Originally Posted by
purevl
(emphasis added by me) I'm surprised to hear that you think the Cane Creek hoods are lower quality, my experience was exactly the opposite. The last couple sets of generic Dia-Compe replacements I got before the switch to Cane Creek were pretty crummy. However, I was quite pleased with the Cane Creek replacements, the rubber is much more substantial and less tacky and it doesn't have that stupid punch-out for suicide levers that seems to tear half the time.
I've installed at least half a dozen sets of Cane Creek hoods and it is precisely that more substantial rubber that lowers the quality IMHO; if you look at the photos of the Cane Creek hoods I posted you will see a split where the hood meets the bar and this has happened to some extent on every single hood when attempting to roll the hood back on itself enough to properly seat the small piece of bar wrap under the hood which covers the bar clamp. It's a cheaper, lower-grade of rubber with very limited suppleness and flexibility. We certainly agree on the punch-out for suicide levers though.
