Made the mistake of having a quick spin on TheSwede’s Intesne this afternoon, equipped with Formula “The One” brakes on it. Honestly, I’ve tried pretty much every brake out there from Hope, Magura, Shimano, Avid etc. and these just blow everything into the water! OK they did have 203mm rotors on, but even still, they were more powerful than anything else I’ve tried.

BUT… I’ve not got a full on DH bike, I’m “only” 12 and a bit stone, and until now have been pretty happy with my M775 XT’s on one of my bikes (and less so with the M965 XTR’s on another). Are all Formula’s as good as The One’s, or are they really that good cos they’re that damned expensive?

The 2 bikes I’ve got that I’m keeping are a 5″ full sus that’s about 28lb and currently running 180/160 M775 XT’s, and a sub 24lb hardtail running M965 XTR’s with XT levers in 180/160 setup too. Thinking of either getting rid of the lot, and buying 2 sets of Formula’s (in which case, what to get?), or moving the XT’s onto the hardtail, sell the XTR’s, and put a set of Formula’s on the full sus (again, which ones?).

Budget won’t be massive, £100 an end tops really based on being able to sell my old brakes for £50 an end and sticking a bit more money in on top.

So far have seen Formula “Mega” brakes for 200 euros from actionsports.de complete with 203mm rotors (which I’d sell, I’ve got some spare 180/160 rotors kicking about) which looks a good deal, or the same brakes sans rotors for £136 from Merlin without any rotors or adapters (seems crazy to me, should I just buy them?). But then there’s the Oro K18’s and K24’s for cheaper still, with rotors, what’s the consensus on these?

I have RX’s on my Zesty and being a big lad they are awesome 😉

Oros and Megas are pretty comparable… I’ve got a couple of sets of K24 Oros and personally, I don’t think much else competes at these prices, it’s an old design but they’re superb brakes.

But not really comparable to the Ones I don’t think, they don’t have the power or the bite. I only did a short ride with Ones and never really got used to them but with a 180mm rotor they seem more powerful than my Oros with 203mm. not that the Oros are lacking but the Ones are mighty.

I thought the Mega was essentially a “The One” brake with some of the fancy bits removed? In which case, it should be as powerful no?

I’ve had oros and the ones and the difference is massive.
The rx are a marked improvement on the oros and worth a look.
The only problem with formulas is they do get through pads!

Ah- there’s a new Mega model I didn’t know about, the old one was an Oro m/c with a different caliper on it.

Even the older ones, the difference being the bigger caliper, were supposed to be as powerful (or nearly) as the One’s I thought?

This is confusing! 😕

Got to be said, Formula is a brand I have never paid any attention to before, I’ve been into Mountain Biking since about 1994 and to be honest, all Formula brakes were crap or over priced, or both, for so long until it seems recently, they weren’t worth paying attention to!

RXs here – best brake I’ve ever owned. Still on the original pads at nearly a year old……..i should get out more 😳

RX’s here and I’m well impressed. Came on my Zesty and was going to change them straight away for my favoured Shimano’s and never got round to it. Really powerful, if a little squeally

R1’s would be ideal for both your bikes, very powerful with 180mm rotors on my Cube AMS100

Tried plenty of other brakes and the R1 just annihilates them in every way.

They’re almost the perfect XC/AM brake (Almost because they’re freaking expensive)

If you can’t afford the R1’s go for the RX instead, you will still have a superb brake

I accidentally bought some Formula The Ones today in a moment of weakness after **** my front Mono M4. £310 the pair from Biketreks, dunno if they have any more.

edit: sorry thought you meant you’d have £100 an end plus the money from your other brakes

K24 Oro were really good so i swapped them for R1’s But although very powerfull they were to on-off for me and they also destroyed pads (sintered) compared to the K24’s . Have now got Hope X2 and although dont have the bite of the R1’s they give me far more control so am locking my wheels a lot less , plus i can wheely better now as can control it with the back brake without my front wheel slamming into the floor .
I would just by some new EBC green pads for yours and bed them in properly then with the money you’ve saved buy some new tyres 😆

iv had K18’s and RX’s, as for the pads they last for ages

also had a set of XT brakes and hated them, get yourself a set of RX brakes fella

Also had Oros and did a week in Les Arcs and a week in Morzine no problem, no more pad wear than anyone else I was with on Hopes, Avids and Maguras. Be careful with the discs though, you need to have Formula specific as they are a little thinner than usual (I think). I would never buy Hope again, all the customer service in the world won’t make up for failing to hold their pressure in Morzine despite proper set up.

Check here for Formula bargains. Some of the offers are sold out, but there are huge savings to be had. I picked up a pair of The Ones for less than CRC were selling just one One.

RX3s for around £150/pr ?

http://www.purebike.fr/en/formula-rx-discbrakes-white-red-pair-a2263.html

Heh I’m glad that Formula site doesn’t have any The Ones in at the moment having just bought some for £100 more. Those prices are unreal.

Oro’s on my Mrs bike, RX on our hire bikes. Really nice brakes, I’ve ridden the hire bikes a fair bit and I’m really impressed with the RX’s.

Rotors are a bit rubbish though – they wear in a weird pattern meaning you have to bin them pretty early.

+1 for the RX.

I have them on my Soul, and I’m really happy with them. For me they have plenty of power and a good progressive feel.

Having had Ones, Oros, and Puros, next time i buy brakes they will be shimanos. Nothing in it power wise between original Ones and new Saint. XTR trump oros too.

Too many leaks, difficult repeated bleeds, prematurely worn pads over the years. When they are working there is nothing better.

Strangely, i have 2 sets of flawless old juicys, both still fine despite being 5+ years old.

£150. Worth it for 4yr old brakes?
What about seal degradation?

stuartlangwilson – Member

XTR trump oros too.

Well, yes. And where can you buy a set of new XTR, both ends, including hardware and rotors for £150?

Oh- Merlin VIP sale has a further 20% off on their Oros and Megas btw which at a glance looks like a good price

rx’s here

ive had elixir cr, hope tech x2, shimano xtm775…

and the rx blow them all out of the water – absolutly stunning brake these are – the power, modulation, lever feel and to top it they look mint too!

mine are used for rocky, fast descents in the peaks…180mm rotors and im 10.5stone they stop me incredibly quick…

if the r1’s and then the ones are even more powerful well id actually be overbraked (more so the one’s)…

the rx’s are plenty and then some for trail centres and lakes, peaks etc…

just make sure you have them fitted by some one with good knowledge of formula brakes, ie mechanics in shops that sell lapierres etc…ive had my brakes done before by a trained mechanic which didnt feel brilliant, let a formula dealer do these and the difference is incredible!

a great all round brake!

+1 for ‘The Ones’ The only Formula brakes I’ve used, but way more powerfull than anything else I’ve tried. R1 are very similar, but few grams lighter for the weight concious.

Cheers for the feedback so far guys

I would just by some new EBC green pads for yours and bed them in properly then with the money you’ve saved buy some new tyres

My XTR calipers aren’t really all that powerful anyway truth be told, they’re good enough but I’m starting to find them a bit lacking. I always bed pads in properly, so it’s not this, and the pads I use actually work better than EBC Green (which I’ve always found very underwhelming). Oh, and anyone who knows me will tell you the absolute last thing I need more of is bike tyres! 😉

Oh, and I’m getting fed up of IS mount calipers in an increasingly Post Mount world… Finally looks like I’m dragging myself into modern society!

On a ride today, was looking at a couple of people’s Lapierre’s with Formula RX’s fitted, and well… I know looks aren’t everything, but they look quite weedy! Anybody ridden RX’s back to back with Shimano XT’s, and how did they fare? How do they fare to “The One’s”? Also not sure I was so keen on the lever shape, whereas I very much liked the lever shape on some Oro K18’s I had a quick squeeze of. How do the Oro K18’s and K24’s (and what’s the difference?) fare compared to the newer wave of Formula brakes as they’re dirt cheap now online.

And the Mega’s, as powerful as The One’s or not? Liking the look of these as a cheaper way in (I wouldn’t miss the ultra adjustability, and the slight extra weight isn’t a worry) as they seem to run the same master cylinder and piston sizes as The One.

Sorry for all the questions, I know I’m after a lot wanting mega powerful, light, reliable and well modulated brakes running 160 or 180mm rotors biggest, but that’s what I want! I suspect it probably means spending more money than I want too…

send hexhamstu an email, i happen to know he has a brand new set of formula (one?)brakes and rotors that he wants to sell

I went with a set of R1X’s of a lapierre, mix of R1 lever and RX calliper. They pop up on Ebay every now and then. Theres several sets of R1’s currently on there for the £280 mark.

Having K24’s and Elixers on other bikes, the R1’s are certainly top of the pack, very solid lever. As said earlier though make sure you use formula rotors, I fitted a set of Avids and they screamed like a demented seagull.

Also parts can be strangely expensive, it was cheaper to get a goodrich hose kit than the Formula “shortening” kit.

Too many leaks, difficult repeated bleeds, prematurely worn pads over the years. When they are working there is nothing better.

I’ve had similar experiences. Best performing brakes I’ve ever owned – massive power, great modulation, exceptionally light, superb feel. However, 3 years in and I’m staring a couple of hundred quid in the face for a full rebuild. Don’t even think of putting Goodrich hoses on them, either. It’s like owning an Alfa.

Had k18s, RX and The One – and while the first two were pretty good, the latter are in a different league.

Got a barely-used set of K18s I need to sell if you’re interested in them though.

£135 for a pair of 09 megas in white with 203 discs from merlin
seems very cheap

Finally got round to fitting my The Ones – I’ve only had a quick mess around while bedding them in so far but they seem stupidly powerful, but with good modulation too. Can’t wait to try them out properly this weekend.