How to adjust Magura brakes in 3 easy steps

Table of Contents

In this article I’m going to explain how to adjust Magura Brakes.

My Cannondale Super V came with a set of old-style Magura HS22 brakes. Basically Magura HS22 brakes haven’t changed in the last 2 decades.

After I removed the flaking paint, and polished them they needed to be adjusted like any other rim brake. The process isn’t as straightforward as doing a v-brake, but if you know what you need to do, it isn’t that difficult either.

The Magura brakes are made up of a set of pistons that hold the brake shoes. These pistons sit inside a black plastic shell. The piston inside its shell is held onto the frame with a clamp.

Video Tutorial

Magura quick release

The left clamp has two bolts to tighten and/or loosen the setup so you can move it. The right side has both a bolt and a quick-release. With the help of the quick release you can remove this side of the brake from the frame so you could remove a wheel.

Magura brake booster

The brake has a brake booster attached to it, which is tightened on the right side, but moves over the bolt on the left side. The brake booster keeps the brake in the same plane as the rim while braking to improve its effectiveness.

Adjust Magura brakes – a 3 step process

You adjust Magura brakes by looking at them from the 2 planes in space: x and y. This corresponds to up and down or vertical alignment, inwards towards the rims or horizontal alignment. Another step is rotating the piston so it follows the curve of the rim.

Step 1. Vertical alignment

The first step is to make sure the brake shoes are at the correct height. With all bolts loosened you can move the entire piston up and down. Moving it either closer to the tire or to the spokes.

Step 2. rotating the piston

Don’t tighten the bolts just yet. Because the next step is to rotate the piston so that it follows the curve of the rim at the correct angle.

Step 3. Moving the brake shoes inward

Sometimes, as was the case with me, the brake shoes are too far removed from the rim. This means you’ll have way too much action needed in the brake lever before actually braking.

The entire piston needs to be moved inward towards the rim. Since the piston sits inside the plastic shell, make sure the shell stays correctly in the clamp.

This process can be kind of fidgety because the clamp needs to be loosened extensively for the piston to be able to move inside the shell. As with a lot of bike repairs, it’s about being patient. Make sure the brake shoes are about 2mm. removed from the rims.

With the brakes in the correct place, you can close the quick release and test if the brake modulation is what you’re looking for.

And that’s how you adjust Magura brakes ! If you like this article give it a thumbs up. If you have any questions or suggestions for new articles, let me know in the comments below. Cheers.