rotor to the center of the caliper, and I'm done. No pads to adjust and no need to be concerned about a slightly warped rotor. There is a wee bit of drag on the front, but the manual states this is normal during the break-in period so I'm not giving it a second thought for now.
The lever is better ergonomically and it allows me to move the caliper & shifters closer to the grips. This was a real minus with the '00 Louise. In order to get my fingers to grab the sweet spot on the lever of old Louise I had to move the lever quite a bit inside. Not an issue anymore and now I don't need to reach inside to shift gears.
The entire lever/master body feels much more solid than the old Louise. No more rattling or accidental forward displacement of the lever.
As for perfomance......huge power improvement over old Louise while still retaining excellent modulation. I've tried Hayes and always felt old Louise was a step behind in the power department (but much better at modulation). New Louise FR is provides as much power as Hayes while still avoiding that on/off feel.
All in all, I couldn't be happier. A definite improvement and another great product from a great company.

Move over old Louise, there's a new girl in town.

The Squeaky Wheel

Similar Products Used:

Magura Louise '00 (self-adjusting type)

good braking power(for one cylinder!)

manual adjustment brake pads, but you just do not have to adjust them each time you went biking

All rubbish reviews the bad ones, okay brakes never had problems with them even after years!!! They come very cheap now, they are better as rim brakes spent the money.... I assure you they are okay.

Similar Products Used:

-

Superb stopping power, easy to set up, just require a little patience.

Can "pump up" on long technical descents

These brakes are so much better than V brakes, I can see a day when all bikes will be disc equipped. If the prices keep coming down everyone will be able to experience the superb stopping power these offer. The plastic levers are a bit flimsy, but at least they snap without damaging the rest of the brake lever body. A metal lever would cause all kinds of damage in a nasty fall.

Pads can wear quickly of not set up properly, take some time and they are superb!

Similar Products Used:

Magura Julie

naff all

pads wore out very quickly despite changing the pad compound, spongy levers, noisey, crap

I've had 2 sets of these babies and 1 set of Claras, they all came with the bikes. They all broke within about 8 months. The pads don't last, the levers get very heavy and they don't inspire confidence. Each time i've had to replace them with Hope brakes which i have to say are leagues ahead of Magura. Despite numerous trips to the Magura service centre they still came back crap. I had them serviced by 2 different shops and both reported similar faults. I tried contacting Magura direct but the failed to return my emails and calls. DON'T BUY THEM. Save up a little bit more and buy hope, hayes anything but Magura.

Similar Products Used:

Hope

Cheap. Easy to adjust. Light

Nothing but problems since i've had it. It's been in & out of the shop, & I finally had to send it back for a new set.

This is a cheap set of disc brakes, but it would have been worth it to spend a little extra money for a quality set of Hayes.

Similar Products Used:

This is my first set of disc brakes

TWO MILE BRAKE IN PERIOD,SMOOTH AND SENSITIVE

LEVER THROW AND ADJUSTMENT (THERE ARE NONE)

I bought this brake system for my surroundings, I live in Hohenfels, Germany and the weather here changes very frequently. Rain,snow,sleet,and very brief periods of sun are the types of elements I have to ride in. The terrain here is difficult, and not many tires work on brown bogger clay, so I needed a brake that would excel and so far the louise has been my favorite, even with globs of mud hanging from her. Thanks MAGURA !!

Similar Products Used:

HAYES DISC,XTR V'S,TECTRO V'S, AND MAGURA GUSTAV'S FOR ONE WEEK.