Rip Posted October 18, 2020 Report Share Posted October 18, 2020 (edited) I managed to go over the bars yesterday doing a slow 180° pivot and dropped the bike, apparently Magura MT7 levers are very weak to any abrasion, see the extensive damage in the photo below, one more 'over the bars' on tarmac or concrete and my levers will be completely worn away lol. Anyway, one of these broke and fell out, at first I wondered what it was and I'm actually still not entirely sure to be honest: A quick Google came up with this, which is a BAT Adjuster Kit for adjusting the bite point, but as you can see, mine looks very different and doesn't actually look like it can be adjusted, this one looks to have a cam profile on it, but mine does not: So is my one just a blanking plug because I have HC3 levers or something, I can adjust my bite point by actually adjusting the pivot on the lever blade anyway? I've looked down in the hole where it came from and can't see how on earth it would actually adjust something even if it did have an adjuster knob on the top, in fact mine only sits down flush when its oriented the right way because of the 'flat' on the diameter so you couldn't adjust it anyway. If that's all it is then there is no point me even replacing it. Edited October 18, 2020 by Rip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Posted October 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2020 (edited) OK well I may have answered my own question here, apparently it is a BAT-Plug-Kit so going by that name it's possibly purely just a blanking plug, albeit an elaborate one. https://r2-bike.com/MAGURA-BAT-plug-Kit-for-MT6-MT7-MT8-MT-TRAIL-SL-from-MY2015 Furthermore it is actually supplied when you buy a HC3 lever so does indeed seem like just a blanking plug for when running HC3 levers: https://www.tartybikes.co.uk/brake_lever_blades/magura_hc3_lever_blade/c53p13376.html Trials riders must have to replace these levers an awful lot considering how much damage is done when they touch something abrasive, maybe I need to make some kind of a cover for them lol One slow over the bars crash and I almost wore completely through the plastic bleed screw on one of the levers! Luckily my T25 still bites into the plastic so I can replace it easily enough, if that crash was any harder though I'd have started leaking brake fluid everywhere. Whatever happened to good old fashioned aluminum levers?! Edited October 18, 2020 by Rip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoofty Posted October 18, 2020 Report Share Posted October 18, 2020 You answered your own question. Even on a properly working MT7, the BAT adjuster doesn't do much. MT5 levers are far more robust I've found. I gave up on MT7 levers years ago because they're overpriced, delicate and just too fiddly. What's you lever angle? If you run your levers closer to straight down than level they'll fair better in crashes. You can try a Shimano lever too, but I still prefer just the no frills MT5 levers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Posted October 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2020 1 minute ago, Swoofty said: You answered your own question. Even on a properly working MT7, the BAT adjuster doesn't do much. MT5 levers are far more robust I've found. I gave up on MT7 levers years ago because they're overpriced, delicate and just too fiddly. What's you lever angle? If you run your levers closer to straight down than level they'll fair better in crashes. You can try a Shimano lever too, but I still prefer just the no frills MT5 levers I have my levers at this angle: Are the MT5 levers made of the same weird plastic material? Would they work with the MT7 calipers? And would they offer 1-finger braking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Posted October 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2020 Actually I'm going to see if I can come up with a way of protecting the lever, especially the bleed screw area in the event of a crash before I think about changing levers altogether. I'll report back once I have something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie70 Posted October 18, 2020 Report Share Posted October 18, 2020 luckily the magura levers have bleed port on both sides so even though the top port might be stuffed you can still bleed them easily. I have same issue with mine.. just dont strip the other one by over tightening it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Posted October 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2020 7 hours ago, cookie70 said: luckily the magura levers have bleed port on both sides so even though the top port might be stuffed you can still bleed them easily. I have same issue with mine.. just dont strip the other one by over tightening it! I think the actual thread on the bleed port is OK and that it's just the head of the screw that's been ruined, I've ordered some replacement screws so we'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted October 19, 2020 Report Share Posted October 19, 2020 As you've found already, with the HC3 blade that's just a blanking plug. You can replace it with a countersunk bolt and nut if you want to - think it's M4 that fits, but can't remember for sure. As Swoofty said, the MT5 bodies are a bit tougher in my experience although they are still made of the same carbotecture material. You technically can't fit HC3 blades to them, but you can. There's a small amount of play in the lever blade (in the direction it travels, if that makes sense - think of it as a bit of free movement at the start of the stroke), but if you ride covering your brakes the whole time it's not noticeable in my experience. As far as levers go, it's worth tweaking your bar clamp tension to allow the brake to shift in situations like that. One of the bar clamp bolts will be bottomed out fully if you've got the clamps set up properly, so just loosen the other bolt off a touch until you can make the lever shift if you apply a decent amount of force to the lever body. It's good practise with any brake lever, but especially so with the carbotecture Magura levers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Posted October 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2020 Good point about loosening the clamps, I should have thought of that because I used to do that on my Moto trials bikes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Posted October 21, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2020 (edited) Well this is my solution for now, the patent pending 'Lever Saver' I also loosened the bar clamps a little so the the levers should move with a hard impact hopefully eliminating any danger of the new mod actually stressing the levers in a way they aren't designed to be stressed. As you can see, the ground, simulated here by the steel rule, cannot touch the area around the bleed screw cap (as long as the ground is relatively flat). I'm sure it will be tested in the very near future Edited October 22, 2020 by Rip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Posted November 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2020 (edited) The bite point on the lever on my front brake has slowly gotten closer to the handlebar over the last few weeks even though there's no oil leaking anywhere?! I'll give it a bleed through but seems a little strange to me. Edited November 15, 2020 by Rip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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