Magura MT Trail Sport Brakes: Customer Review

The Magura MT Trail Sport brakes offer 4 piston front and 2 piston rear calipers for serious modulation and power when you need it. Not only do they work well but they look the part too. Our customer Andrew recently made the switch from Shimano and is stoked on the new set-up. Check out his review to learn why!

Overview

I’ve been rocking some Shimano BLM 506 brakes on my Intense Tracer for the last few months and have been in desperate need of an upgrade. Don’t get me wrong, the BLM 506 are decent brakes considering the price but I needed something with more power and modulation. I’ve typically run the old and reliable XT brakes in the past but wanted something with more modulation like the Guides. I really liked the reviews on the new Codes but still couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger. After doing more research I stumbled upon the Magura Trail Sport brakes and after hearing some positive reviews I decided to pull the trigger. After about a month of use, I thought I’d post an initial review on my experience with these.

For those that have no experience with Magura and the Trail Sport brakes, let me give you a little synopsis of what you're getting. These are a four-piston front, paired with a two piston rear, which means you get more bite up front. At first I was a little skeptical about it being mismatched but in reality, they work extremely well. More on that in a bit. I also went ahead and matched the brakes with Magura Storm rotors which are fairly priced compared to the likes of the XT Ice Tech rotors. Magura also makes a beautiful shift mix adapter for your SRAM shifter which makes your handlebars look nice and tidy! Side note for those running a Wolftooth remote there’s now an adapter for the Magura brakes and remote to play nice with each other. Which means no more clamps cluttering your bar on either end!

As for looks, I think these brakes are dead sexy! And not only do they look good, but the lever feels extremely well on the fingers too. The lever is made of thick plastic but doesn’t have that cheap plastic feeling some other levers do. The adjustment range also seems to be generous even though you have to use a hex tool to change it. The lever itself is also pretty large which I really like and gives you a little more to grab onto. A nice little bonus too is that you can actually upgrade the lever to Magura’s HC3 aluminum lever. This supposedly gives you even more adjustment and stopping power! They are alittle pricey which is why I haven’t upgraded but nice to know you can down the road.

Performance

Okay, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty here! How do these brakes perform? So far I’ve been extremely happy with them but not without some caveats. First off, the power on these is just about perfect with 180 rotors front and rear. They definitely have a more powerful grab then say the XTs but with way more modulation! For those that haven’t experienced disc brakes with modulation, you are missing out!! Having the ability to lightly tap the lever between sharp turns really gives you a level of control I haven’t experienced before. I found myself sliding and darting through turns much faster then I had before especially on the steeper trails. I haven’t noticed any power loss on long descents but will reserve the right to change my opinion after some park laps. Overall, the power and modulation combined have me feeling more confident than ever!

The Cons

What about the caveats? These can be a little hard to set up initially and required additional bleeding because the levers were too soft. I’ve heard others have had similar experiences too. Secondly, these can be a little loud. Not turkey garble loud but more of a fluid sound when pressing hard on the brakes. Not sure if that makes sense but it seriously sounds like you can hear the fluid flowing through the brake lines when coming to a hard stop. It’s not super loud but you can definitely hear it. Other than that I don’t have any other complaints!

Final Thoughts

So would I recommend these? Absolutely! The price is great especially for the performance compared to others. I have no doubt these will hold up for a long time!