Despite the Belva being a niche product, Formula has done a stellar job with this enduro fork – it’s cool, calm and collected, handling punchy hits well while remaining supple and smooth on less ferocious sections of trail.
At £1,590 / €1,850, the Formula Belva isn't cheap and its dual-crown design will limit its use. However, the Italian manufacturer says the flexibility to make such a targeted product, in small numbers, is an advantage that larger brands such as RockShox and Fox don't possess.
While there are downsides to a dual-crown fork, such as frame compatibility and the non-adjustable coil negative spring, if you fit the criteria to access the Belva’s performance, it's an excellent upgrade that's worthy of the price tag.
Formula Belva details and specifications
As bike and rider capabilities continually rise and ebike popularity increases, mountain bike suspension forks face greater performance demands than ever.
That’s where the Belva comes in. Formula claims it offers more control and better performance than a 38mm-stanchion single-crown fork, without the weight penalty of a downhill fork.
That should make it Ideal for the demands and challenges of modern enduro, bike-park and ebike riding.
Dual-crown robustness
The Belva's dual-crown layout offers 170mm or 180mm of travel. It’s designed to improve stiffness at the crown steerer unit (CSU), offering better steering precision and response – especially in rough and technical terrain and at higher speeds.
This can also help reliability and prevent CSU creaking, which can be an issue with long-travel single-crown forks. Plus, it’s a more robust design for heavyweight electric mountain bikes.
Weighing 2,376g, the Belva closely matches the RockShox ZEB Ultimate at 2,380g (Charger 3 version, 180mm, 29in, 44mm offset) and the Fox 38 Factory at 2,363g (GRIP2 version, 170mm travel, 29in, 44mm offset).
Formula has achieved this by using custom-forged alloy crowns that are CNC-machined to trim grams.
It has also employed the Selva fork's lower legs. These help deliver Formula’s required compliance in the fork to provide grip and comfort.
The lower legs use Formula’s HEX design. This is a hexagonal bulge in the lower-leg casting.
That shape, additional material and extra space for larger bushings enhances the fork’s stiffness without requiring an increase in the overall fork diameter.
That way Formula still uses narrower 35mm stanchions, but provides the required fork stiffness.
The Belva has lightweight 7075 aluminium 35mm stanchions, a 43mm offset, tapered steerer and Boost 110x15mm axle.
Air-spring tech
The Belva employs a single-chamber positive air spring with a coil negative spring for simplifying setup.
However, that means as the fork pressure inside the positive chamber increases, the effectiveness of the negative coil spring will reduce.
Effectively, the negative spring becomes weaker compared to the positive, reducing the fork's ability to move into its initial travel.
Progression is controlled by Formula’s Neopos technology. These are squashable volume spacers, intended to give a smoother, more predictable ramp-up with a less harsh spike.
Fully adjustable damper
There’s externally adjustable low-speed compression and low–speed rebound damping.
The fork also features a lockout lever. However, rather than an on-trail feature, it’s used to change the fork's Compression Tuning System (CTS) valves.
CTS valves are interchangeable compression-damping valves that can be swapped out to fine-tune the suspension performance of a fork.
Eight valves are available. The fork comes pre-installed with the gold (standard) CTS valve. In the box is the blue valve, which has a more progressive damping curve.
Each valve is designed to provide a different damping curve, affecting how the fork responds to impacts and terrain variation, enabling you to tailor the fork’s compression damping to your specific riding style, terrain, weight and personal preference.
Formula achieves this by using different-size ports to enable more or less oil flow through the compression damping. That makes it possible to tune the fork at home without stripping it down to customise the shim stack.
Formula Belva setup
With the dual-crown design, it's possible to alter the bike's geometry by sliding the stanchions through the crowns.
I measured the axle-to-crown height on the 170mm-travel SR Suntour fork I removed at 589mm and set the same height for the Belva.
The dual-crown design means there’s plenty more stanchion travel available for a given axle-to-crown height. Even though I was running the same axle-to-crown, I kept the fork in its 180mm-travel setting.
An additional 10mm of travel for no geometry tweaks or weight penalty sounds like a bonus to me.
With the stock gold CTS valve installed and Formula’s suggested 68psi for my 75kg kitted-up weight, the fork felt incredibly plush. That made it great for tracking the ground and finding grip.
However, there wasn’t enough progression deeper in the travel, even with the installed Neopos token.
That meant when I was hitting hard compressions and landing drops, the fork reached the end of its travel too easily.
Rather than pumping a load more air into the positive spring, I installed the blue CTS valve.
This features a more progressive damping curve. It maintains sensitivity in the early part of the travel, yet builds more ramp-up deeper in the travel to aim bottom-out resistance.
I found this setup worked well, delivering tons of grip and ample support that built smoothly without a harsh spike.
As I got comfortable on the fork and kept pushing the speed, I upped the pressure to 70psi for a little additional support.
I set rebound to my preferred speed with nine clicks from closed out of 18. I ran low-speed compression at two clicks from open.
However, there is a usable range between open and the middle setting of six clicks out of 12.
After six clicks, the fork began to feel harsh. Heavier riders might not be able to use these settings, but they were great for my weight and fork setup.
Formula Belva performance
Formula has done an incredible job with the Belva fork. It balances smooth and plush travel with impressive levels of support.
I’m fortunate that I sit in the middle of the Belva’s weight recommendations. This means the coil negative spring worked impressively well against the 70psi I inflated the positive air chamber to.
I found this setup provided an incredibly low breakaway force and the fork moved into its travel easily. That was great for hunting out traction and smoothing small bumps.
I understand this might not always be the case for heavier riders, or those at the upper limit of the air pressures, though.
That small-bump sensitivity really helps the front wheel track trail contours. Rumbling over rough trails without too many bigger impacts, such as red bike-park runs or rocky off-piste trails, the front wheel sticks to the ground like glue.
This means there’s tons of traction on offer and high-frequency vibrations through the handlebar are minimised.
This ground-hugging grip delivers plenty of confidence in supported corners and tricky off-camber sections.
I found no matter how hard I pushed the fork into corners, it remained composed and was difficult to lose grip or understeer. I was also impressed by how well the fork worked at high lean angles.
As a bike leans into a turn, the suspension becomes less efficient as the bump force acts upwards on the fork, trying to bend rather than compress it.
Here, the Formula’s chassis remained stiff enough to resist binding, maintaining its impressively supple performance.
Push the fork into chunkier terrain with harsh square-edge hits, such as braking bumps, large roots and rocks, and mid-sized holes, and the Belva keeps ripping. The fork can react quickly enough to mute hard, sharp impacts, taking the sting out of rough trails.
That keeps the handling stable and I found myself able to concentrate on line choice rather than fighting to keep control when charging through sections of trail with roots and rocks threatening to throw my front wheel off-line.
The rebound speed is good and the Belva never packed down or felt harsh on repeated impacts.
However, I noticed on really high-speed trails with several high-energy compression events, that the damping took a fraction of a second to kick in.
In the initial travel after a rebound event, the compression damping felt as though it lagged behind a touch, before firming up again in the mid-stroke.
Maybe this was because of the relatively soft mid-speed compression damping and supple initial breakaway force with the blue CTS valve.
I found with my setup I had plenty of support deeper in the stroke; the fork's progression was smooth and composed. No matter how deep I landed drops, there was never any harsh feedback or jolts through the handlebar.
I was thoroughly impressed by the fork's composure and confidence through all types of trails and terrain – it was difficult to fault.
Rattle the Belva into a rough rock garden and it delivered precision and comfort single-crown forks struggle to match.
This boosts confidence when the trails get rough and enabled me to release the brakes, so the bike could plough across whatever was in front of it.
One strange thing is the 160mm brake mount. However, the maximum rotor size is 220mm for optimum brake performance on heavy ebikes. Formula sells a 160 PM to 220 PM brake mount.
Life with dual-crown forks is also a bit more of a pain, with the fork's large turning circle, but don’t let this put you off. On the trail, it didn’t hinder riding at all.
How does the Formula Belva compare to the Fox 38 Performance Elite?
The Fox 38 is a direct competitor to the Belva – these are the two forks I’ve had on enduro ebikes during testing.
The Fox offers more damping adjustment with its high- and low-speed compression and rebound adjustment.
The Belva uses its CTS valves to change the whole feel of the fork and has more rider tunability, if less adjustability.
Both forks are incredibly capable. The Belva felt as though it had less breakaway force at the pressure I was running – 70psi in the Formula and 90psi in the Fox.
This gives the Belva great small-bump sensitivity and traction.
The Fox feels more linear and has smooth progression through its stroke. This provides good support and a firm platform to push against when charging.
The Formula feels more active through its early and mid-stroke, with more progression deeper in the travel. This delivers impressive comfort and tracking while still handling hard hits.
With its active feel, lighter damping and impressive grip, the Belva provides a trail feel that’s hard to beat.
When ploughing into the rough, the dual-crown design delivers physiological reassurance.
Both forks are robust and accurate, and deliver plenty of stiffness on the trail. Whether a placebo or not, the Belva instils more confidence.
However, it's more difficult to live with. The large turning circle and being unable to turn the bar to fit in a car, van, or on fire roads can be annoying.
At £1,590, the Formula is nearly £300 more than the Fox, but you get something special.
Formula Belva bottom line
The Formula Belva won’t be for everyone, due to frame-compatibility issues.
However, those who can fit it, especially average and lighter-weight riders, will be getting a great fork. It's handling is direct and accurate, while its travel is plush yet supportive.
These characteristics enable you to ride with confidence. Plus, its CTS valves provide a tunability other forks can’t match.
Product
| Brand | formula |
| Price | 1850.00 EUR,1590.00 GBP |
| Weight | 2376.0000, GRAM (170mm) - |
Features
| br_wheelSize | 29in_700c |
| br_offset | 43.0000 |
| br_offset | MILLIMETER |
| br_travel | 170.0000 |
| br_travel | MILLIMETER |
| br_stanchionDiameter | 35.0000 |
| br_stanchionDiameter | MILLIMETER |
| Features | Travel options: 170mm, 180mm Compression: High and Low Speed 12 Click Adjustment Compression Tuning System: Gold and Blue valves included (other valves optional Lockout: Crown mounted |
| br_damperAdjust | Drop-In Cartridge with Internal Floating Technology |
