I’ve had half a dozen rides with these babies on so far and I’m a little disappointed. For what I shall call pootling about in my local forest they are fine, great even as the lever feel and modulation is superb, but as soon as I throw myself down a nice long fun descent the lever feel changes due to the heat build up and they become much more blunt feeling… to the point of distraction. The riders behind me are also complaining as they have to breath in the reeking smoke emanating from them.

Anyone else had this?

Is it worth changing the pads (and if so to what)?

Or should I go back to the Hope V2’s which never suffered from this?

Don’t drag your brakes. Or, ride a bike without ones to mend bad habits.

I’ve found that once RX’s get some heat to them they get a bit wallowy on feeling level, missing the sharp bite. OEM pads were much better than SSC ones. But then, I am not that amazing rider to justify price premium.

No probs with mine. In fact I think they’re great. Singletrack Mag have rubbished them a couple of times recently, which I can’t understand, unless the design has changed for the worse recently.

Anyhoo, reeking smoke from your pads? Crikey. Sounds like you’re being a bit heavy on your brakes to me.

No real problems with my RX’s, I’ve been very pleased with them. No fade, good stopping power (180/180) and excellent lever feel.

The only downside with them is they run pretty close to the disc so when it’s really muddy they do rub a fair bit, oh and the aweful squawking noise from the stock pads when they are wet.

I’ve tried SS kevlar pads before but fancy trying some Swissstop this time.

I really like mIne, probably as good as elixirs.

Thanks popstar… but I don’t drag my brakes so that’s not what is causing the problems… it’s just the nature of where I ride that there are big steep hills which require much use of the brakes. And at this time of year I’m only on the little hills as the big boys still have the snow cover… if the RX’s are struggling now there is no way they are going to handle some of my bigger adventures!

I was wanting to move away from the slightly on/off feeling but super powerful Hope V2’s, and I had heard good things about the RX’s. I was wondering if it’s a compound thing but it sounds like I should stick with the super powerfull V2’s.

Are you sure you haven’t glazed the pads?

Try giving them a rub with some wet and dry

I don’t think the pads are glazed, I bedded them in properly, and as the brakes are powerful and feel great most of the time I think they are as they should be. It’s just when braking hard they heat up and the lever feel changes and the modulation goes… and they smell.

After a couple of big decelerations on a steep slope I’ve found I’m having to ride around the brakes by braking earlier than I would like, and not riding as hard into each section so as to let the brakes cool to prevent the heat build up pumping up the lever. With my V2’s I can leave braking later and harder since I don’t have to worry about the lever feel changing. It’s only the super steep techy stuff… which is what I really enjoy riding and why it bugs me as it’s detracting from how I want to ride these sections 👿

Seems like it’s a brake thing rather than a pad issue. Perhaps it’s the fluid but as the brakes are brand new I don’t see it being that? I was hoping to like them enough to justify moving to R1’s or The One’s but I’m disappointed with the feel of these so I don’t think I’ll be upgrading via that route.

I’m pretty underwhelmed with Oro K24’s

First ride into what I call the big hills with them last night… and they performed almost flawlessly !

WTF?

The lever does feel more solid with the heat build up but even with some stupid amount of work it never gets any worse. Rider behind did complain of the smell again, and I could hear the brakes making a wonderfull swishing type noise as they hauled the bike down from stupid speed before the rock garden section.

I played with the lever adjustments and have set the them up a little differently than I had them before, which seems to have done the trick – so I am now happy with them and they can stay on.

What you doing with the v2?

Putting them back on the big bike which I bought them for

i had a set of rx’s and didnt get on with them at all. i was using saints on my other bike and much preferred them. i didnt get the noise or smells that you mention but just not powerful enough.

i just bought a bike that was specced with formula brakes again and was expecting to change them. they are listed as ‘r1x’ which is basically a r1 lever and an rx caliper. ideally i would like it if they could be run a little closer to the bar but the brakes themselves are great so far, no issues at all.

Setting up the lever is the finicky bit… and why I feel I got on with them better last night.

FWIW, I’ve got the lever almost wound into the bar as far as they will go and set up so I can get one finger on them only. Not quite sure how it can be that my usual one/two finger braking position with them made them blunt and grabby, but using the end of the lever only for one finger braking makes them feel much better. I’m trying to ween myself off two finger braking so this set up suits me at the moment. No problems with lack of power… they feel plenty powerful.
Quick look at the pads last night and they don’t seem to be disapearing too quickly, but I might try some others anyway as I like to have spares.