After a cheap set of discs, any reason not to buy a set of these for 149.95 from Merlin ???

None what so ever. I have a set and they are the best brakes I’ve had (until I got a set of Formual bianco).

The seem spongy at first but this is just getting used to their great modulation.

Got some and love them… but dont be tempted to change the hoses to the puro ones. Mine have not felt the same since regardless of a number of bleeds.

Great budget discs, oodles of power from a 180mm rotor. Spongy lever feel but great modulation. CRC have spares, but can occassionally run out of stuff. A faff to bleed compared to the Hopes I’ve had, but they need much much much less maintainence.

Love them. SO much power. Can’t be sniffed at for 150 a pair. Just make sure they aren’t OEM ones, as the front hose might be a bit short.

Have re-bled mine a couple of times and no probs with “spongy”. They work very well.

I use the 24’s and they are a piece of piss to bleed and could stop a train!

They came on my Zesty – they are excellent. Share seven’s opinion about the modulation and feel.

Do check the hose length is adequate. Bet they’re the short ones.

Great brakes though, only set I’ve never had to touch.

Magic, loving them. Only thing better is the Formula The One brakes I got on my new bike but you don’t need them! Better than my XTs and Hayes Strokers on other bikes and obviously much better than Avids.

Great brakes, most of the time.

They can chomp through pads like nobodies business in wet/gritty conditions.

Spares availability is patchy. I’ve got a little stock of Oro bits I’ve bought as and when they’ve been available, but have yet to find bits for my “The Ones”

Hose lengths 900mm front, 1400mm rear according to website, I’ll have a measure later to see if that’s short/long – otherwise sounds like a ‘click to buy’ 🙂

Me too – love em! Easy to bleed, unlike the ‘Ones’, you’ll need the little brass adaptors though, there sometimes avilable at CRC, but I had to wait 3 month for the Italians to finally get round to making another batch – If you get K18’s and spot the bleed kit grab one!

dummy question: how do post mounts and IS mounts work?

If I got these, would I just have to get new adapters to run on post mount forks?

Avid Bleed kits also fit btw. Bit more pricy but I prefer the fact that you can seal the tube and draw the air out of the oil prior to bleeding.

ned, post mount will need the right adaptor for the disc size. But they do make it much, much simpler to align the brakes

For spares if you email Toby at Propel he should be able to sort you out.

They can chomp through pads like nobodies business in wet/gritty conditions.

I was intially worried about that, but I think it was the stock pads, becuase I’ve not had a repeat experiance with fibrax semi metallic or sintered in there, even in much worse conditions.

Excellent brakes but very fragile and a faff to maintain.
I have just ordered some shimano to replace mine cos I got sick of fiddling. The shimano probably aren’t as good but at least I know what I am doing with them.

It does take a while to settle them and find the sweet spot, but persevere! It’s so worth it.

I used an Orange 5 Pro with some Hope brakes for a while. I actually thought they were cack.

Don’t know why your set is fragile. I have got 2 sets of K18’s and a set of K24’s and they have been perfect, except when I screwed up and pinched the seal on the hose at the lever (that did not help) my fault though

Damn those tiny o rings!

can someone give a quick idiots guide to bleeding them. infact i don’t even need to bleed them, just shorten a hose.

mate bought a set recently and, as above, the front hose is a little too short. just enough length by running the hose directly down and beind the fork leg.

the rear on the other hand is about 40cm too long.

i’ve got syringes and 6mm tubing from my diy shimano bleed kit. i also have one of the brass inserts and brass o-ring left over.

agreed, they are nice brakes. i have SLX and find the oro’s have similar modulation to them.

got them on 3 bikes.

very good brakes – fact.

alpin,

MrNutt provided this excellent guide a while back. Formula Bleeding

grahamt1980- mine have lasted about three months before requiring major surgery. All I was trying to do was push the pistons back to put in some new pads but managed to wedge them skewwiff despite using a big flat M/cycle tyre lever. Nothing I have done will make them move including removing Master cylinder bleed screw, caliper bleed screw etc. My next step is to completely split the caliper and see if I can move the little monkeys and then bleed from scratch. Meanwhile I have bought a set of SLX so I can do an event I have entered!

These are a good set of instructions did my mates brakes with these after I fitted braided hoses followed them carefully and took me about 15 minuteas an end

http://www.formulabrakeusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/bleed_instructions_final.pdf