So then Formula Cura brakes…….

after my thread about what new brakes ……

i started to look into these as so many of you have said positive things about them – it took me back time of some years back when i owned formula the one brakes, and from memory they were absolutely fantastic fit and forget

so first things first, are they easy to bleed? can easily bleed a sram brake so hoping its near as easy as that

are they incredibly noisy in the wet?

coming from code rsc am i likely to notice a huge down shift in power?

weight saving would be a nice bonus too but not overly arsed about that

talk to me about them – good or bad please

-Easy to bleed, can be a bit messy when you pull the syringe off. Unlike Sram, they don’t need bleeding all that often, mineral oil is nicer to work with too.

-No noisier than other brakes in the wet

-Plenty of power, run 200mm rotors front and back on the big bikes, 180s on the trail bike. ABout the same as an XT 4 pot, except with modulation and no random bite point.

-Weight, on par with everything else.

I’ve got 3.5 pairs, never needed anything more than a bleed in the 3 years I’ve been on them

Only had to bleed my rear once when changed bike and internal routing. Both other sets not had to touch. Easy to bleed, push/pull with syringe. Same as most others. Bear in mind they are mineral oil.
Mine only squeak if wet and cold. Once warmed up, they are silent. I use Uber race matrix pads. Never had an issue with them. 180 rotors, I have mainly formula rotors, but have lots of wheelsets! I don’t like the floating rotors as I find they would get knocky/slight movement? The solid (newer style) ones are excellent.
Never had brake fade or issues, and I do big mountains holidays once or twice a year.

sounds promising will give those reviews on youtube a go too – just seen the enduro mtb test from back in 18 – still pretty relevant to me as my codes havent changed since 18 either so comparable still

what mounts did you use for the 203mm? this is where i always get confused but would like to use the specific branded mounts and rotors

i have a 180mm post mount frame and 180mm post mount forks (no adapters on) so need the mounts to take them to 203mm

Straightforward to bleed, the own brand bleed kit is only about 20 quid and a bottle of their oil is about 15 euro.

I have the 4s and 2s, the 4s have more modulation/lever travel, 2s are more immediate and honestly don’t lag far behind in terms of power at all.Not foudn them squeaky, I use a mix of galfer and hope rotors.

NSMB.com have some good detailed writeups on them

I’m wanting to buy a set when I can find some in stock. I was looking at the 4’s but they’re double the price and the overall piston area is only something like 12% larger and with more seals/seal circumference it doesn’t seem worth it over the 2 pot.

sounds good seriously tempted – if i buy them all seperate from germany i can avoid paying import duty too even with postage included

I’m looking for some new brakes and am tempted by the Curas as well after reading all the positive comments in your previous posts. I’m not familiar with the German sites though, where should I be looking?

Possibly
http://www.kw570.it/

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/kw570?_trksid=p2047675.m3561.l2563

Anyone found anywhere to buy the 2s? Are the FMs the same as the 2s? A couple of the German sites have the FMs but only Rose seems to stock the 2s and they won’t send to the UK anymore.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Formula-Formula-Plant-Care-Black-Gloss-Glossy-Black-Discs-Disks-NEW-/392273015295?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=724-127637-2357-0

No 180/180 in stock, but have 203/180, so just factor in a rotor if you need to and possibly a mount.

https://geometronbikes.co.uk/ are the uk distributor, super helpful as well.

Geometron are definitely super helpful but formula UK web has been really slow to appear. Not sure if its live now.

I ditched hope V4’s for Cura 2’s. Bought from the italian eBay dealer. Arrived in 4 days and never looked back.

Bleed is a doddle. Quicker to do both brakes than it was just to set up pad distance on one of the hope brakes.

Power is incredible for twin pots. Blows the Hope Tech 3 V4 out of the water. But they’re not on/off like shimano. I feel like my eyeballs will pop out but amazingly they dont lock up or feel grabby (maybe the conti’s help there too!)

Totally blown away by them and wont be going back.

The only thing i would say is dont do the “overfill hack to close the pad distance” that bike shops do. Firstly you dont need to and secondly if you do need to push pistons back in to get a disc in or out new pads on there’s a high chance thenoild will blow out the seals and fubar pads. That happened to me after bike shop shortened cables :(

New pads, bleed kit and filled properly and sorted in no time.

Cant rate them highly enough.

The only thing i would say is dont do the “overfill hack to close the pad distance” that bike shops do.

or open the bleed screw when you do push them back :)

chvck

Anyone found anywhere to buy the 2s? Are the FMs the same as the 2s? A couple of the German sites have the FMs but only Rose seems to stock the 2s and they won’t send to the UK anymore.

FM are flat mount, only for XC bikes adopting annoying roadie standards

I’ve had some Cura 2 pots on my hardtail for 3 months now. I bought then through Geometron and I also asked then to fit them for me. Very pleased with the service from them.

Power and modulation is good. I’ve just put some Tech 4 E4’s with bigger rotors on my G1 and they are more powerful, but you probably would expect that.

They’re nice brakes to use. Predictable with a good lever feel. Mine have been quite. I have no regrets about buying them. I prefer them to the shimano brakes I have on another bike.

Check out kw570 on eBay. Based in Italy but no complaints from me. Very efficient service and i didnt get hit with VAT or duty.

singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/so-then-formula-cura-brakes/#post-12384434

Middle of a wet rainy car park….didnt fancy that one and losing a bleed port screw! I think they they feel better filled normally anyway.

Geometron didn’t advise doing that little hack either due to the way the internals work.

Are spares easily available through Geometron?

The Formula UK website is just a holding page. Is it a case of just sending an email with your question / request?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Formula-Formula-Plant-Care-Black-Gloss-Glossy-Black-Discs-Disks-NEW-/392273015295?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=724-127637-2357-0

No 180/180 in stock, but have 203/180, so just factor in a rotor if you need to and possibly a mount.

Nice, thanks.

FM are flat mount, only for XC bikes adopting annoying roadie standards

This is also very useful to know!

Is it a case of just sending an email with your question / request?

Last time I spoke to Sam/Paul at Geometron they said they had most spares in stock.
Just give them a shout.

Good to hear all the positive mentions of geometron. I’ve been meaning to buy some 2s for about 2 years, when I started looking lordgun seemed the only place listing all the parts/spares, but they didn’t have stock of everything. And the permanent coming soon page for geometron/formulauk site wasn’t reassuring. Add in that the geometron bike/brand appears to me all macho Uber enduro mines bigger than yours, I was sceptical of getting a good response phoning them.

Add in that the geometron bike/brand appears to me all macho Uber enduro mines bigger than yours, I was sceptical of getting a good response phoning them.

You couldn’t be further from the truth if you tried.

Add in that the geometron bike/brand appears to me all macho Uber enduro mines bigger than yours, I was sceptical of getting a good response phoning them.

Most helpful bike company I’ve ever dealt with.

Cura 4’s here – awesome brakes – have had mares with Hope’s and Shimano’s, these have been a revelation.

Noise – nope
Easy bleed (ish)
PLenty o’ power
Plenty o’ modulation
consistent!

I’ve started using Gorilla pads, they seem to work really well. The stock pads are incredible, but get eaten through.

bought mine at the height of brexit import confusion EU prices without any taxes..

The only complaint I’ve heard about the Cura 4 is that it’s impossible to have all the pistons working at the same time. Is this still an issue?

Thanks for the info @singlespeedstu, good to know there are spares available and they are responsive.

thread update from me – i backed out of the formulas, getting spares is the thing that put me off, didnt even have a clue geometrom were a importer would have looked into them more so if id have known, have gone for the hope 4 e4 hopefully the new ones are more powerful than the old ones, but still reliable and easy get spares

they have a lot to live up to over my code rsc!!!!

German sites are really good for Formula spares also