Universal brake hoods.
 

I was able to find a couple of good universal brake hoods from fellow forum members to complete a proper restoration of my '72 Legnano. One pair I got was so good I decided to have a mold pulled from the parts and have a few sets made, I figured you would like to see them.

The mold came out really nice. The original formula the technician came up with was a bit too thick and we ended up with some bubbles. I am going to go for another round with a new formula at a future date. The color is a little on the green side of banana yellow but we will be able to make some adjustments of the color also.

The material has a nice feel and the details are fantastic. It's a fully cross linked polymer that won't turn to some drippy mess at a later date. Ill keep you posted on my progress.

The original is the honey colored one.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8523/8...aac1611b88.jpg
30 114 by barnstormerbikes, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8090/8...bb9f0dfe18.jpg
30 117 by barnstormerbikes, on Flickr

That is awesome. Nice work

I'm impressed with the outcome.

How did you make the mold? Are you pouring or injecting the material?

Thanks, I didn't make the mold but it's made from the same rubber and three pieces. This round was done with a combo pressure/vac system but the new formula will be water-like and just pour in very quickly.

WOW! This is great Frank. I love it. Please let us know when you're customer-ready.

Put me on your wait list too.

yea i could use a set if i can find the levers lol

Looks nice, and it's got to be better than the originals. My experience with Universal hoods is that they deteriorated into a sticky, crumbly mess far faster than any other brand.

Put me down as well. Great work, Frank.

That's really nice, but I wish they were the later version of their hoods that flared out more towards the bars as used on their model 77 and AER brakesets.
I dunno, but it seems like Universal made the wimpiest hoods ever that fell apart soon after people put them on their bikes. Every used universal lever I have seen out there seems to have bacon or worse on them!:mad:
It's frustrating trying to find replacements for the perished onse on my AER brake lever set. There's one NOS set for sale at eBay right now, but the seller want 109 bucks for them:twitchy:,........which is silly......

Chombi

Unreal, that's a very cool project Frank!

Ballin'. Want to do some Dura-Ace EX, 7400 non-aero and 7402 aero hoods? :D

Put me on the list too, please. How about the black hood for the adjuster?

Nice! Like others said, let us know when you are ready to sell.

The question of the little adjuster hoods brings to mind a question, which I hope won't detract from this cool thread a bit;
which came first? The little black adjuster booties? Or the gum-colored adjuster booties?

This is a such a neat project Frank. Congrats and kudos for doing this.

Yes,

A set of black hoods please.

All I know is that my 1972 Moto came with the black adjuster hoods, in 1973.

Great stuff! Dibs for the Yurpean distribution rights.:)

Super 68 brakes?

I'd be interested in some, depending on price. There was someone else making repros on this forum but his price is more than originals on ebay, so I just go that route. They're not that hard to find.

I'd be interested also, especially in the natural color.

Me too! One or two sets, depending on price. Thanks for doing this.

Dang, that's so cool - but now I have to find some Universal brakes so that I can justify the new hoods.

Great work Frank.