peterh337

I have a Sunn Shamann mountain bike. It was made in France in 2011. I live in the UK.

I am considering replacing the Formula F1 brakes but these French made ones are sold by more or less nobody. The usual story with French made products which use French made parts

Are disk brakes generally interchangeable as regards the mounting points on the forks and the rear frame?

Google has surprisingly little info; it says the rotors tend to be interchangeable, subject the various obvious details, but mine are still ok.

veganbikes

Sunn0))) Excellent amp brand and really solid drone band. You can replace disc brakes so long as you have the correct caliper and adapter (if needed) and levers that will fit you bars you are fine. Rotors are not always interchangeable and in this situation I would replace them with new ones anyway so everything is new and optimized old rotors with new pads and brakes probably not a great idea. Rotors can vary in thickness and also in shape which can render them unsuitable for some brakes so keep that in mind.

If you want good brakes Shimano XT 4 piston are a solid option as would be TRP Quadiems (designed with input from Aaron Gwin) or DH-R Evos. I still wouldn't use their brakes but SRAM does do a much better job these days with their brakes but the DOT fluid is a non-starter for me, mineral oil or no thanks! You just need to figure out if you have I.S. mount, Post Mount and go from there you may not even need new adapters if the new brakes fit.

I did think Formula was an Italian company and there stuff was also made in Italy and their website confirms that. I wonder maybe they have a plant in France but I don't have an evidence of that to support it and don't know of any contemporary brake manufacturers in France. Galfer is in Spain though.

peterh337

Many thanks. I will have a dig around for adapters and such. The mounting points do seem to vary, and the simplest way might be for me to just buy new Formula brakes. They don't make the R1 anymore (silly mistake in thread title!) but they do make similar ones.

Why do you prefer mineral oil? I know DOT brake fluid is nasty hazardous stuff but it seems to be universally used here in the UK.

dabac

The currently ruling MTB disc brake mount standard is called ”Post Mount”. Basically two nubs pointing along the bike that the brake calipers screw into. Often, if you use 160 mm rotors, you can bolt the caliper directly to the fork/frame. Bigger rotors, you need an adapter.
Older MTB standard, and still very common on hybrid (Forks) was ”IS mount”. This has two holes going perpendicular to the bike. With these, you ”always” need an adapter between bike and caliper. The caliper end of an IS mount adapter is the same as for Post Mount.
Older still you had some proprietary standards, calipers meant to go directly to IS mount and probably some other shenanigans I either don’t remember or never encountered.
Mineral oil or brake fluid is NOT a matter of user choice. Brakes are made to use either one or the other. While some have changed fluid either accidentally or deliberately and lived to tell the tale, I would not recommend it. Particularly brake fluid in a mineral fluid system has a real risk of damaging seals etc.
Why do you want to ditch your Formulas?
Pads can still be had quite easily, and they were considered fairly good BITD.

veganbikes

I prefer mineral oil brakes (not interchangeable as dabac mentioned) because it is less caustic and nasty. If something does happen and I am leaking fluids I would rather them be a little less terrible especially if I have to touch while trailside. DOT fluid works but it does take on moisture quickly where mineral oil does not.

The mounting points should really vary much if at all except for really old stuff, it is generally I.S. or Post Mount and you most likely have post mount so if you use the same size rotor you should be fine with the correct caliper.

peterh337

The pads are indeed widely available and I have just changed them again without problems. Well, I had to file a fraction of a mm off the width of the latest set

It is what to do if the caliper needs a service. On disk brakes it is common for the pistons to eventually stick, due to corrosion. Bike disk brakes are cheap enough so just replacing them is likely the easiest way, and that's where I would want something which mounts the same way. Formula brakes are not widely available. Also the R1 has not been made for about 10 years.

jimc101

Their Italian, not French (Formula), and try finding spares for any almost brand for a product that is 10 years old, good luck. That said, have you look at the UK distributor for availability? Formula | Silverfish UK (silverfish-uk.com)

Yes, by 2011 the Post Mount was standard for both front and rear on MTB's

As long as the size is the same, generally you can mix and match any brand (as always there will be a few exceptions)

As with others, why do you want to swap the brakes? availability of replacement parts at present (since C19) has been poor, if it ain't broke, would keep it at present.