Thursday, December 27, 2012

For the love of Formula...

Anyone familiar with Redstone and our love of techy bike bits knows that we are big fans of Formula Brakes.  After making the first Juicy 7 brakes for Avid back when they were an Englewood, CO company, Formulas design, feel, and power have continued to improve under their own moniker. 

My favorite brake of all time has got to be Formula's The One.  Massively powerful, good looking, and XC light, what could be better?  


 We're going to find out after just installing new 2013 Formula RO brakes on our Intense Carbine demo bike and test sled.






Damn, these are some seriously good looking brakes.  Visually, one of my favorite brakes has been Formula's Bianca, from their ORO series.  The Bianca was svelt, minimalist, and high polished.  I guess I'm just a sucker for the bling.  The RO gives the Bianca a definite run for the money in the blingy sexy polish department.  Check out the one piece caliper and ovalized piston.  The oval piston yeilds more surface area to the pad and the one piece caliper will result in a stiffer caliper.  Both of which should yield better stopping power.

And the levers?  WOW.  Tool free reach adjust and FCS pad contact adjustment are right at the tip of your fingers for a fully customizeable feel.  Plus they are damn sexy!  Since it's cold and slushy with lots of snow on the ground, we haven't been able to do much more than ride 'er around the block.  Initial impressions are A) Super powerful and B) amazing modulation and lever feel.




Next question is then, since The One's are your favorite brake ever, what are you going to do with the ones you took off the Carbine?  We put them on the REEB!  While the REEB was full blingin with the Formula Biancas, although they are pretty, the are not the worlds most powerful brake.  We've been taking the REEB into some situations that require serious braking power, so The One's will be right at home on this belt drive wonder.

Come on by to check out some Formula Brakes.  You will be impressed!

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