Magura MT5 Disc Brake and Lever [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for. 

There is the saying "you are only as fast as your brakes" which is no doubt true. If you have brakes that don't modulate well or are not powerful enough it can be a bummer. One of our friends shares his thoughts on the Magura MT5 Disc Brake and Lever set. Check it out!

Overview

When I was searching for my new bike (2020 Orbea Occam H20), I knew that I will have to upgrade stock brakes right away. I am one of those riders who rather have more power and be able to do control slides rather than cheap Shimano 2 pistons brakes that I wasn't sure if it would stop me when I really needed it to. It took me 3 weeks to decide on this Occam, and I was also researching which disc brakes would be the best bang for my bucks. Best options would have been to order upgrades on Orbea.com and waited for my bike to arrive, but I also ordered Orbea Oiz for my wife as our anniversary gift and there was this Occam looking at me with sad puppy face at the bike shop to pick up her bike. The shop owner told me that after going back and forth with me about me wanting to order an Occam, he realized that he had one in his storage that he forgot about. Once I got my eyes on my Occam, I just couldn't wait to order one.

The next morning was my first ride at Yonah Reserve here in Georgia, and I ended up crashing hard due to lack of skill, not being used to a smaller bike (going from Large Stumpjumper to Medium Occam), and peer pressure to do a big jump that I have never done. My amazing reaction time was used mid-air to hug my new bike and took all the impact with my right elbow and both my knees. This Occam was scratch-free and I was bleeding from all my joints. 

That same ride made me understand that I needed much better brakes, and it will help me get faster.

This whole story was beside the point. Knowing that worldwidecyclery.com has amazing shipping time and customer service (even during this COVID pandemic bike boom era), I came home from that ride and ordered Magura MT5 Disc Brake and Lever after another day to decide between MT5, MT Trail Sport, and MT7. MT5 is the best brakes for my money! Then I realized that I wasn't able to use the stock Shimano rotors, because Magura uses thicker rotors, and cried a little because that was more of my money going to WC on the brand new bike. My research wasn't good enough, and videos I watched of YouTubers saying it's okay to use non-Magura rotors weren't convincing enough to risk it. I was happy to tackle this brake job myself, I did swap out my front rotors to 203 instead of stock 180. Was very glad to find center lock rotors in stock only at worldwidecyclery.com had to find cheap bleed kit since almost all Magura bleed kits were sold out everywhere. It took me my entire Saturday to do this and some other work on my bike (and getting the evil eyes from my wife and my sons for not spending time with them instead of working on the bike), but got it done!

Final Thought

Okay, Pros, and cons. Pros: This brake looks amazing and extremely powerful. Seriously the best price for powerful brakes. Rings on the calipers can be changed to whatever color you want. Rotors are thick and definitely reliable during the long downhill.

Cons: Magnetic pad holders are hard to center on rotor because it also sticks to the rotor when I am trying to center it. Cool concept, but I rather have a retaining screw on top. I am not sure if it was me, but it was very hard to bleed this properly. I actually had to do quick bleed at the end of 10th tries doing regular full bleed, and that worked much better than the normal bleeding procedure. I wish it came with 1-finger levers, 2-finger levers are not cool and nobody uses them anymore. I am not going to spend another $100 just to change out my levers neither, that's horrible prices for a lever. Not too many cons for this brakes really. I tried to come up with more, but definitely great brakes for any price.