Formula showed off some intriguing four-pot brakes on its impressive fleet of test bikes at the Bike Connection show last week, which included rare exotica from Ancillotti and Unno.
The Italian firm wouldn’t reveal much about the new brakes just yet, but they appear to use the same lever as the Cura, a brake that has impressed us in the past, but with a larger four-piston caliper.
The rotor is new too. According to Formula it’s stiffer — if a little heavier — than the rotor used by the Cura.
I briefly rode an Ancillotti Scarab with the brakes fitted, and was impressed with the ample power and consistent, positive feel. They share the short lever throw as the Cura, but feel far more powerful and offer slightly smoother modulation.
I can’t say much more than that for now, but no doubt I’ll be testing them properly soon.
Selva enduro fork
Formula also had a prototype version of the Selva enduro fork.
The current Selva uses a coil negative spring with a positive air chamber to tune the support. This means heavier riders (like yours truly) need to swap to a firmer negative coil to balance the air pressure and get enough beginning stroke sensitivity.
This fork uses positive and negative air chambers with independent valves at the top and bottom of the leg. This should allow riders to easily fine-tune the beginning-stroke suppleness whatever their weight. It’s a system similar to RockShox’s old dual-air spring, which some users found difficult to set up, but the discerning target customer of the highly-tuneable Selva shouldn’t find this as much of an issue.
