The secret is in the Formula. New Coke? Yuck. Never. Classic Coke? That's more like it! The difference between the two; next to nothing. They were tweaking the classic all along. Formula Brakes have gone for their own New Coke with The One, but in this case, it is a big departure. Just taking a look, you can see the difference. One squeeze, and you can taste it. Ahhhh. A new love, a new addiction, and just like Coke, it will make you faster. Reliability leads to confidence leads to later braking which means greater speed.

The secret ingredient of the Formula The One disc brakes is a caliper with two 24mm opposing pistons. For those of you troubled by the metric system, that's almost an inch per piston. The big pistons mean huge stopping power. Better still, they're made of a composite material and have a cupped shape. Cupped is great because it allows more fluid to sit behind the pistons for better pushing and heat dissipation. Keeping the pistons in place is a one-piece caliper design, hence The One. One-piece designs are stiffer because there are no mated, bolted-together parts to flex along the bolts. Because a fat grab of rotor means more heat, the piston is both bottom- and top for better heat dissipation. The top vent also helps make pad changes with the wheel still in the bike easy.

Following the brake parts upward, the hose is composed of two layers of plastic, with a polyester weave in between to prevent hose expansion from heat. Preventing the hose from expanding should help keep the brakes feeling stiff, even as the caliper heats up. No hot squishy action for these speed scrubbers. DOT 4 brake fluid is also fairly heat-resistant and won't get less viscous with the heat.

At the lever, we see another new Formula design. The hose attaches directly to the lever's master cylinder for simplicity and strength. Both the reach and stroke adjustment are obvious and easy. The reach is adjusted via one CNC'd knob, while the stroke is adjusted with Formula's patented Feeling Control System (FCS) knob. The lever itself is designed for heavy abuse, as there's an external return spring that will pop off the lever blade when forced too far in the wrong direction. This spring will be hanging on the lever body, so it will take a simple no-brainer operation to get the spring back in place and the lever working properly. The lever is affixed to the handlebar with a two-bolt flip-flop design. The design makes it easy to take the levers off without having to readjust and bleed the brakes upon their return, and it makes fitting the levers around shifters, shock remotes, and grips that much easier.

The lever offers options. Formula has two different lever blades that fit into the lever body. The stock blade is 12.5mm tall, but there is also an aftermarket 14.5mm blade for those who want to squeeze down on more metal.

The Formula The One disc brakeset is designed for Downhill/Freeride abuse. The hardware is nickel-plated, and the pistons are made from composite material. The brake comes with sintered brake pads, and works with most disc brake mounts: Boxxer, Fox F40, ISO, and Post Mounts. Post-style is "standard," meaning that other adapters will bolt onto the caliper's post-style mounts. The calipers work with any Formula rotors.

Please note: almost all hydraulic brake lines need to be cut to size before a bike is properly shod with hydraulic disc brakes. You'll need a quality cable-cutter like the Park CN-10 and a spoke to first cut and then de-crimp the housing.

When purchasing, please specify not only whether the brake is for the front or rear, but also which length hose you want. Front wheel brakes can come with either 85 or 100cm of hose. Rear wheel brakes can come with either 150 or 165cm of hose.

The Formula The One disc brakes are packaged with all the pieces needed to set up one brake on one wheel: lever, hose, fluid, caliper, and pads, though rotors and adaptors will need to be purchased separately. Weight of the brake system for the front wheel (lever, hose, fluid, caliper) is 241g. The system weight for the rear wheel is 251g. Depending on the mounting system and the rotor, the brake system complete and attached weighs another 130-218g per wheel.