MAGURA GUSTAV ULTRA AND RACE PRO BRAKES

November 3, 2026

Magura has doubled down on metal this year, with their all-metal Race Pro brakes and the new Gustav Ultra brake levers. The Race Pro represents the pinnacle of performance in the Magura brake lineup, but the Gustav Ultra lever also pushes the performance of the excellent Gustav Pro brakes to another level.

We enjoyed the opportunity to connect with the Magura team to learn about their new metal brake offerings, and put them to the test for this Tech Check feature.

As with all of The Loam Wolf Tech Check features, this was made with the support of Magura Brakes. As such, it does not represent an official review or endorsement of the Gustav Ultra and Race Pro Brakes, and is only intended to showcase the details of these new brakes and share our first impressions. 

THE NEW “ULTRA” LINE

To date, the Magura Gustav has been offered in the Elite and the Pro line, giving two levels of finish quality with corresponding price tags. With the launch of the Gustav Ultra lever, Magura has added another high-end tier to their brakes, with Ultra signifying increased adjustability and “bling”.

MAGURA GUSTAV ULTRA LEVER

THE MOST ADJUSTABLE MAGURA

The Gustav Ultra is a high-performance aftermarket lever blade, designed to be retrofitted to the Magura Gustav Elite or Gustav Pro brakes. It provides three-way adjustability to tailor the feel and ergonomics of the brake to each rider.

Magura forges and then CNC-machines the Gustav Ultra lever from aluminum alloy. The surface is polished then anodized to give a durable silver colorway. Impressively, the highly adjustable lever Ultra blades are only 4g heavier than the Gustav Pro lever blade.

Magura is going to offer the Gustav Ultra lever blades individually for €84.90, or as a pair for €169.90 / $199. A limited-edition set for launch in Europe will include a Metal Lunch Box.

REACH ADJUST
Reach adjust is nothing new for a Magura brake, of course, but the Gustav Ultra tunes the reach through use of a mid-lever pivot, as opposed to at the end. This allows the Ultra lever to deliver a closer-to-bar minimum point, addressing one of our only complaints about the Gustav Pro.

BITE POINT ADJUST
Bite point adjustment can be found on other premium brakes, but the four-position Bite Point Adjust found on the Magura Gustav Ultra lever makes a more notable and defined change than many. The adjustment covers around 25% of the total lever travel, modifying the piston preload and giving each rider the choice of a snappier engagement or a more relaxed onset of power.

POWER ADJUST
Rarely seen on mountain bike brakes, the Power Adjust feature evolves from the Magura HC3 levers, allowing riders to tune the mechanical leverage and therefore the power delivered by the Gustav Ultra. Power Adjust provides a 15% adjustment range, with the most powerful setting yielding a 10% power increase over the already strong Gustav Pro.

MAGURA RACE PRO BRAKE

THE FLAGSHIP MAGURA BRAKE

The Race Pro is Magura’s most powerful brake to date, designed to handle the rigors of downhill and enduro mountain biking and featuring the highest-quality finish of any Magura brake so far.

Magura’s Race Pro sits in their heavy-duty brake sector, more powerful than their light-duty brakes, but not as overbuilt as their extreme-duty brakes like the Gustav.

The primary goals of the Race Pro were to deliver the most power we’ve seen on a Magura brake yet, but with a low hand force required to minimize arm and hand fatigue.

These new top-tier brakes retail for €699.90 / $699 for the pair.

THE MAGURA RACE PRO LEVER

Something that many will be stoked to see is the forged and machined metal master cylinder on the Race Pro. While Magura stands by their Carbotecture material and the lightweight designs it can offer, many riders have been calling for a fully metal Magura brake, and they listened.

While the large oil reservoir is arranged as you would expect for the more common axial piston, you still get the radial master piston orientation that is preferred by Magura for construction stiffness.

Best of both worlds? Magura thinks so!

The radial master piston gives a direct, linear relationship between input and output force, which boosts modulation and predictability. A large 12mm master piston drives a large volume of oil, with plentiful leverage to overcome potential high lever force requirements.

On the metal lever blade, you get a tool-free lever reach adjustment dial to tune the fit, but it doesn’t receive the same three-way adjustability of the Gustav Ultra lever. Perhaps a Race Ultra will come in the future, but we have not received confirmation of this yet.

THE MAGURA RACE PRO CALIPER

There is a one-piece forged and machined caliper, as you’d expect from a performance Magura brake. This has been machined considerably to produce a skeletonized structure with material only where it is beneficial, giving what they claim as DH power at XC weight, coming in at 310g.

Four 19mm pistons in the caliper give plentiful force on the pads to ensure high power is delivered when it’s required.

LOW PRESSURE, LOW FRICTION

Magura focused on reducing friction throughout the system, with a low-friction anodized piston chamber and a sealed cartridge bearing lever pivot.

The system operates at a lower pressure than many, giving less hose expansion and a more consistent feel front to rear.

EASY EVERYTHING?

Magura’s EASY technologies are continued in the Race Pro, with the Easy Link hose coupling system that makes installation and removal simpler. They upgraded this system with a threaded Easy Link valve on the master end, which keeps things fully sealed when the hose is removed.

The bleeding process has been optimized to give a continuous oil circuit with no dead ends, making it easier to pull air out. With easier bleeding and less likelihood of trapped air, Magura hopes the reliability of the Race Pro will be exceptional, and so far we have no reason to disagree.

With a five-year leak-free guarantee and extensive spare parts catalog, Magura is standing by the Race Pro as a high-quality offering with long service life.

MAGURA RACE PRO PAD AND ROTOR OFFERINGS

You can choose between Magura’s black, silver, and yellow pad compounds, which give progressively increasing power and bite. They also offer the MDP-13+ pads, with a shim in the rear to reduce the chance of vibration-induced noise when braking.

And as for rotors, the RACE Pro brakes take a standard 2mm rotor from 180mm to 220mm diameters, such as their MDR-P we tested. They are not compatible with the thicker rotors for the Gustav.

THE DIRT

Following a ride camp with Magura at Bikepark Samerberg, where they showed off their latest and greatest brakes and let us experience them on the trails, we received a set of Gustav Ultra levers and Race Pro brakes for testing at home.

MAGURA GUSTAV ULTRA RIDE IMPRESSIONS

The Magura Gustav brakes have ranked very highly for me since their release, but I had some minor complaints about their lever ergonomics, and will always appreciate extra adjustability. As such, in theory the Gustav Ultra lever would only improve my opinion of these brakes. Price implications aside, it’s safe to say that Magura has done a stellar job.

Retained is the exceptional consistency and faultless dependability of the Gustav system. With a huge fluid volume, low pressure operation and thick rotors giving high levels of heat resistance, the Gustav Pro is as set-and-forget as I’ve ever experienced. The Gustav Ultra levers won’t change any of that.

The close-to-bar position that the new Ultra lever affords immediately removed my only complaint with the Gustav Pro. As a rider who prefers to use the middle phalange to brake rather than the fingertip, the Gustav Pro left me feeling slightly stretched in its closest setting. The Gustav Ultra’s closer-to-bar minimum reach let me feel more comfortable, and the ability to tune the bite point independently ensured I was able to dial in the perfect feeling.

As for the power settings, I expected to settle on the maximum power, but found myself dialling it back a touch, since the power of the Gustav Pro brakes was already enough to keep me happy. Perhaps I would find benefit in the highest power for the absolute steepest of runs on a downhill bike or long-travel eBike, so it’s nice to have the flexibility to dial in more power when desired.

The price is going to immediately put many off, but it’s in line with other high-quality aftermarket alloy brake lever blades, and the ability to enhance the performance of the Gustav Elite and Gustav Pro brakes may just make them worth the expense.

MAGURA RACE PRO RIDE IMPRESSIONS

Following on from the First Ride review, I’ve had another few weeks onboard the Race Pro brakes, and my opinions remain entirely unchanged. Simply put, the Magura Race Pro is an excellent performer, offering stellar power and control, and flawless dependability thus far.

The power difference between the Race Pro and the Gustav Ultra is not notable, with the lever ergonomics and a slightly different feel being the main differentiators. Unfortunately, I am yet to put the Race Pro through the level of brake-burning fatigue testing that would allow me to determine how they hold up in ultimate heat management. It makes sense that the Race Pro would not dissipate heat quite as well as the Gustav Pro due to the reduced thermal mass of caliper and rotor, but their skeletonized design at least gives some good surface area and air flow.