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Average Rating
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4.83/5
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# of Reviews
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12
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MSRP
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Weight
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More Products from Formula
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Description:
- Patented body
- Forged 1 finger lever
- Two pieces master cylinder
- Flip Flop master cylinder
- Super compact design master cylinder body
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Submitted by
rustybiker1973
a Cross Country Rider
from ITALY
Date Reviewed: March 26, 2008 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | Incredible power and look | | Weaknesses: | Squealing when wet, organic pads lasting | | Similar Products Used: | hayes el Camino, Magura Louise FR, Shimano XT | | Bike Setup: | Cannondale Prophet | | Bottom Line: | Great brake sistem. A little expensive but the best ever tried. Great heat dissipating with 200mm front and 180mm rear.. Just one finger using in every situation.
Organic pads lasted few month in a normal use.
I suggest it | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tommy
a Cross Country Rider
from Pasadena, CA
Date Reviewed: February 13, 2008 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$400.00 | | Purchased At: | Speedgoat | | Strengths: | Lots of power from a light brake. Great looking brake. | | Weaknesses: | Brakes will squeal when they get wet. | | Similar Products Used: | Avid BB7, Hayes 9, Shimano XT, Magura Marta SL | | Bike Setup: | Intense 5.5, RP23, Pike U Turn, SRAM X9/Shimano XT, DT Swiss hubs on Mavic rims | | Bottom Line: | After using the Bianco’s for about a month I’m beginning to see why everyone is so high on Formula brakes. I’m running a 180/160 setup and the power on these brakes is incredible. There’s very little fade even on long downhills. I’m coming off Marta SL’s and while I like those brakes a lot, they were prone to fade on long extended downhills. I don’t have that problem with the Bianco’s. They brakes felt a little grabby at first, but after the rotors and pads are worn in a bit, the modulation of the brakes have greatly improved. The only complaint I have with the Bianco’s is that they do squeal when the pads and rotors get wet. The good thing is that the squeal goes away quickly as the parts dry off. Overall, I was looking for a system with more power and the same modulation as the Marta’s and the Bianco’s have delivered big time. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
TA
a Downhiller
from So Cal
Date Reviewed: December 6, 2007 | | Favoriate Trail: | tamarack rockstar webb etc | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$350.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Light, active, great modulation, looks, durability, stopping power and overall weight is light. | | Weaknesses: | None | | Similar Products Used: | hope mono 6tis, hayes mags, nines, maguras. | | Bike Setup: | canfield F1, hopey damper, avy dhs with ti spring, 888wc, I9 wheelsets etc... | | Bottom Line: | I came off of Hope mono 6ti's (most powerful brake to date Ive used). I ran mono 6tis and swapped to mags for weight after the rear failed on a nasty descent I went back to 6tis and thought Id stay there.
I tried the Biancos on a whim and to date 1 year later and several races as well as lift assisted rides and countless single trac they are still on my bike.
I am impressed as well as TRUST these brakes without question. These are on par with my 6tis accross the board with power/modulation/reliability/3ease of maintenance.
If you have considered it for yourself take the plunge they are a great product. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Gigs
a Downhiller
from San Francisco
Date Reviewed: October 11, 2007 | | Favoriate Trail: | DMC | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$250.00 | | Purchased At: | ride-this.com | | Strengths: | These brakes modulate and are so amazing in their feel. Ergonomically, perfect one finger braking comfort. Killer chrome aesthetics. Solid hour after hour. Rode these for 8 hours straight DH and never had any fade, day after day of 8 hour days. | | Weaknesses: | A lot of pad squeel on rear, now on front. I think I need to simply reset the pads because it does it even when not applying the brakes. I am going to put in the organic pads which will likely fix this issue (along with a little adjustment). | | Similar Products Used: | Avid Juicy, Hayes Nine | | Bike Setup: | 06 Santa Cruz VP Free | | Bottom Line: | Riding these on my VP Free which runs right at 40 lbs...never had any issue with stopping power. Brakes have great feel, lightweight, modulate perfectly and stay consistent through the day. Oh, and don't forget - chrome. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
William Dippel
a Cross Country Rider
from Reno, NV. USA
Date Reviewed: August 9, 2007 | | Favoriate Trail: | Peavine/Evans/Tahoe | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$230.00 | | Purchased At: | Poision Spider/Moab | | Strengths: | These brakes have mad "bling" good looks with animal like stopping power. 180's front and rear, I think I could stop on a power pole if so desired. Levers are spot on perfect for single or double finger pulls. Big guy (250) doing fast downhills, these things never seem to overheat. Great feedback/modulation out of the box. | | Weaknesses: | Hard to find parts if you brake something. Instructions were O.K, but photos were really small. Online photos no better. Decided to take to local shop for cable shortening as manual looked intimidating (syringe if necessary?). Lucky Formula sent extra fittings, local shop (not spider)had nothing in stock. With my fittings they did a great job and now she looks/rides fantastic. | | Similar Products Used: | Avid Juicy, XT. | | Bike Setup: | Niner Rip9 with XTR everything except brakes. Chris King hubs, Flow rims, etc. | | Bottom Line: | Once you get over the installation and everything shakes out, these things are awesome. Was buying K24's but stepped up just for the bling factor. I believe both would rock, but these really are the best looking brakes I have seen. Clamp instead of slip on handles is a nice touch, and they work as good as they look. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Scott Corkery
a Cross Country Rider
from Ketchum, Idaho, US
Date Reviewed: August 8, 2007 | | Favoriate Trail: | Adams gulch loop, or any that get me outside! | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Purchased At: | Sun Summit South | | Strengths: | With such incredible stopping power that will rip the sunglasses from your face, you wonder how Formula obtained the smoothest modulation I've ever felt from a disc brake. Very easy setup! | | Weaknesses: | The front piston was a bit slow to pull away from the rotor the first few rides | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano XT, Avid Juicy | | Bike Setup: | StumpJumper Pro; with all sorts of fun upgrades. | | Bottom Line: | 6 months, 2 races, hundreds of fun filled miles, ranging from Fruita, Vail, Telluride, Boise, SunValley, These brakes have performed magically. One complaint; The first 4 rides I had an incredibly annoying "harmonics" emanating from the front brake. It sounded like instead of stainless steel rotor in the front someone snuck in fine crystal. It took re-setting the brake 3 times and pushing the piston back to "starting" postition before the piston actuated normally and the harmonics stopped. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Cliff DeForge
a Weekend Warrior
from Ottawa, Canada
Date Reviewed: June 14, 2007 | | Favoriate Trail: | Sunview | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | jensonusa.com | | Strengths: | Very light and a seriously powerful brake with stunning and effective modulation that really works on the trail.
Easy to set up and tune, stock pads work well and a really good overall design. | | Weaknesses: | No Weaknesses | | Similar Products Used: | Avid Juicy Seven, Hayes HFX 9 XC, Hope Mono M4, Magura Marta SL, Shimano BR-M755 XT.
| | Bike Setup: | Ellsworth Truth. | | Bottom Line: | An amazingly good brake.
This is something that works on the trails just like I want it. I can get one finger - eye-popping - lock the brakes stopping power or a controlled and feathered stop. Very very good control matched to stunning stopping power and super lightness makes these the best brakes I have used and I have pretty much tried the whole stable.
And the bonus is that you can fit and tune the whole lot yourself and that's important as anyone who has had Hope brakes will tell you. The lever feel is excellent and the adjuster that lets you set the bite point is a stroke of genius. You can probably guess I'm pretty pleased with these brakes. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Brad Gedster
a Weekend Warrior
from Australia
Date Reviewed: June 11, 2007 | | Favoriate Trail: | Next real challenge | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Powerful and very light weight product.
Extremely good modulation makes this real useable.
No engineer required to fit this well designed set-up.
Completely dependable.
Got to be the best looking brake out there. | | Weaknesses: | None | | Bottom Line: | Just a quickie to say that I am the proud owner of a 180/160 set-up and it is one bonzer system. Cannot find fault in any part of these brake. They have massive single finger/endo power but with the feel to edge your way to a feathered stop if that's your bag. The sign of a good brake is that the engineers that built it are so good that they make it so you can fit it. I fittted these in minutes, they took no time to bed in and have the kind of consistent reliability that makes me 100% confident. Did I say light?? if they were any lighter then they would blow away but the key thing is that they are robust with it. Those guys in Italy really do know how to make one serious brake!!!! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tom Deansgate
a Weekend Warrior
from Cheshire, U.K
Date Reviewed: May 18, 2007 | | Favoriate Trail: | Marin | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Superb Power and control.
Very light and extremely well built.
Totally reliable and functional. | | Weaknesses: | None | | Bottom Line: | This is a completely perfectly engineered brake with awesome power and modulation. Reliable all of the time and simple to install. There is very little that I can add as this brake is the best that I have ever used. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Preston
a Cross Country Rider
from Kirkland WA USA
Date Reviewed: April 20, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$525.00 | | Purchased At: | universal cycles | | Strengths: | Power, pad retraction, weight | | Weaknesses: | ergonomics | | Similar Products Used: | Hayes Mag | | Bike Setup: | Enduro, 7" formulas | | Bottom Line: | I”ve been running Hayes for years on all my bike and been reasonably pleased with them. I was comfortable with setting them up and bleeding them and even rebuilding the calipers with new pistons. I used Razor Rock stubby levers and the positioning was perfect. I usually could brake 1 finger but always went to two when it got sketchy.When I first put on the Formula’s (I bought the Blancos, and they are very nice looking with silver polish) the lever had a lot of travel and felt mushy. The amount of lever travel is adjustable but even on the smallest amount it seemed excessive. However I know from setting up brakes on race cars that you can’t have something for nothing in a non-boosted setup. If you want more power, you have to have more lever travel. If you want more pad retraction, you have to have more lever travel. It was also somewhat of a challenge getting the shifter pods inboard far enough to get the levers where I wanted. So my first impression was that they felt a little goofy for me and my shifter pods, while totally acceptable, were not as perfect as before. However, after riding them for several weeks now, I am totally used to them and love the power. I never use more than one finger in any situation. If anything I have to be careful not to lock the front wheel on sketchy terrain. When I ride my commuter bike that still has the Hayes, I am amazed at how much effort I have to put into the brakes to slow down. I’m really looking forward to putting them on my DH bike to cut down on hand and forearm fatigue when riding Whistler. So I agree with all the hype, these brakes work excellent and have tremendous power. In addition, while they will squeak a bit when wet as all discs do, they squeal less and quiet up faster than the Hayes and are dead quiet in the dry. And the best part of all, they don’t rub at all ! Brand new Hayes when setup perfectly won’t rub either, but it doesn’t seem to take long before you get a little bit of rub in them. And maybe after a season of riding these will get a bit sticky and rub as well, but so far after 6 weekends in brutal NW mud, the wheels spin free and easy and quietly. The last situation to be tested is a long steep brake dragging downhill. There are a few around here that would sometimes overheat and fade the rear Hayes (6”) unless I had just bled it and even then you could feel it was on edge. But given the level of confidence these brakes have right now, I find it hard to imagine I’ll have any problems. So other than missing my “right there” positioning of my Hayes levers and their short travel, I highly recommend these formula brakes. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Gus Devere
a Cross Country Rider
from Canada
Date Reviewed: April 9, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Purchased At: | On-Line | | Strengths: | Beautiful construction and build. Very light and a real work of art. Powerful way passed their size and plenty of control with good lever feel. | | Weaknesses: | None | | Similar Products Used: | Just so many | | Bike Setup: | Kona King Kikapu | | Bottom Line: | I have 180x160 and the power is impressive.
Weight is so low and the way this is put together is pure quality. No performance, reliability or leak issues and the performance is constant with little drop off even in the wettest conditions. Very nice lever feel and I can feel my way right up to bite point and the grunt is substantial. They punch well above their weight! One of the best if not maybe THE best brakes I have ever used and that's saying something! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Craig Williamson
a Cross Country Rider
from U.K.
Date Reviewed: March 18, 2007 | | Favoriate Trail: | Kirroughtree | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Purchased At: | Chain Reaction | | Strengths: | Very light with astonishing power in the 180x160mm models. Massive modulation with the power.
Easy to set up and adjust. Very reliable with no pad drag. Very beautiful finish that looks stunning. | | Weaknesses: | None | | Bottom Line: | Seriously good brake that has astonishing power along with simply superb modulation. Very light for such a powerful and well made system. This is a really high quality piece of kit and it shows in its flawless performance and reliability. The rotors are substantial enough not to warp or easily bend. Simple to install and to adjust and the pads take little time to break in. The looks of these brakes is real Italian Chic. I know it shouldn't matter but since everything else is here....power, modulation, reliability and user friendlyness the fact that they look fantastic is just the "cream on the cake". | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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