Magura Product Presentation

Magura recently showcased their latest innovations in the rugged mountains east of Temecula, California. Although the two-day camp happened amidst Southern California's storm of the year, we dodged hail and lightning long enough to ride products from the "The Brake People" and hang out with members of the new multi-sport Mojo Extreme Team.

Thor fork

The biggest news at the camp was the line of suspension forks. Magura has a fork for every occasion with the lightweight Ronin taking up the cross-country end and the massive Big Ego on the gravity-assisted side. The most impressive of the lineup is the Thor. Billed as the ultimate freeride single-crown fork, the Thor boasts 150mm to 110mm of adjustable travel; separately tunable high- and low-speed damping, 20mm through-axle and 32mm stanchions.The lowers are made of carbon and aluminum and the double brake arch is aluminum wrapped in carbon fiber (production models on both may feature different metals). Claimed weight on the $1,000 Thor is 5.7 pounds and steerer tubes are available in either 1.5 inch or 1 1/8 inch.

The new Albert Plus System takes on the Thor's damping responsibilities. It cuts down on bobbing--like other pedal platforms--with slow-speed rebound. Albert Plus is very tunable and doesn't affect the fork's reaction to hard hits.

To match the long-travel Thor and Big Ego forks, Magura created the Draco. It's a coil-over shock with separately adjustable high- and low-speed compression damping also using Albert Plus. Rebound and preload are adjustable, and the piggyback reservoir rotates 360 degrees for easy installation. The Draco comes in four different lengths and costs $580.

Draco shock

The introduction of the Louise FR is the most notable change on the disc brake front. Built for downhill power and freeride modulation, the FR is basically a beefed-up version of the popular Louise. It features a durable aluminum one-piece caliper, super-strong aluminum master cylinder and three rotor options all using the super-trick wavy SL rotors. The Louise FR costs $227 per wheel.

Magura was also pushing their wheelsets. The FR features DT Swiss hubs (with optional through-axle), DT Swiss competition spokes and either Mavic 219 or tubeless Mavic XE 823 disc rims. These bombproof wheelsets costs $744 for tubeless rims and $593 standard. The Pro uses lightweight DT Swiss hubs, DT Swiss competition spokes in a three-cross lace pattern and Mavic X 317 or tubeless Mavic XM 819 rims. The TK-pound wheelsets cost $676 for tubeless rims and $550 standard. Although Magura doesn't manufacture any components on these wheels, they're hand built at its factory in Germany.

Louise FR disc brake

If you're hung up on Shimano's racy XT and XTR hubs and wheelsets and still want to run your Magura brakes, "The Brake People" offer a solution. Soon to make a public appearance is Magura's adaptor that connects six-bolt discs to Center Lock splined hubs.

With so many great products coming out of Germany, and top athletes from downhill, freeride, cross country, trials, motocross and super-moto making up Team Mojo, Magura will soon be known as much more than "The Brake People." Stay tuned as we wrangle up these new products and thrash 'em long-term.