I recently obtained a Centurion Dave Scott Ironman, red and white. It's cleaning up quite nicely. The aero brake hoods (red), are quite sticky. I've used dishwashing soap with a brush, but after drying, still remained quite sticky. I then tried Simple Green with the same results. I don't observe anything actually on the hoods that would result in the stickiness. When compared to the hoods of a similiar vintage bike, it's very easy to notice the difference.

So, whats worked for you in cleaning older brake hoods?

Thanks,
Drew

The hoods are disintegrating now. I'm not sure you can stop it. There are new replacement hoods made, but only in black.

Try dipping them in red plasti-dip if they are already falling apart anyway. We've discussed in this forum recently of possibly doing this to save or preserve hard to find old hoods....you could be our test "guinea pig"??...and tell us if it works!

Chombi

Thanks for your responses. The hoods don't look like they are disintegrating, they are have flexability to them and seem firm. I'll probably obtain some black hoods to replace them.
I saw some references to using "Goo Gone". I'll pick up a bottle later today and give that a try. If no joy then I'll order some new hoods.

Thanks again,
Drew

I just cleaned up a set of hoods and had the same problem with them ending up tacky. I hit them with a little bit of baby powder and that seemed to take care of it. Although, I must add that I have not used the hoods since, so I can't say what the long term will be.
Good luck.
Jeremy

Your hoods/levers are probably DiaCompe, and came in red, if your bike is an '86. The tackiness is from time, UV light, and maybe a former overzealous cleaning. I rubbed a little Vaseline into mine, didn't have any problems. If you wash the bike with grease-cutting soaps, etc, they'll go back to tacky.

Welcome to the forum.

If all else fails, I think I know a forum member who has a set of new red hoods for those.

Olive oil, or, as Robbie sez. Might help.

I thought my white hoods were six feet under too. I cleaned them up with Clorox spray and they were brilliantly white again but a few days later the tackiness was back. I sprayed Plasti-Dip on an old crummy set to test the process out and it worked, but only just ok. Then, by accident, I was cleaning up a frame and oversprayed spray wax - Mother's Carnuba (sp?) if that makes a difference - and the overspray hit the hoods. I wiped it off the hoods and... Voila! Nine days later and they are still white and still not tacky. Your results may vary, but what do you have to lose?

So you noted that Plasti-dip did "just" work?? Can you elaborate a bit??

Chombi

Yes, but it obscured some of the details and I'm not crazy about the texture (though I could probably have been more careful with the spraying than I was with the crappy set of hoods I tried it out on.) I don't have them mounted to anything so I have no idea how durable it will be either, but they seem to be fine in that regard...I'm just not crazy about the "pebbly" texture...I think it kind of looks cheap and industrial. Perhaps the dip would be smoother; I used the spray version...but you may have to worry about the dip making the coating too thick also.

The stuff in the can is awfully thick, probably too thick for dipping, but I've thinned it with Naphtha for other uses. Might work, but I don't have a suitably degraded pair of hoods to experiment on.

Brilliant ! Wax.

Congrats on the Ironman. I drool over the thought of landing a red IronMan.. IMO, if the hoods don't clean up good, I would get a good set of used Shimano 105 hoods/levers combined. The hoods were bad on my 85 Raleigh Prestige, and I got a used set of 105 levers and hoods off ebay. IMO, they are the tits..Prices run about $40 to $60.. IMO, the red and white Ironman deserves as sweet set of hoods and levers.. Preferably white too..

Congrats on the Ironman, great fast bike, although ton of toe overlap was not to my liking.

As for hoods... I read that some too-strong cleaners destroy top level of old rubber and turn it into goo. Makes sense since each report of sticky hoods that I have seen started with words 'after good cleaning...'. Most interesting recommendation was to re-clean them with Gojo or whatever is the name of pumice 'waterless' hand cleaner. I still have to try that (my project bike with white sticky Shimano 600 hoods is on hiatus now).
Give it a try an report results here!

Those hoods are made from a compound of synthetic latex polymers - petroleum based - solvents, surfactants (soaps), inert fillers, process agents, stabilizing agents, molding agents, etc. The chemicals bonds holding everything together are terminal. From day one each recipe ingredient was trying to separate and return to its own discrete nature. Decay.

The slippery, stickiness is the soaps/solvents "evaporating" and is unlikely to go away. You can ameliorate the situation by using talc to absorb the slick moisture. Brush away excess. Hoods could last a good long time if kept clean and dry.

I've used GO JO with success to clean my hoods with the problem.

I'm not a chemist but I played one for about 25 years.

J