Three Pounds of Bacon Makes for Good Kaas Spaetzle

Trimming the Fat at Magura's Sedona Press Camp Part One: What’s Kaas Spaetzle got to do with it?

(May 19, 2011) SEDONA, Ariz - 24 Eggs, heaping mountains of flour, a lot of cheese (that’s metric for tons), cases of spaetzle noodles (like egg noodles), a crop of onions, three, count ‘em three pounds of bacon… and one German engineer/chef: that’s what it takes to feed, entertain, and impress ten journalists after serving up 12 hours of riding on a two day singletrack bender in Sedona, Ariz.

I’ll admit I watched attentively as Stefan Pahl, Magura’s lead engineer, stirred up a huge batch of Kaas Spaetzle in the Lighthouse kitchen as the sun set over the redrock cliffs of Sedona. Would his cooking skills be any indication of his prowess as an engineer? Should I trust a man to design ultra light bicycle components who uses bacon with such reckless abandon? The lack of direct correlation between the two provided me with some confidence but Sedona is a place where brake failure means certain death. Eating Kaas Spaetzle every night, in comparison, could kill a man more slowly (but it would be a blissful death).

Pahl’s culinary talents are indisputable and the German delight was a huge hit: Great chefs never hold back on the bacon. Great engineers, on the other hand, trim the fat wherever they can without compromising the integrity of the design. Is it possible for a man to balance these talents?

Ultimate Testing Grounds

Hosting a press camp in Sedona, Ariz. is a show of confidence. After three days of riding on the ledgy terrain, an inadequate product will be ready for the recycle bin. But Magura Direct confidently chooses Sedona each year to introduce their new products and open them up to the many abuses Sedona’s trails serve up.

A typical stay at the Lighthouse with the Magura crew means waking up early to coffee and breakfast, hitting the trails for three hours, breaking for lunch, followed by another three hour ride, shower (if you can still stand), hot tub, beer, presentations, dinner, bed. Repeat on day 2. Next year I’m volunteering to help clean bikes so I can stay all week: It’s tough to leave.

The Magura Direct family consists of Magura, Uvex, and Vaude and all three companies have been busy refining and designing new products for 2012 and they had impressive results to show for it.

Magura 2012 MT Brakes

The biggest news from Magura for 2012 is the retirement of their hugely popular Marta and Louise brake lines and the introduction of the MT line. The MT brakes are the product of more than 2-years of work by Magura dubbed Mission Performance: An internally inspired project aimed at utilizing new materials, technologies, and testing to reduce weight and improve heat stability, braking performance, and ergonomics.

The flagship of the new line is the MT8: a 278-gram brake (w/160mm rotor) with a one of a kind full carbon lever, master cylinder, and clamp. The line includes three other models: the MT2, MT4, and MT6.

A notable aspect of the MT line is that all the models share the same essential internal technologies and performance standards; when you spend $129 on the MT2 you’re essentially getting the same braking performance as the $399 MT8, only in a heavier 330 gram package without the carbon fiber frills (note that’s still the same weight as shimano’s XTR brakes). As you move up the lineage, you get more carbon fiber and more machining, which removes excess material and saves weight but the internals, technologies and pads are the same.

All are backed up by a 5-year leak proof warranty.

MT Brake Line Highlights :

• Carbotecture master cylinder body utilizing a proprietary carbon matrix, claimed to be twice the strength of carbon laminates, aluminum, or magnesium
• Carbolay lever and clamp with split clamp and hollow pivots (MT8 Only)
• Top mounted pad retainer bolt for easy access and easy pad removal
• Magura’s easy bleed technology (it really is easy, see video here)
• Double arch (very stiff) single piece caliper design.
• Rotor sizes: 140-203mm (MT8 and MT6) and 160-203mm (MT2 and MT4)
• Alloy T25 rotor and caliper bolts. (6 alloy rotor bolts weigh only 4 grams vs. about 13 grams for steel bolts)
• Super light and reliable Center Lock rotor converter available

Magura’s brakes are the gold standard and it’s because they don’t compromise safety and performance for weight. On the trails of Sedona the MT8’s proved to be powerful, easily modulated, and silent.

Magura achieves high performance by paying attention to every detail like using large oraganic pads, Duraplastic lined pistons, and 2mm thick rotors (vs. more common 1.8mm rotors) to reduce heat and fatigue and using mineral oil, which is safer to work with and does not brake water like DOT fluid can over time.

Magura claims their calipers test at 50 degrees Celsius lower under braking than other brands they tested. Heat is a disc brakes worst enemy. Pahl goes so far as to say he can touch their caliper after braking down a long decent. I didn’t test it on my skin but I never smelled burning brake pads in Sedona.

The Duraplastic lining on the pistons, along with a square parallelogram seal (to push the pads back) aids in pad retraction to reduce drag.

Interestingly Magura does not offer specific DH and XC brakes because the MT brakes, they say, are so powerful, light, and versatile they are applicable to all disciplines. Riding them in Sedona proved that quite effectively.

The MT8 brakes were impressive in Sedona and the Mountain Flyer staff has been logging consistent miles with equally great results. Look for a full review in issue 21.

Pricing and Weights (per brake):

MT8: $399, 278 grams

MT6: $299, 310 grams

MT4: $199, 320 grams

MT2: $129, 330 grams

Magura 2012 Forks

Refinements and improvements for 2012 make Magura’s forks worth checking out when you’re ready to upgrade. Riding the 150mm THOR and Durin 120 on the trails of Sedona for three days accentuated their more desirable features and we’re looking forward to spending more time on the new models this summer.

Magura’s engineers have some great ideas that increase stiffness and functionality in their forks and they continue to improve them each year. 

For 2012 each model has shaved some weight due to newly designed damping cartridges and more alloy parts - The 2012 Durin SL is a svelte 1299 grams and the 150mm THOR is only 1750 grams.

On the performance side, Magura has improved all the seals to higher tolerances and replaced the lubricating oil with grease so oil leakage is no longer an issue.

2012 Magura Fork Highlights:

• New DLO2 dynamic lockout mechanism: locked for hard hits but the system will compress/sag under hard slow loads (nice while climbing).
• Magnesium lower legs (keeps ‘em light)
• Improved seals
• Grease lubrication (no leaking oil)
• Low friction coating on stanchions
• Available 15mm thru-axle
• New Lift Select travel adjust: improved system allows the rider to turn the adjust lever and the fork will rebound to the new travel setting after being compressed.

In Sedona, The 150mm THOR proved to be a fantastic, durable trail fork. The progression of the travel was smooth and predictable (never diving of big drops or into hard corners). I never heard a single complaint and the new seals and grease-based lubrication was an obvious improvement. The new forks are extreemely simple to clean and maintain, Pahl showed us how to dissasemble, clean and reasemble a fork in under 15 minutes - Watch Video Here

PDF 2012 Magura Fork Technical Specs: