Magura Forks - Any opinions?
Piemanwmb
Posts: 116
Hi,
I am going up to Merlin cycles next week to have a look at the Malt 4 and Rock Lobster Tig Team bikes.
With the bike options, you can choose amongst others, the Magura Odur and Magura Laurin forks. I am not that familiar with the range but I have seen the recent WMB reviews.
Has anybody bought any or took the option of a Magura fork when they bought a bike from Merlin. I would be interested to hear any opinions on the Odur's or Menja's in particular.
Cheers guys
I am going up to Merlin cycles next week to have a look at the Malt 4 and Rock Lobster Tig Team bikes.
With the bike options, you can choose amongst others, the Magura Odur and Magura Laurin forks. I am not that familiar with the range but I have seen the recent WMB reviews.
Has anybody bought any or took the option of a Magura fork when they bought a bike from Merlin. I would be interested to hear any opinions on the Odur's or Menja's in particular.
Cheers guys
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I can't help with those specific models but have fairly recently purchased some old-stock new Phaons that I have on my Giant VT.
They are still 'bedding in' and are getting plusher by the ride. They had a good review on BikeMagic where they were only really marked down on not being as sensitive as the Revelations equivalents. However, as I got them for &180 (sorry - in Canada for 2 weeks and they have no Pound signs on their keyboards!) less than the List Price I think that they are a steal...
Have heard good things about Maguras generally (reliable, good backup, strong with little flex, fairly lightweight) but not sure of the latest range.
Hope that this helps (a little!)
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Cheers GT, thanks for your opinion. Every comment helps.
Are you taking in the delights of Whistler, or just working?0 -
I haven't tried any Magura forks either. But I was in my local bike shop last week enquiring about buying a new bike and one of their suggestions was to change the forks from the Fox32 that came on the bike to a Magura fork. They reckoned the Maguras were more reliable/suited to uk/muddy conditions.
The Laurin is also reviewed in this months MBR, they seem to quite like it. Saying that it is the fork they'd go for for non competitive biking where precision and ruggedness is more important than weight (or at least that is how I read it). 8/10. Worth a quick read (page 49).0 -
I've got a Malt 4 with OE 100mm Menja's and find them very very good indeed. The forks work brilliantly...very strong and smooth and controllable too. I'd say the build quality is excellent although I haven't had them for long so can't comment yet on longevity. The handlebar mounted lock off works bloomin great!
The Wotan's sound very impressive but they were out of my price range [:)]
All in though I think my Menja's are excellent forks and I'm more than pleased with them so far.
Magura Fork 2007 Overview
http://www.bikemagic.com/news/article/m ... 42/V/1/SP/
Magura Menja Review
http://www.bikemagic.com/news/article/m ... 97/V/1/SP/
PS I note that Merlin no longer appear to offer Menja's as an upgrade option on the Malt 4 favouring the Odin and Laurin models
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Plaid Tortoise - Cheers for that I will take a look. It will be interesting as WMTB didn't rate the Laurin too much as their ones kept breaking.
Red Panda - Thanks for all that mate. If I did go for any Maguras it would probably be the Menja's. Like you say Merlin don't offer them as an upgrade option anymore unfortunately but maybe if I ask nicely they would put them on. We shall see!0 -
I have got a malt 1 with a Magura Laurin. Its been a great fork from the first ride. One stupid thing though is the 1mm allen head grub screw on the albert select lockout that fixes on the bars. I rounded mine off when I changed bars.
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Cool, thanks for that Al this is all really helping.0
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I've got the Odurs on a Malt 4- they are a real fit and forget fork - you can only adjust the rebound and that's it. However, they seem to be very solid and I get the impression they will last for a long time. The remote lockout is a bit of a **** design - it works well enough once it's fitted but as BIG.AL says it's a tiny grub screw - I think it's actually 1.5 mm and it's not hinged.
The Laurin came out at 8/10 in MBR - this is based on the retail of œ400 - if you get them from Merlin on a Malt or RL you'll actually be paying a lot less.0 -
Sorry, off topic, I know, but I just spent ages tring to work out what was on the front of Red Panda's bike, then I saw the message underneath "the watering can behind is not part of the bike".
[:I]
Malt 4
Orange P7 - current rebuild
Deliverance0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by juankerr</i>
I've got the Odurs on a Malt 4- they are a real fit and forget fork - you can only adjust the rebound and that's it. However, they seem to be very solid and I get the impression they will last for a long time. The remote lockout is a bit of a **** design - it works well enough once it's fitted but as BIG.AL says it's a tiny grub screw - I think it's actually 1.5 mm and it's not hinged.
The Laurin came out at 8/10 in MBR - this is based on the retail of œ400 - if you get them from Merlin on a Malt or RL you'll actually be paying a lot less.
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Cheers buddy, in many ways fit and forget is what I am after as I am not too experienced with tinkering with forks. In this respect the Odurs or Menja's could be for me.0 -
<i>Originally posted by scott mcavennie</i>
Sorry, off topic, I know, but I just spent ages tring to work out what was on the front of Red Panda's bike, then I saw the message underneath "the watering can behind is not part of the bike".
Scott, I notice you have the Reba's on your Malt 4. How do you rate them and your Malt 4. Would you recommend?0 -
Sorry to say this but my 100mm Laurins that came on my Malt4 have had a few problems.
The same as some other people too.
The fiddly little grub screw on the remote lock out has rounded the same as Big Al. Apparently these were not made by Magura and a new Magura built version will be available next year.
I have had to send my forks back twice to Magura UK (I got them last October) to have the Albert Select fixed as the blue knob had stopped returning. Their service was excellent and I had my forks back in two days Magura also paid for the courier service.
They do seem to be excellent forks but have had some teething problems to start with. I doubt however that I would buy Magura again to be honest which is a real shame.
My Space:
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I had the old Vidar and Ronin forks. They are excellent. Completely fit and forget and blow a lot of more expensive forks out of the water in terms of performance and VFM.
If i was in the market for new forks, i wouldn't hesitate to buy Magura.
The old forks used to take an age to bed in, but the new ones are meant to be smooth from almost the word go.<font color="blue">Roadie</font id="blue">
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To Quote: "Sorry, off topic, I know, but I just spent ages tring to work out what was on the front of Red Panda's bike, then I saw the message underneath "the watering can behind is not part of the bike".
[:)][:)] Scott, you really cheered me up after crap day with that one [:)][:)]
As far as my Menja's go I like the idea of German build quality as well as the excellent levels of service from Magura UK. Finger's crossed I won't need to use them apart from servicing but from what I hear their turn around is impressive. I've come into Mountain Biking from a motorcycling background and I really quite like my Malt 4's forks...in fact, I kind of forget about them while I'm riding...being able to concentrate on other things. Plus the handlebar mounted lockout feature works a little like a manual version of my Kawasaki's anti dive [:)]
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Re: "The fiddly little grub screw on the remote lock out has rounded"
I thought mine had rounded but it was fine - it takes a 1.5 mm allen. I had to buy three allen keys before I got one that fitted so it may well be done to tolerences. The screw doesn't actually need to be done up very tight.
But it's a bad design as grips, shifters and brake levers need to be removed if you want to remove it. Having said that, once you have set it up where you want, it works very well!0 -
I've had some great feedback here guys and I thank you all very much for your thoughts and opinions. Just got back from Merlin where I ordered a Rock Lobster Tig Team SL with RS Reba forks, I couldn't resist the pull of the Reba's, sorry to all you Magura fans out there. Will post some pics when it arrives next week hopefully.0
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Nice one matey! Congrats on your choice and happy riding [:)]
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