FIRST RIDE REVIEW
Magura Gustav Pro Brakes
Words by Robert Johnston | Images courtesy of Magura
I recently stopped in past the Magura headquarters in Bad Urach, Germany, to meet their friendly team and learn a little about their newest brake offering – the monstrous Gustav Pro. I was able to take these brakes out onto their local trails to get an initial impression of their performance. It’s safe to say it was an enjoyable time, with some great trails and a pair of brakes that immediately had me feeling confident and in control.
ABOUT THE MAGURA GUSTAV PRO BRAKES
The Gustav Pro was designed by Magura to be a no-holds-barred, super powerful brake designed for gravity mountain bikes and eBikes. With the primary focus on power and durability, Magura hopes to offer the ultimate heavy hitting brake option.
Starting at the caliper, the Gustav Pro has been designed in conjunction with a new rotor design, the MDR-S 2.5. This is a 2.5mm thick rotor – up from their standard 2mm rotors – which is more rigid and features an optimized friction ring design that reduces vibration and minimizes noise. By reducing heat buildup, they hope to reduce the likelihood of pad glazing and changing bite on sustained descents.
The forged, one-piece caliper is built to accommodate thicker brake pads than their MT7, with 40% increased volume for longer service life. The distance between pads and rotor has been increased to allow for easier setup. Thanks to the stiff caliper, automatic pad alignment is more efficient too. Driving the pads are four monstrous 19mm pistons, giving excellent power.
The Carbotecture brake master is designed with a high reservoir volume – 7ml vs 4ml of the MT7 – to ensure high reliability and accommodation of system wear. The PRO lever is machined from aluminum, and features tool-free reach adjustment. The high fluid volume ensures they are ABS ready, if desired. The hose exits the lever parallel to the handlebar, integrating cleanly with headset routing systems or conventional hose routing.
The result is a system that Magura claims to have doubled the service time before maintenance is required. They’ve added a new bleed valve to the caliper to improve the ease of servicing when the time comes, with oil channels optimized to reduce the likelihood of trapped air.
New to the Magura Gustav Pro is the EASY LINK technology. This is a new system for connection of the hose to the brake master, using custom hydraulic connectors to make removal and refitting of the brake hose easier and less likely to introduce air into the system. The system is supplied with brake master and the caliper and hose separate, pre-bled and ready to install easily. And if a replacement hose or lever are required, they can be purchased individually, ready to install.
TESTING THE MAGURA GUSTAV PRO BRAKES
Before hitting the trails, we had to test the EasyLink Capabilities during a swap over to my UK (moto) brake setup. In a rush, we managed to allow a little fluid to exit the rear brake hose just prior to reconnection, leading to a slightly soft rear brake. Magura doesn’t claim EasyLink to be a guaranteed air-free system, only to make switching easier. So, although it was a shame to need a bleed immediately, it’s just one of those things. After a quick bleed, we were good to hit the trails again in just a couple of minutes, and the confidence was immediately restored.
In the flesh, the Gustav Pro is a burly and reassuring looking brake. In my eyes, the brakes are an area of the bike that should never be skimped on, so it’s great to see companies producing burly stoppers like Magura have here. With a huge oil reservoir and a stiff and chunky caliper, it’s easy to imagine the power that they’re going to deliver.
What can often be lacking in a powerful brake is the control and modulation. But in the case of the Gustav, it was the modulation that topped the list of stand-out characteristics. Not to forget the power – Magura’s new Gustav Pro stoppers are undoubtedly up to the task of slowing down a heavy rider on a heavy eBike down a steep trail. But they do so without being in any way difficult to control.
The lever feel on Maguras new brake is nice and light, without losing the feedback that allows the rider to feel what’s going on. The easy control and plentiful power has ranked them very highly based on the short time I’ve had on them. Not to mention how silent they were – throughout testing, there wasn’t so much as a whisper out of these brakes.
The descents we rode were not incredibly long, with around 300m drop. But they certainly involved plenty of braking. Riding steep trails blind in slick conditions meant I was rarely letting off the brakes. As a brake designed for long alpine descents, you would hope that they’d be able to cope, but I’m not convinced they even had to wake up. With the light lever action remaining; the bite staying consistent, and power far exceeding the capabilities of the tires to grip the ground, I’m extremely excited to get the Gustav Pro brakes In for some proper testing on longer and gnarlier descents. Watch this space. 
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