scarlson 

I thought about hijacking the other thread going on MAFAC lever hoods, but decided probably best not to.

I have this old tandem with these three brakes (two canti and one drum) and I want to keep it stock which means reusing the old Mafac levers, which include a dual cable lever on the left. I need hoods for them, unless I go full Jan Heine and just polish them up. I don't know if I'm bad@$$ enough for that though. They're the old Mafac levers with the tall adjuster barrels, so they could take either half-hoods or full hoods. The dual cable lever does not have the adjusters, just some small ferrules, so it's at least a bit smaller thing to fit through the hole.

My question is, does anyone have any idea whether any hoods will take two cables in a hole designed for only one? I know there was a special dual cable half-hood manufactured, but I have never seen one in person, let alone up for sale. I have only ever seen like one google image of such a thing. I asked the folks at Velo Orange if they thought the Rustines half-hoods would stretch around two cables, but they advised against it. I bet cutting or drilling a second hole through the rubber or enlarging the existing hole without tearing the hood apart would be very difficult. I know it's a long shot, but does anybody have any ideas? Perhaps I should ring up Olivier chez Cycles Alex Singer and ask if he has an example he'd part with?

bertinjim 

scarlson-

I have seen the dual cable tandem levers used with the amber, full hoods with both cables emerging from the the normal cable adjuster hole on the top of the lever.

scarlson 

Good to know. Do you know if they were genuine MAFAC hoods, Rustines, or another brand?

bertinjim 

scarlson-

If I recall correctly, they were Mafac embossed hoods with the amber coloured body. One had the gum rubber screw threaded adjuster and the other had both wire housings coming out of the hole on top of the lever.

bertinjim 

Here is a photo with the full hood. Mafac also made a dedicated half hood with dual cable outlets in the half hood style but I have never seen a full hood of that type.

scarlson 

Ah, yeah, I've seen that photo with the red bar tape and the half hood. That's the "like one google image" I mentioned. It's on a Jack Taylor, no? Perhaps I should go steal it..

The top photo with the full hood looks like the hood's not sitting well on the lever. I wonder if I can remove rubber from the hole in the hood to get it to sit properly, or if it's a lost cause and I should just go full Jan Heine and use no hoods at all, just bare polished brake levers. A friend suggested shoving a 3/8" round file through the cable hole in the hood with the aim of removing some material in a semi-controlled fashion, but I don't really fancy ruining a set of hoods just for that experiment.

bertinjim 

scarlson-


Yes, it was a Taylor tandem photo. You may want to go full Jan Heine. I have spare Mafac made hoods and I checked one last night after I posted the images. I think that raised hood profile would be inevitable with full hoods as the molded opening in the hood where the brass adjuster tube goes is one cable housing wide and a tight fit. As well, the OEM hoods are filled fully with rubber and closely molded to the lever body profile above the cable mounting holes leaving no room for stretching or force fitting. A file might work or perhaps Rustines hoods might be more stretchable due to rubber composition but that seems to be an expensive might.

JohnDThompson 

My tandem came with the MAFAC half hoods, including one for the dual cable lever, but they got separated from the bike over the years and I can no longer find them. Instead, I use these Spenco velcro-wrap hoods. Maybe not authentic or as attractive as the originals, but they work and are more comfortable than the half hoods.

scarlson 

I actually have some of those Spenco things. I pulled them off a motorbacon my friend was flipping, he asked me to redo the bars in cloth tape to make it more "photogenic" (read "grammable"). I only saved them because I recognized the brand from back in the day. My first pair of Spenco gel gloves was a welcome change, back in the '90s. Your review of the hood covers is promising. I will just have to de-velcro them whenever I feel vain enough to let the Taylor get photographed. Maybe this is what Jan Heine does also, secretly, on his René Herse. "No, Natsuko, don't 'gram me yet!" he shouts over the sound of ripping velcro.

I agree, @bertinjim it's an expensive "might" and if it doesn't work I'll feel terrible for wasting such nice hoods. The bike came to me with Dia Compe hoods. One (right side, single cable) was fine and the other (on the dual cable lever) was split down the middle from having the two cables and ferrules stuffed in there.

bulgie 

Here's an early Santana, photo taken in 1978. Dual-cable lever on the left, with the Mafac-brand full gum rubber hood.Sorry the pic is so grainy -- you can't tell much. I know the guy who owned it, who is also the guy who built it up -- he was a mechanic at Bud's/Santana at the time. I can ask him if he remembers, if you think it's worthwhile to bother him. I haven't spoken to him since I moved away in '79, so this question from out of the blue might seem a little weird! And maybe a moot point anyway -- even if the dual-cable gum hoods existed at one point, they'll be pretty dang rare now after 40+ years of degradation from ozone or UV, or whatever it is that kills 'em.

crank_addict

Have the full hoods, dual pull on an early Santana.

Not often seen but suggest to keep a watch for them on eBay. Noticed maybe only a few months ago a seller had a complete setup and was listed ridiculous cheap. I don't need them but rather only hope someone out there gratefully scored them.

bulgie 

Your Santana is a stroll down memory lane. I think they called that color "Mojave Sand".
Is yours old enough that it came with a braze-on on the left seatstay for a Shimano E-type disk brake? If so I probably helped build that F&F & stoker stem. Good times.

-Mark

crank_addict

Thanks for piping in, Mark. This bike has brought much enjoyment and though not ridden as much today, I only wish it brings the same to whomever gets it later on. It oozes character, beautiful craftsmanship and of course, delivers a great ride. Jan Mc. told me had they continued making like this, they would've went broke - kidding as if the cost in producing was exceedingly high.

Anyways, this one doesn't have the braze on tab but rather a band clamp for use with an Araya drum / drag brake. The MAFAC levers and cantilever 'Criterium' brakes work fine with this drag brake.

The stoker stem is a beaut. Company records of the early production are lost but also told the frame serial has two letters indicating or sometimes stamped by a builders initials. This has S and R, possibly Ross Shafer. Regardless and whomever made it, surely did a wonderful job. Thank you for all your contributions!

obrentharris 

Another approach that was very popular was to use the drum brake (drag brake) only on longer or steeper downhills when it was most needed. It could then be controlled by a bar-end shifter which would be activated at the top of the hill and released at the bottom.
Brent

Salamandrine 

FWIW, I had a pair of Rustines full hoods in my parts box. They are pretty stretchy. Seemed like you could just cram a couple cables through the hole without even bothering to enlarge it. And in fact you can. That said I'm pretty sure the hole could be enlarged a bit with a dremel or something without much trouble. Of course VO isn't going to tell you that's OK -- makes it their fault if things go awry.

Salamandrine 

Just a couple observations:

The full hoods don't really work that great on early levers designed for half hoods, but they do fit -- shape is identical. They tend to slide around and the ferrule holding the housing end in the brake lever can become unseated, which is disconcerting. The later model Mafac levers with full hoods had an enlarged adjuster barrel that held things in place. The half hoods have a hook at the end to hold them in place. If you use the full hoods with early levers, simply wrap them in with tape at the base. Problem solved.

I'd bet $5 that Rustines manufactured the original MAFAC hoods. How many gum rubber molding companies could there be in France? They seem identical to the originals except for the logo. I personally would not waste money on 40 year old rubber pieces.

There's also the old school thing of wrapping a loop of cotton tape around the base of the lever when you wrap the bars. It only partly covers the lever, but used to be good enough for most people.

TenGrainBread 

Well there ya go. I'd say it's worth trying Salamandrine 's method. Nice touch taking the pics on the BQ issue

My experience with the Rustines MAFAC hoods matches that - they are somewhat stretchy and will probably fit over the double lever.

jeirvine 

For what it's worth, there are a few more pics of original tandem half-hoods here. I can't read Japanese, but I assume these are just reference pics:
MAFAC

scarlson 

Ugh, yeah, I've seen that site. Such eye candy I can never have!!

I should maybe look into 3D printing rubber. I know it's possible, but I just don't know how good the finished product is. Maybe I can also do it for the Dura Ace 7401 lever hoods that nobody can get anymore. I will ask a colleague, but my inkling is that the rubberlike plastics offered for 3D printing are going to be less stretchy and more melty than would be desirable. Kind of like old dead brake hoods in the first place! It's also possible to 3D print or even manually press/pour a mold using an existing single-cable brake lever hood, then modify the mold for a dual-cable hood, and then pour urethane in. That might be a decent halfway house between 3D printing and actual rubber.

scarlson 

Salamandrine Thank you for experimenting with your hoods!!

This gives me the confidence to try it. Way easier than messing about with 3D printing, something I STILL don't know how to do even though I have access to the hardware.

I bet the half-hoods are the same material with the same size hole, so they may work just as well. Unless I'm missing something? I have some of those big adjuster barrels, I guess they would make things a bit larger, but I only put one on the single-cable lever.

ThermionicScott 

Interested in going down another rabbit hole, @scarlson?

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ria-hoods.html

scarlson 

Oh god...so tempted...
For the Dura Ace 7401 levers it would probably be worth it... to someone... There are enough of those and absolutely no source for replacement hoods. The real trick would be to buy up cheap 7401 levers while there are still no hoods available, then release the repro hoods for some price the market can bear, probably like $40, then 7401 levers will increase in value and you sell 'em all off at your leisure. My ex-girlfriend the economist would be proud.

Step 3: profit.