Classic & Vintage - replacement gum brake hood covers.

Hi all;

I'm am refurbishing - as opposed to restoring - an early 80's SR Semi Pro road bike. I would like to keep a vintage look and keep the excellent Shimano 600 brakes, and thus keep the components origina. but the gum brake hood covers are long gone. Does anyone know where I can get replacement brake hood covers for less than $50? If I can't find a deal i'm gonna have to use some newer style brakes levers out of the parts bin.

DanO

Try banana-brain on ebay.

Try Loose Screws (http://www.loosescrews.com/index.cgi?c=Brake&sc=Lever%20Hoods&tc=Shimano&id=708640118716)

Try: http://www.yellowjersey.org/

I found some gum colored hoods here for some mid-80's Dia Compe aero levers. You'll definitely have a tougher time finding hoods for the aero style levers (if that is what you have). As previously mentioned, Ebay is also a good place to look. I could only find aero style hoods in pink, turquoise and other nasty colors though.

Joe

If they are older style non aero levers, Dia Compe or Wienmann will both fit well and look reasonably close to the originals. I bought some non aero Shimano 600 levers from banana brain awhile back that came without the hoods though he also had some with NOS hoods for sale but they were rather pricey.

Pictured are a pair of the 600 levers with black Weinmann hoods on a Miyata 210. As you can see, not a perfect fit but well enough.

Raverson, where did you get the silver cable housing? I am re-doing a Miyata 710 that is red with silver accents. Silver cable housing would look great on it. Also, I had luck finding aero hoods for old bikes on ebay. I'll be buying some black ones for my bike soon.

It was an ebay find. Schwinn approved universal brake cables. I originally bought it for my red and silver 610 but the 210 got rebuilt first.

That looks like my 710, except a darker red and in nicer shape. The bike I have is in great shape in general (the components are still good, the frame is solid, etc...), but whoever owned it scratched up the frame a lot. There are numerous paint chips and scratches all over. I plan to get some Testors model pain and fix the larger areas. I'll just have to live with the other scratches I guess.