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Hands On: Magura MT7 Quad Piston Hydraulic Brakes

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Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (3)

Equal parts motorcycle and mountain bike DNA, the Magura MT7 is a brake built for speed. Well, managing speed is more like it. Designed as a smaller and lighter version of their own supermoto brake caliper, the MT7 boasts 4 pistons and 4 individual pads for increased stopping power. Paired with a new Carbotecture brake lever with a radial master cylinder, the MT7 is the king of the MT NEXT brake line when it comes to power.

In spite of the massive braking performance, the MT7s are also pretty light with the weight skewed towards the brake caliper where it can help with heat management. After our initial impressions out in Sedona, Magura sent over a pair to mount up to a bike of our own. Details and actual weights next…

Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (2)

Joining a few other quad piston brakes on the market, the MT7s should be right at home on any modern Enduro bike or even freeride or downhill applications with the right rotor combination.

Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (4)

Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (5)

The Carbotecture lever is light, but it should be more resilient to impacts than the lighter Carbotecture SL levers found on the XC/trail oriented MT8s. Each MT7 lever includes two tool free adjustments – the BAT knob on the lever body (Bite Adjust Technology) moves the piston within the bore to adjust the brake’s contact point, and the reach adjust knob on the lever itself lets you dial in the ergonomics. Combined with the new lever pivot position which is 20mm closer to the handlebar, the brakes offer improved positioning over previous Magura brakes.

While the levers with 2 piece clamps are ambidextrous, you will need to reposition the BAT adjuster if you plan to run them Moto style.

Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (7) Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (6)

Just like the caliper found in their motorcycle brake, the MT7 calipers are forged from a single piece of aluminum and use an additional center arch to stiffen things up. Built with 4 of Magura’s Duraplastic pistons, the brakes are compatible with either the 8.1 Performance brake pads which are 4 individual pieces, or the 9.1 Performance set up which uses just two pads between the 4 pistons. Brake pads are held in place with their magnetiXchange system which uses magnets in the center of each piston, as well as safety pins up top.

Magura Mt7 brake (2)

Continuing with their mineral oil system they affectionately refer to as Royal Blood, Magura offers a fairly simple Mini bleed kit to get the job done. Chances are pretty good that you will need to bleed the system due to the long brake lines. You can pick up the Mini Service kit for $29.99 which includes a 2oz bottle of Royal Blood, or some of the generic mineral bleed kits like those from Jagwire should have the right fittings.

Magura Mt7 brake (3) Magura Mt7 brake (1)

One big improvement over the old Magura levers is the introduction of a new EBT or Easy Bleed Technology screw. Carbotecture is great for producing a light weight lever body, but not so good when you over-torque one of the fittings. In order to prevent damage to the lever body the new screws are designed to break away if over torqued. There will still be enough material left to remove it and it won’t strip out the threads in the body when it happens. Want to avoid needing the EBT screw’s break away feature? Don’t use more than 0.5 Nm of torque on the fitting. It doesn’t need much.

The video above is from the previous generation of MT brakes but the process remains the same.

Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (13)

All of Magura’s brakes are compatible with either their Storm or Storm SL rotors. Our review set was shipped with Storm SL rotors which are great for lighter weight builds which won’t see extended, high heat down hill runs. If you’re planning to do shuttle runs in a bike park the Storm rotors would be a better choice thanks to a higher thermal mass.

Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (9) Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (8)

With typical German precision, the two brakes weigh exactly the same amount with the same length hose.

Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (14) Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (1)

Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (12) Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (11) Magura MT7 Brake review disc hydraulic mountain bike (10)

The Storm SL rotors are impressively light as you would expect from a product with the SL label, and the remaining bolts and adapters are fairly standard. MT7s carry a retail price of $320 per brake, with Storm SL rotors selling separately at $38 a piece. We’ll report back with a review after putting them through the paces.

magura.com

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JBikes
JBikes
9 years ago

The 4 pads wouldn’t seem like a performance benefit. It seems it was as it would be hard to fit a single pad per side with the same area while keeping the caliper size down. The center stiffening arch prevents them from using a single pad.

big err
big err
9 years ago

It says you can use either two or four pad set-ups.

JBikes
JBikes
9 years ago

big err….on my part. I missed that. Seems weird to even have a 4 pad option then.

AndyG
AndyG
9 years ago

serval. That’s a bit of a generalization, but there’s some truth in it. I’ve had two sets of MT models (MTS, MT8) and one of them (the MT8s) required some immediate attention before serious use to get them to work as intended e.g. I had to disassemble the fluid reservoirs and re-assemble carefully to get rid of sponginess caused by air leaks. That meant bleeding the brakes, of course. If you are handy and work on your own bikes it’s no big deal, but if you totally rely on the LBS it might be really annoying. However, once working properly they are awesome – power as good as Shimano with better feel and much lighter weight. By the way you should RTM as they require very careful assembly because they are light.

Woller Von F
Woller Von F
9 years ago

@serval, you are right. Pistons do not work in harmony causing brake drag esp with the individual pads. I’ll keep my martas.

Jeff
Jeff
9 years ago

Nice article about breaks!

bart
bart
9 years ago

Just got my mt7’s the other day, super easy to set up and feel nice and solid. I believe the dual pads will also help with cooling. I have run Marta’s for the past 5 years and loved them, can’t wait for spring to give these the real test!

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