Recently picked up a pair of Formula Oro K24s from the Formula store to fit to my Hardtail, complete with 203mm front + 180mm rear Formula discs.

I think i’ve bedded them in correctly, however i’m taking a while to get used to the slightly squishy lever feel (there is a lot of travel before they lock up)

Last weekend I had a run out to a very wet Swinley Forest, and my braking performance almost disapeared!
The front was OK but in the mud my rear brake was as good as useless..

Why is this? have I not bedded them in enough?
I’m worried I might have got a bit of overspray on the disc when spraying GT2 type stuff on my rear mech, would this have f**ked the pads?
what pads are Oros supplied with? and what should I run in wet/muddy conditions?
I’m not too fussed about pad life, more worried about good performance.
I’ve been looking at the Clarks Pads on CRCs website, but not sure what compound to go for?

I have Oros on my bike. They have had the same pads since I bought them in September and they are great in the mud and wet.
You may have possibly got GT85 on them. This has happened to me. I just spayed water on pads and discs then took bike up and down road braking quite hard. Did this a few times, seemed to do the trick. Not sure what the pads are though.
Superstar do 3 different compounds of pads for Oros. If you are not happy with them you can send them back within 45 days for a full refund. Great service.

some disc brake cleaner on the rotors and then ride up and down the road braking should clean them up ok.

squishy might mean a need to bleed…

the real answer is that you should have bought some BB7s…

The brakes may have come with organic pads, which would explain the performance in the mud; for typical British conditions you’d want sintered compound pads. You didn’t say whether the pads have worn away though; as pointed out above it could be that the rear needs bleeding.

Personally I’ve not had major problems with my Oros; the pads obviously wear away over time, but the sintered compound pads have lasted a while for me.

I bought a set of Oros from the factory shop, and they did need a bleed before use. There shouldn’t be a massive amount of travel before the pads meet the rotor. Don’t forget about the adjuster dial on the inside of the lever which alters how far the pads sit away from the rotor, because of the nature of the master cylinder, I find “Closest in” has the little knob at the top on the front brake, and at the bottom for the rear brake. (I hope that makes sense!)

Formula K24s use the same bleed port as Avid Juicys so you should be able to get a bleed kit including some dot 4 or 5.1 reasonably cheap. If you follow the instructions, it’s really straight forward.

The pads that come with the brakes have been fine for Peak district slop, although they don’t last very long, mine went to the backing plate without any real change in feel. I changed them for Superstar Sintered pads, and they provide excellent braking, and last much longer than the OEM pads that came fitted.

I use Superstar kevlars in mine, best balance of performance and wear I’ve found- though they can be noisy, and lose a wee bit of initial bite in very cold conditions. Still, they last miles better than organic, and work better than sintered. But I think we have fairly unabrasive mud here, sintered would be a better option in some areas.

As for feel, they’re old stock so might well benefit from new fluid and a bleed. I’d suggest the Epic Formula-specific kit from Ebay- Avid kits sometimes have big clunky fittings that don’t work as well on Oro levers.

some really good advice – cheers guys.

Pads are not worn, which is why I couldn’t understand why the brakes were so crap!
I might change the rear pads for something better, and as they are old stock (probably been hanging about for a couple of years) I will give them a bleed – I need to shorten the rear hose a bit anyway, as the one supplied is long enough for a tandem!