_dylan

I'm looking for some brown brake lever hoods. I don't know if they have to match the brake levers, but mine are Shimano. My main question, though, is do they make brake lever hoods that fit over what I guess is an extended brake? I don't really know what it's called, but both of my brakes have an attachment that allows the rider to easily brake from an upright handle on the handlebars.

If I have to remove them to get a brake lever hood, I'll consider it. But they're nice to have sometimes--especially when other people ride my bike.

VeloBrox

Suggestions:

- Take them turkey levers off and ride in the drops like a man
- Dia-Compe/Crane Creek make new hoods
- Never let other people touch your bike
- Get old and weird and memorize french thread patterns in your spare time

rhm

Look for the ones that have a perforation molded into the side, like this:


The circle over the letters CO in the word "Dia-Compe" is a perforation, so you can easily remove that disk. Then the hood fits levers with brake extensions.

himespau 

Huh, I didn't know they made those. Might not have thrown away some old levers if I had.

dddd

Those are Tourney or Dura-Ace levers from the '70's, and the auxiliary levers on these ARE actually the main lever!
The "normal" levers are the one's that are really "2nd in command" with this setup. The mechanism is a bit odd inside, and the cable-head latch un-screws from the main pivot shaft to allow disassembly with a screwdriver iir.

As such, the Aux levers are definitely NOT removeable, except for rebuilding purposes.
Just as well, since these are the most-solid aux levers ever sold, literally one-piece with the pivot shaft!

They CAN be dis-assembled, and you CAN put the Cane-Creek hoods on them, I've done it!
Again, the mechanism is not the most intuitive in terms of seeing how it works and fits together. It's unique.

The trick is to first figure out the dis- and re-assembly process, and then to install the hood, first cutting a centered hole for the aux lever, and then cutting a BIGGER hole in the hood on the opposite side of the lever body, to clear the unusual, VERY large screw head (that rotates with the aux lever and pivot shaft). Failure to cut the hole there may cause much friction in the lever's movement.

This is a job for a dedicated perfectionist. You'll want the holes to be accurately cut with the tip of a fresh box-cutter razor blade or Exacto blade.

I could take a picture, but the bike I did this on is a couple of miles away. I felt that the effort was worth it since the factory never offered these levers with hoods, yet the shape of the Cane-Creek hoods was close to perfect.

I would not count on any pre-perforated hoods to have the hole positioned correctly for Shimano levers, but the holes will have to be enlarged anyway, so it probably doesn't matter and the older Dia-Compe hoods would similarly, almost certainly, fit the lever shape well.

Note also that sawing the protruding shaft off, to remove the aux levers, may allow the shaft to freely fall out of the opposite side, as the handlebar clamp band screw doesn't pass thru or even apply force to the rotating pivot shaft.
You would have to add another big-head screw to the end that you sawed off.

_dylan

Well I'm glad I bought the Cane Creek hoods last night! Now I just have to wait until they come in.

The Golden Boy 

I asked about this a while ago, and some people gave some really great information.

Here's a thread with some nice pics and instructions:


https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ers?highlight=