jon c. 

I have Suntour gum hoods, likely early 80s vintage, that were NOS when I put them on 3 or 4 years ago. Never had an issue but over the years flat tires and the resultant greasy hands left the hoods rather covered in grease. The bar tape was getting filthy as well, so I washed the tape and hoods with water and liquid dish soap.

The hoods are now very sticky. I can't tell if it's something on the hoods or if the hoods themselves are dissolving. Repeating rinsing had no impact. GoJo met with the same lack of results.

Any ideas?

tyrion

Corn starch kind of alleviates sticky hoods. Not sure what the long term effects or putting cornstarch on them are, but it does get rid of the stickiness.

KZBrian

[QUOTE=jon c.;19721589]I have Suntour gum hood

I'm not sure why that happens. My 86 Cannondale has the same problem. I use baby powder to unsticky the hoods.

malcala622

Ive used goo gone to clean my shifter hoods. Leaves them clean and smooth after drying. Maybe it might work with your gum hoods.

canklecat

Ozone, UV and other stuff eventually breaks down many synthetics. Human schmumph from handling may have some effect but ozone and sunlight probably do most of the degradation. Supposedly Armor All and similar products may help.

Chombi1 

Once hoods start getting all sticky on you, it is pretty much on its way to eventually turning into bacon....
You can keep throwing stuff on it periodically, but you have to face the reality of having to find replacements sooner than you think......
Challenge these days for many C&V lever sets is, a lot of them need hoods that are becoming unobtanium......

Salamandrine 

FWIW many brake hoods of that period were Campy compatible -- Suntour Superbe for example. It would be helpful to have more info than "suntour".

AFA the stickiness, you can try the remedies mentioned. +1 on what Chombi1 says above. They may help for a time, but ultimately the rubber is breaking down and will need replacement. I vote for Rustines if they are Superbe, or Cane Creek if something else. Unfortunately, this stickiness was typical of Japanese brake hoods of the time. Ultimately they turn into sort of an alligator skinned sticky gooey mess.

The Golden Boy 

I get the itchys looking at some of the gross bubbly degraded hoods. ewwwww...

philbob57

Velo-Orange sells replacements - https://store.velo-orange.com/index....ood-cover.html. They worked for my non-aero Superbes.

Slightspeed

I changed the over 50 year old Universal hoods on my '64 Legnano just over a year ago. I think they were $40 for repros. I was happy that they included the little black rubber covers for the knurled adjusters at the cable exit. The black rubber covers have already almost totally disintegrated, and the gummed hoods are starting to look pretty crunchy too. I've had this bike since new, and was hoping the new stuff might last another 50 years. Guess not. The bike is stored indoors, and the only sun it sees are on a few rides a year.

jon c. 

They are Suntour Superbe. I tried baby powder and it helped quite a bit, although not as much after I got caught in a couple miles of heavy rain.

It appears I should have just left them dirty and greasy. Time to start shopping replacements I guess.

rayhosler

I tried it. Corn starch seems to work.

Bad Lag

Ozone,...

We had some plastic bumper pads on the back of a picture frame. They decomposed so completely, so badly, a brown liquid ran down the wall.

Is it Justines or Bestines... or RUSTINES who makes replacement hoods for Nuovo Record levers?

philbob57

If you can't find Rustines's hoods, Soma sells Campagnolo copies for $19.

Yeah, I know this is a zombie thread, but it's a topic that's current for some people....

Bad Lag

I ordered some Soma hoods.

Bad Lag

In addition to the new brake lever hoods, I ordered new tape for the bars and new gloves for me hands.

Yeah, it was THAT bad!