Magura EV02 Hydraulic Brakes- ANY GOOD or Trouble ?
 

I am considering the purchase of a Tandem with these HYDRAULIC RIM RUB brakes and have only ever used regular wire pull
rim brakes and drum brakes on a Tandem. The specific model of Magura Brakes is the HS33-EVO2

The bike I am looking at is 13 years old and I am afraid of problems and being too difficult for me to fix.
Wire pull rim brakes are fully visible and easy to figure out when problems occur.

Are these hydraulic RIM RUB brakes a good idea or do they represent a lot of probable regrettable headaches ?

Hydraulic dis brakes are a dramatic improvement in braking performance over cable actuated rim brakes for a tandem.

Magura is one of the original manufacturers of disc brakes for bikes and have a good reputation.

the brakes are likely to need little maintenance other than changing They might rarely need bled. ( Magura claims that because they use mineral oil, the original fluid can last a very long time without needing bled). If they do need bled, it’s not that hard to learn, or jjust pay a shop to do it.

I have 6000 miles on my magura brakes and no bleed needed yet maybe in a couple more thousand miles. but that's all in a years time.

Are the EVO-2 brakes the hydraulic RIM brakes Magura made a few years ago?

I think they are. I just saw hydraulic and assumed disc.

NO. I am talking about hydraulic RIM RUB brakes .... here is a photo.... from 2007
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bcbd3e0cb0.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6aeec67512.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a808c4fc04.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2ad20c13fe.jpg

I don't know what the reliability history has been for those brakes,but in general Magura stuff is OK. Back in my motorcycle days, their stuff was highly thought of. I know some people had issues with some of their low end disk brakes using polymer castings and easily buggered by improper wrench turning, but these look to be all metal.

I believe that those brakes mount on standard cantilever brake post mounts. If that is the case, the worst case for you would be that you will need to swap out the Magura for some cable actuated cantilever brakes. Shimano probably still makes them.

As far as being a maintenance headache, my guess is that the only maintenance you will need for a while is to change the pads. I have no idea if they are still available, but Google says that Koolstop still lists them. If you like the way the brakes work, maybe buy 5 sets?

Other than that, hydraulic brakes are just different from cable actuation. You may need to bleed them. Fluid needs to be changed, and they probably use Magura mineral oil which is very available. Compared to hydraulic, cables are an inefficient system and a real maintenance headache. But they are simple and fairly easy to fix by the side of the road if you have spare parts, and they are cheap.

I have these on my old 1995 AMP B-3 mountain bike. They still work great and have been maintenance free all these years. I cannot believe they still make them.

I just replied to the other brake topic and mentioned my Maguras. I have them on my mountain tandem. As a mechanic, I've always had pretty strong hands, but found the Maguras didn't provide enough brute braking power I had expected. I rode them front and rear for over a decade and then happened to upgrade the shock which required switching to hydraulic disc. The difference couldn't be more obvious! One finger braking on the tandem on the steepest terrain. THAT is what hydraulic brakes SHOULD be. So this only confirmed my bad impression of the Maguras. They SHOULD be incredibly powerful, but have never been. I started with the standard black pads and upgraded to their green pads - same issues.

That said, the advantage of ZERO squishy feel is still there. My road tandem has XT cantilevers and the rear has always been squishy. Not so bad as to be an issue, but annoying nonetheless. Hydraulic eliminates this problem by design.

My Maguras are from '97, so I can only hope and assume they've improved the power issue. Or perhaps not, given they aren't really designing for the tandem market and probably exclusively the observed trials market at this point (also a tiny market segment).

I hope that helps.

PS In 23 1/2 years, I have never had a SINGLE maintenance issue with the Maguras. Only brake pad changes and pad adjustments.

I am curious re the Magura Hydraulic Rim brakes.... When the pads wear, are they self adjusting or does the space between the pads and the rim steadily get bigger as the pads wear until you replace the pads? I didnt know about the different color pads. I assume they are Magura OEM and perhaps the green pads are softer and thusly offer greater friction and stopping force.
. BTW, I did see your mention of "pad adjustments" but I wasnt clear if that was only upon initial installation or ongoing as the pads wear.

I find this interesting since Magura does still make these brakes and I was considering a pair. I'd often heard that they had a problem with being too powerful and could crush a rim. I've only ever seen them a handful of times and one of those was due to a very well worn rim being crushed but I suspect that was close enough that a good canti or V might have done the same. Guessing with the number of years you have on yours that the quality of the bleed isn't it so I'll chalk this up to experience trumping past rumors. Good to know they're safe even if I'd be better off with disc.

The model I have from '97 does not "self-adjust." Yes, a the gap between rim and pad increases with pad wear. You can adjust for this by moving the entire brake piston housing closer to the rim. The adjustment is straightforward, however it can be challenging if the nylon conical washers get clamped so tightly that they get impressions in them from the brake housing. This happened to mine as I really clamped them hard knowing how much force was going into them during hard tandem braking. Other than that, the quick release is kinda wonky; one actually removes one side of the brake from the canti post, which leaves a "slotted" washer just sitting there, prone to falling off. The key is putting the brake back on after removing the wheel so you don't lose it! I would assume the newer versions may have changed over the last 23 years.

And crushing rims? I've never even thought about that eventuality and obviously never experienced this. Running Sun Rhyno Lite rims.

I want to report to everyone that I DID buy the bike and I absolutely LUV the MAGURA HS-33 EVO2 hydraulic rim brakes. When I bought the bike the pads were worn
and the pistons were out of adjustment with never having been adjusted for pad wear. With new "RED" "competition" Magura pads and proper adjustment,
I can easily ( with very little grip pressure) lock up the rear tire with stoker on back at high speed.