hiya people, i have some formula r1x brakes that came off a 120mm carbon bike, but are now on a nukeproof mega, and they are shit, my mate has some r1s and his are awesome, ive tried new sintered pads and that has helped a bit, but they have 160mm rotors which i want to upgrade cos obviously theyre too small really. I want to run shimano ice tech rotors if possible, anyone have any idea whether that will be ok? also gonna put some braided hoses on there too, so hopefully, with those and 203/183 rotors, and a good bleed they should be amazing…..i hope! any ideas on the matter greatly appreciated! cheers, si.

Mmm. I think there’s something wrong with them tbh, I’m running mine on 160mm rotors on the Soda and they stop it like a spoke in the wheels. I’d use 180/160 on a bigger bike but they’re strong brakes and shouldn’t feel weak on 160s.

I wouldn’t waste money on braided hoses either, mine came with kevlar hoses anyway so yours probably do too, but in any case replacing decent condition hoses with braids is pretty pointless.

cheers mate, thing is i need to replace the front hose anyway as its come off my previous 120mm bike and its now on a 150mm bike the hose only just reaches as it is, i wanted formulas for ages, however i wish i had kept my hope tech m4s now off my previous patriot!!

Formula R1’s with a 160mm rotor should throw you over the bars if you grab a handful, (i work on them everyday), and sintered pads will make no difference with regard to the stopping distance or “bite” of the lever feel, sintered pads just wear down much slower in wet/muddy conditions. It sounds like you need to get them bled and give the rotors a sand down with emery cloth or clean thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol, fit good quality resin pads and centre the pistons and pads in the caliper and make sure they are contacting the disc evenly then go and bed them in by finding a long road hill and applying the brakes as you descend, do this at least 6 times till they get hot as this will help deposit brake pad compound on the disc surface to aid the friction coefficient, you should have very sharp one finger braking at the end of doing this.

Buy the braided hose if you like the look of them, don’t buy them if you expect them to make a difference to your braking.

I run R1’s on my 5 Spot and they are superb, bit fussy to set up mind.I run Hope sawtooth floaters @ 180 & 160 with sintered Aztec pads. Mine are the Ltd edition with stainless braided hoses. You won’t need bigger than a 160 on the rear it will just lock up everywhere.Set up right gives one finger rolling stoppies with so much feel – AMAZING BRAKES 😆

I run the RX’s and Ro’s with HOPE floaty roties. You have to watch the rivets twating the adaptor/mount, but when centered, there is clearance. Good combo. If you go V2’s, they are heavier, but the carrier dia is smaller, and rotor larger so the rivets don’t smack the adaptor/mount.

I managed to glaze some cheap pads on my RX brakes which made them pish.

As soon as I replaced the pads and cleaned the rotors they were brilliant again.

I’ve used the scary light Ashima rotors with them and my T1’s with no problems; and I’d love to try these…

fit good quality resin pads

I’m sorry but I can’t agree with this. I remember when I first got my R1’s which came with resin pads…everything seemed good until I rode in the wet, then they were lethal! Sintered pads soon cured this though.

EDIT: R1 x’s don’t work as well as R1’s either.

They are much worse in the wet no doubt about it, thanks fer all the tips and advice people, gonna get em bled, and get a 183 rotor on the front, change the front hose cos its too short, and do what somafunk suggests , good advice people, thanks, we will see how we go!