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Just In: FSA K-Force Hydraulic Disc Brakes

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FSA K Force Hydraulic Disc Brake522

First spotted hanging off the Feenstra Felt p/b Kenda team bikes, FSA has steadily been working on the release of their first hydraulic disc brakes, the K-Force (Race) and Afterburner(Trail). Why get into a category that is new for the brand and already pretty crowded? FSA thinks they can do it better, and by first impressions they may be right. The mineral oil based system relies on large 22mm pistons housed in one piece aluminum calipers that are attached to magnesium lever bodies with front and rear specific hoses. Add in carbon levers, some ti hardware bits, and two piece rotors and you’re left with the recipe for what could be a fantastic set of brakes.

Keep reading as we bed-in the new FSA K-Force disc brakes, next!

FSA K Force SLK Hydraulic Disc brake595

FSA K Force SLK Hydraulic Disc brake598 FSA K Force SLK Hydraulic Disc brake597

Setup:

It was business as usual to mount the K-Force stoppers to my Trek Fuel EX. FSA made sure to send us the right hose length for testing purposes so we wouldn’t have to deal with shortening the lines and the initial bleed is perfect. We’ll get the details on bleeding them in the future, but for now, it seems straight forward with threaded bleed ports on the the caliper and lever similar to Avid and others.

As far as mounting the brake levers with Shimano shifters, the two seem to play nice together without any major interference. The K-Force brakes replaced a set of XT discs which had one major difference in set up – I ran the XTs on the outside of the shifter clamp, while the FSA are on the inside thanks to the longer carbon lever.

FSA K Force SLK Hydraulic Disc brake601

Maybe one of the most surprising features of the K-Force brakes is a pad contact adjuster that actually works(!). Out of the box, the levers were out too far for my liking so I used the extremely easy to operate lever reach adjuster to dial them in to my preference. Pulling them in improved the ergonomics, but it resulted in the lever bottoming out too close to the bar for my taste. To my surprise, using the pad contact adjuster barrel you can easily make a noticeable difference to where the lever bottoms out – something that seems to have eluded many brakes over the years. The result is a perfectly set up lever, all without any tools.

Check out Tyler’s post for cutaways of the brake’s internals.

FSA K Force Hydraulic Disc Brake529

Not that it makes a huge difference functionally, but the attention to detail at the two piece rotor’s carrier is nice with each rotor bolt counter bored into the carrier. The back side of the carrier is relieved to keep the weight down as low as possible which is mounted to the stainless rotor surfaces. The aluminum carrier does help to stiffen the brake rotor.

BRake pads

FSA K Force Hydraulic Disc Brake530

Brake pads are held in place with a 2.5mm allen screw with a safety spring clip on the end. Inside you will find custom semi-metallic brake pads that look similar in shape to Shimano’s G## series pads for XTR BR-M985, XT BR-M785, SLX BR-M675/666, BR-R785, Alfine BR-S700, Cyclocross BR-CX75 and Road BR-R515 calipers. FSA initially told us that they would be using Shimano style pads, so this seems to confirm that which means replacement pads should be readily available in a pinch.

As Tyler reported, the pad is designed to break in quickly and offer a high coefficient of friction that when combined with a linear piston movement provides strong, but not grabby braking power.

FSA K Force Hydraulic Disc Brake523 FSA K Force Hydraulic Disc Brake526

FSA K Force Hydraulic Disc Brake524 FSA K Force Hydraulic Disc Brake528

FSA K Force Hydraulic Disc Brake525 FSA K Force Hydraulic Disc Brake527

Weights:

Compared to the weights Tyler logged at Eurobike, our brake sample (still labeled as prototype) is pretty close at 401g for both brakes without any rotors or hardware. The bolt kit has gotten a little heavier since then as the mounting bolts for the caliper are now stainless instead of aluminum, as are the rotor bolts. The rotors weigh in at 102g for the two piece aluminum carrier model  in 160mm and 157g for the one piece 180mm Afterburner rotor (one of the rotors we haven’t weighed yet). All together, with every piece of hardware and hoses cut to fit a 17″ Fuel EX, you’re looking at 667g for the complete system.

First Impressions:

Impressive. That’s the first thing that comes to mind for the company’s foray into the world of hydraulic disc brakes. Managing to provide the lever feel of high end Formulas or Avids, and the brake pad/rotor feel of high end Shimano brakes, the FSA K-Force hydraulic discs are off to a good start. Light, incredibly easy to set up to your liking, and smooth and powerful out of the box, barring any long term durability issues, FSA certainly looks to have come out of the gate swinging.

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17 Comments
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Greg C.
10 years ago

I’m all for more options. Did I miss the pricing somewhere?

groghunter
groghunter
10 years ago

hmm. All in all, I’ve been very impressed with FSA/Gravity products I’ve had, so I’m interested to try something like this out, but don’t need new trail brakes, so I’ll wait to see if we get a Gravity-branded brake at next interbike, as my DH bikes needs new stoppers, but I’m in no rush.

mateo
mateo
10 years ago

MSRPs were listed as $369.99 for K-Force and $289.99 for Afterburner at Interbike.

Jeff
Jeff
10 years ago

Maybe it’s the OCD, but that stem cap being upside-down would drive me nuts…

Jethro
Jethro
10 years ago

It might be too late!

Jay
Jay
10 years ago

Jeff, that’s a Niner bottle cap steerer cap.

Eric
Eric
10 years ago

@jay…he meant the stem faceplate

Jeff…don’t feel bad, it was the first thing I noticed too as I scrolled through the article haha

Mindless
Mindless
10 years ago

You get in a crowded category so that you can get an OEM sale for the whole build kit.

Ricardo
Ricardo
10 years ago

If they use the same bleed system as Avids then i’m out.

greg
greg
10 years ago

zach,
certain stems that have one face plate end that is supposed to sit against the stem body actually require you to flip the cap. by that i mean that the cap should always be upright regardless of stem orientation. zipp speed sl, salsa lip lock, easton ea90 come to mind.

filibuster cash
filibuster cash
10 years ago

Ricardo– from a mechanic’s standpoint, the pressurised bleed process (Avid and friends) is more reliable than the Shimano-style gravity bleed. I’ve bled so many Avid brakes over the years (which probably isn’t an endorsement of Avid, come to think of it) that their system is second nature. Shimano’s system is great if you take care of the brakes, but burn too far through the pad, and you are left with a brake that won’t really bleed well because it’s difficult to passively draw air out. I’ve had to deal with XTR brakes that after a half hour of bleeding felt almost as bad as they started. The pressurised system allows you to draw the air out more efficiently, resulting in a 3 minute bleed that feels remarkably solid. If the bleed system is an indication of the brake’s long-term reliability, though–an easily mechanic-serviced system that is demanded by a needy/ unreliable brake–you are right.

Cheese
Cheese
10 years ago

I’ve been running TRP Hylex brakes for half of this cross season, so these are apparently not their first hydraulic brakes.

Zach D
Zach D
10 years ago

That faceplate…

Kristopher
Kristopher
10 years ago

@Cheese, the FSA disc brakes are not designed or manufactured by Tektro.

slippyfish
slippyfish
10 years ago

When is FSA going to hire some real industrial designers to work on their products?

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