I’ve got 2 sets of formula RO brakes and both sets are leaking from behind the clamp. Well not the clamp but where the lever is clamped to the bar. On removal the oil appears to be coming from the middle of 3 orifices when the lever is pulled. No loss of power as this was just whilst checking them out in the house before a ride but obviously if they continue to leak oil they will lose power.

My problem is that both sets have only been used a couple of times and as such are like new. One set I did buy new but the other was from a guy who removed them from his bike when new and Silverfish want £25 to service each brake not including parts and postage!

Has anyone else experienced this problem with their brakes and if so what was the problem? Cheers

The rubber diaphragm/ seal behind the cap needs to be replaced.
The older R1’s do this but parts are available on their site.

last time i did my R1’s it cost around £30 as the cap and diaphragm are bonded together so you have to buy them as a pair ( even though the tow parts are listed as separate items lol)

oh, you could always just tighten the cap and see if that helps 🙂

Warning: potentially utterly useless reply as I haven’t got any Formula brakes to look at (at work) and have only done a brief google.

That sounds like the top of the master cylinder. I’m not sure if there’s a seal there that can be replaced on its own or if you need to buy an entire new body. Ukbikestore used to be good for parts.

If there’s just a little bleeder hole that fluid’s leaking out of, it is sometimes possible (with other brakes) to get water or something on top of the reservoir and for this to then bubble out and appear to be leaking, but that’s probably unlikely given the position of the cylinder. Is it definitely brake fluid?

EDIT: What he said.

It’s not necessarily a problem… The holes in the back of the lever are the diaphragm vents, and if there’s any fluid in the diaphragm then it can escape, making it look like it’s leaking. So it could be fluid leaking into the diaphragm or past the seals, but not necessarily.

If it is leaking, then like onandon says just giving it a wee tighten can help, the cap/seal/diaphragm threads in and I’ve seen one that had come loose or maybe never been tightened right, a wee turn fixed a minor leak.

/\ what he said
I gave my R1’s a bleed and for a day or two after was concerned about fluid leaking from same area. Took them to LBS, was told not to worry, its an overflow for excess fluid.

Kept an eye on them since, not leaking anymore.

Cheers gents I’ll have a look into this before I send them to silverfish

This is going back a while now but my Oros and Ones both did this – it’s a “design feature” – there’s a vent there and if you overfill the resevoir, that’s where it comes out!

Not a problem, unless you have carbon bars, at which point it strips the laquer off underneath the clamp.

Do inspect your bars carefully- a friend has written off a couple of expensive Syntace carbon bars after DOT fluid from leaks made them untrustworthy.

Yeah as Northwind says, same happened on my Oros. It removed the paint from the clamp and a logo from the bars too.

It’s not supposed to be an overflow incidentally, it just is a natural escape route.