KublaiCant

Hi,

I've got myself a nice Crown late 70's/early 80's road bike for cheap but the hoods are in need of replacing. They're Weinmann hoods but I'm not sure what I'm looking for as a replacement (new to this vintage game). I've had a look online but can't work out what exactly I'm looking for, I'm not sure if I need the exact parts or if I can get a similar fit from another set.
A correct period replacement would be nice but it's not vital for me.

A couple of pictures (ignore the odd positioning - the bars are being replaced soon)

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-q...816_160937.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1...816_160953.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B...611_182405.jpg


Full bike if you're interested -

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7...425_201029.jpg


Any advice would be very much appreciated as I'm completely lost.

Thanks

oddjob2

Everybody uses the cane creek/dia compe gum hoods, about $8 a set.

jiangshi

https://www.amazon.com/Cane-Creek-144...ne+creek+hoods

rhm

I'm having a hard time telling whether you have the standard Weinmann levers, that were basically unchanged from the 1950's through the 1980s, or one of the higher end models introduced in the late 70's. I think you have the former, which take the same hood as Dia-Compe and other levers of the period. For those, your want the ones Oddjob2 mentioned. If you have one of the high end models, then you're going to have a harder time finding anything good and cheap. They're basically the same shape as Campy and a dozen imitators (Gran Compe, Suntour Superbe, Modolo, some Shimano...). The reproduction Campy sets should work, but they're not cheap.

Frankly, your hoods look okay to me. I wouldn't mess with them. They will no doubt continue to deteriorate, and then you will need to replace them, but if you seal up the cracks with contact cement (just dab it on and let it dry, don't follow the instructions on the tube) you should be able to get a couple more years of use out of them.

KublaiCant

Cheers guys. I'm having to replace the bars so figured I'd take the opportunity to replace the hoods as well, the current ones have seen better days.
I think I'll risk it with the Dia-Compe's, can't really go wrong for $8 and I'm sure I'll find a use for them if not on this bike. I wasn't sure if they'd be an exact match due to seeing things like this https://www.flickr.com/photos/strongl...57607612250679 which had me wondering.

dddd

I'm all of 99% sure that the CaneCreek hoods will fit the levers properly.

I just spray a bit of rubbing alcohol in the hood and on the lever body, then slide the hood on from the front.
The lever can remain in place on the handlebar.
The cable housing ferrule bit can be inserted after installation, again using a drop of the alcohol and using the cable housing itself to push it down through the cable port in the hood.

The one caution about these CaneCreek hoods is never to "roll back" the hood while taping, since they are likely to split if you do!
I just lift-and-tuck while taping around the levers, and can get the tape exactly to where it would end up if I had taped with the hoods removed or rolled back.
So it's easiest here to tape the bars before installing hoods and cables!

The levers with adjusters should have the hood's cable port trimmed down, again to prevent possible splitting.