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“Magic”-branded Canti Brakes??

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“Magic”-branded Canti Brakes??

Old 05-29-23, 08:12 AM
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praise dakinis
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“Magic”-branded Canti Brakes??

Here’s an obscure one: I have the chance to pick up some 1990s(?) canti brakes by an American company called Magic. They look pretty well made in the photos but I know absolutely nothing about this company and can’t find a thing online. Does anyone know about this company, what bikes it’s parts were sold on, and what kind of quality they are???
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Old 05-29-23, 10:37 AM
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Originally Posted by praise dakinis
Here’s an obscure one: I have the chance to pick up some 1990s(?) canti brakes by an American company called Magic. They look pretty well made in the photos but I know absolutely nothing about this company and can’t find a thing online. Does anyone know about this company, what bikes it’s parts were sold on, and what kind of quality they are???
If it's this company they may be limited issue
https://www.instagram.com/magiccomponents/?hl=en
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Old 05-31-23, 06:32 AM
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Didn't Magic made Coda cranks for Cannondale?..They probably made brakes also.
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Old 05-31-23, 12:58 PM
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Originally Posted by mtbikerjohn
Didn't Magic made Coda cranks for Cannondale?..They probably made brakes also.
The full company name was Magic Motorcycle, though I don't think they ever got around to making a moto. The Pongs, a father and son company IIRC, made Magic cranks, before the Cannondale collab. They were CNC milled in two clamshell halves which were glued together, for a large diameter thinwall hollow shape. In theory, a good shape, until reality kicked in and most of them broke. Maybe all. Amyone still have a surviving example? There oh so many stress-risers at each of the milling cutter marks, and the glue was unreliable. They tended to blow up spectacularly

They sold a simplified design to C'dale, who machined their own, I think. I wasn't a C'dale dealer and wasn't much interested, but ISTR those tended to break too. Anyone here remember? You don't see them around much these days, but I guess they never were all that popular.

MM built a mock-up of a full-sus MTB that they said was going to be sub-20 lb or some such ridiculous number, made like the cranks. The mock-up wasn't rideable and weighed more like 100 lb. Pong Sr. said something like "Yes we will make it or I will eat my hat", in a magazine interview. Needless to say they never made it.

I don't remember anything about a brake, could be a different company. Such a common English word is hard to trademark.
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Old 05-31-23, 03:51 PM
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I think I saw an intact c'dale magic motorcycle crank on ebay once. They are crazy though. Hard to believe that the design made it through prototype stage without being canned.

Back then, CNC machining was viewed like 3D printing is today. It was/is a miracle technology, but we tried to make it solve problems it never could.
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Old 05-31-23, 10:05 PM
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Originally Posted by bulgie
The full company name was Magic Motorcycle, though I don't think they ever got around to making a moto. The Pongs, a father and son company IIRC, made Magic cranks, before the Cannondale collab. They were CNC milled in two clamshell halves which were glued together, for a large diameter thinwall hollow shape. In theory, a good shape, until reality kicked in and most of them broke. Maybe all. Amyone still have a surviving example? There oh so many stress-risers at each of the milling cutter marks, and the glue was unreliable. They tended to blow up spectacularly

They sold a simplified design to C'dale, who machined their own, I think. I wasn't a C'dale dealer and wasn't much interested, but ISTR those tended to break too. Anyone here remember? You don't see them around much these days, but I guess they never were all that popular.

MM built a mock-up of a full-sus MTB that they said was going to be sub-20 lb or some such ridiculous number, made like the cranks. The mock-up wasn't rideable and weighed more like 100 lb. Pong Sr. said something like "Yes we will make it or I will eat my hat", in a magazine interview. Needless to say they never made it.

I don't remember anything about a brake, could be a different company. Such a common English word is hard to trademark.
Considered the Cannondale version on an eBay auction once, at the time when out they were very expensive. It was a CONcept. At first glance, very cool, when studied… oh dear.
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