I’m used to paying inflated prices for bits of metal when it comes to bikes but £8 for a replacement master cylinder bleed port bolt and o-ring is verging on extortion! Especially when formula bolts are made of cheese and air.

So does anyone know of any cheaper alternatives? They are old Formula K18 brakes.

I’ve already replaced the pad retaining bolts with Hope ones after I rounded the heads on front and back brakes (as did two friends). Official formula replacements were £15 vs £2 for the Hope ones. Haven’t rounded a Hope one yet!

Try to use decent quality tools it does help !,my lads got dome Formula Rxs on his bike,& for what it’s worth they’re a bastard !,they need regularly bleeding …

Are you after just the o-ring? Or have you mashed the bolt? Reason I ask is that the o-rings are available separate. I know cause I found some in my spares box last week.

Cut a slot in the head? There’s nowt wrong with the bolts tbh and the torques involved are very low, so a T12 torq in steel shouldn’t strip… OTOH if, like me, you try and use a T10, that might strip it 😆

The bike i’m currently working on is a friend’s second hand Spicy which had both pad retaining bolt and bleed port bolt heads rounded on the rear break. Only noticed when he came to bleed it. I’ve removed both for him with some handy bolt extractor tools (well worth the tenner they cost from Maplins!) but now need to replace the whole bleed bolt and o-ring.

Point taken on using quality tools. I do and normally torque everything correctly but for some reason I haven’t always been torquing the pad retaining bolt on my own bike in the past – part of that may be changing the pads out on a trail and only having a multi tool to hand and doing it up extra tight to be on the ‘safe’ side. That said, the bolt heads have disintegrated far quicker than any other bolt that I haven’t tightened with a torque wrench and may have over tightened…

Ah, there’s such thing as a T12? I thought they went up in fives! Obviously the set of torque bits I have isn’t the complete range. That said I haven’t rounded a torx bolt yet. The previous owner managed that feat!

If it’s the pointed grub-screw type, Avids use the same type, but are less(but still)extortionately priced.Probably worth looking at an engineers suppliers, we get most of our bolts from a local stainless steel stockist at sensible prices.

It’s not the grub screw i’m after (it’s the lever screw with the head) but I took a punt on an avid bleed set screw anyway, seeing as the bleed kit fits formula brakes. I haven’t fitted it yet but it seems to be exactly the same bolt. Cheapest I found it was a set of 2 with o-rings for £4 on ebay. Still over priced for what it is but I can just about stomach £2 for a tiny bolt.

Here’s the ebay link if anyone else is in a similar position: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400371076886?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649