robertj298 

These are the original hoods on my me 1984 Univega gran turismo. They seen in excellent shape and don’t seem to be dried out but I’m not sure how they will hold up when I stretch them to remove them. I know a lot of old hoods are hard to find a replacement but not sure about these.

dddd

Why are you removing them?

These are very long-lasting hoods in my experience.

robertj298 

I really don’t want to replace them but I fear if I try to remove them to change brake cables and housing or bar tape they will tear .

randyjawa 

You do not have to remove the hoods to change cables or wrap your bars. And, those hoods do come up for sale on Ebay every so often.

The cables will come out of the levers/bodies through the bottom, removing any need to take the hoods off. As for bar wrap, just detach the lever bodies from the handlebar clamps but leave the clamps in place and keep them in place with PVC tape (a bit more to it than just this and ask if you want more information about how to do it)...


Wash the hoods in warm to hot soapy water and let dry. Wrap your bars the way I do with the brake levers removed and then, once the bars are done, just re-install the brake levers. It is a simple and highly rewarding exercise. I never remove hoods, anymore, unless I intend to machine polish the levers and lever bodies...

oneclick 

Randy's method will work, but it may be a bit more complicated than what he shows; your clamps are almost certainly different, and may well fall apart when you remove the fastening screw to get the housing off. You can use more sticky tape or blue-tack or something to hold them together, but *before* they fall apart mark the bars where they are. Wrapping the bars with levers at different (or even just plain wrong) heights is work for nothing.

27inch

I was able to buy brand new Dia Compe hoods from the LBS only a couple of years ago, they were still listed in his parts catalog. More recently I've seen replacements with a slightly different pattern on them but only in black, and gum colored hoods from Cane Creek that look more like the old one's.
The last time I ordered a set, I ordered 6 pair, they were cheap and I figured if they ever went obsolete, I'll have them. Now that bike parts have gone through the roof, I'm glad I did that.
(I sealed each pair in a vacuum bag so they won't dry out over time. I did the same thing with a few original pairs back in the 80's but I used those up over the years. The last pair of those got used about 8 years ago.
Personally, I prefer the black hoods, they stay looking good longer.

Sir_Name 

Huh. Turns out I need a vacuum sealer.

randyjawa 

Yes, there is a bit more to it. The picture shows the clamp stuff held in place with a bit of Styrofoam. I use silicone seal to hold the loose bits and pieces in place. Once dry, you can remove the foam and very thing will stay in place. Even so, exercise caution, gently caution, when trying to engage the clamp screws or you might knock the nut out of alignment, which means do it again. Not a big deal.

bertinjim 

robertj298 -

These Dia-Compe 144 lever hoods can be found on EBay but I buy mine through Cycles Grand Bois in Japan. Prices are reasonable and shipping is fast plus they stock all three hood colors: https://cyclesgrandbois.com/SHOP/dc_blh_144.html

SurferRosa

I wouldn't remove them to wrap the bars or change the cables or housing. But I might pace the lever with the hood in, not boiling, but really hot water for a minute or two to help clean and rejuvenate the rubber. This would allow you to more easily remove the hoods if needed.