Weight Weenies

@oysters, I don't think that will work unfortunately... Maybe put some foam under your hood?

@prendrefeu, agreed, if selling mass market you have to ensure there is a consistent quality of the product. Also how would users ensure they are fitted correctly and aren't going to come off. People on here would understand but a non WW, or IQ challenged persons may have difficulty with it....

I can confirm Berk and I have a wee deal on some clamps. I'll post pics when I get them. Should be two weeks ish. For now I'm going to re assemble with my new hoods and old clamps, then I'll put the new clamps on later. I'll put a ride report up later, but for now I have a heap of dremelling to do...

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Hmm, yeah slipping might be an issue with just a square of felt, I can imagine its not really that sticky.

Might try the foam thing

It's worth a shot? I just imagine the felt would slip right off...

Hmmm. Guess I'll give it a try on my commuter. The main pressure spot on the hoods for that is just behind the pointy front bit (hard to describe). They are Shimano BR-600 brake levers. I don't really like the shape-I much prefer the campagnolo shape, I find this shape god awful after about 30 minutes on the hoods. I'm swapping them with some cane creeks which have the same shape as campy levers. If the patch is mainly in the concave bend in there it might last a bit longer or have less chance of moving.

I'll see if I can pick up some felt around here tomorrow.

You need a solid surface on top to disperse any rain or even sweat that will got on the hoods. Felt looks good but without some protection they will not last . I was reading about a waterproof liquid that once placed on any material instantly makes it waterproof . Marks and spencers a store we have in the UK sell some clothes with this process . Im not sure if its on the market but it would waterproof felt . It works like gortex but it's better. I still think some kind of stretch fit over the hoods nice and tight would be better than an adhesive backing. My lycra hoods fitted perfect .Just made a template from some old hoods ,It took a few goes to get the size right but once I did they fitted spot on and did not move . Something like that only more robust would be ideal and they weighed nothing 2grms .

Got a pic artray?

With weight. Neoprene can be heavy.

Yeah agreed, also about neoprene, when you sweat up a storm in your wettie at the lake it becomes a little slippery... So sweaty / wet hands on slippery hoods can't be a good idea?

Looks very clean. Post a final pic when you shine it up and/or a bit of clear coat. You'd hate to add back any of those hard-won grams though.

As for the hoods, wasn't somewhere here in WW that people were talking about successfully using large diameter shrink tubing to make ww hoods? I don't know if it's viable for your project, but read this thread through:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=88711&start=15

This is an example from that thread:

I tried the heat-shrink method.

I didn't like it.

Frankly:
p.i.t.a to get on there pre-heat-shrink
p.i.t.a to heatshrink 'just right' so it doesn't get too small
p.i.t.a to trim perfectly
I didn't like the finished look. The heat shrink revealed a lot of the gaps and cavities in the body that are designed for mounting the regular hood. It just looked unprofessional.

I mean, it is possible... but not ideal, and the amount of heat shrink + thickness did not really yield high enough losses to justify it in my mind.

Yeah I tried it to, if anything it looked worse than no hoods. Just applied the new felt hoods I'll chick a photo up soon!

Rightio, i have remounted the tuned lever, I've put a new hood on it to, now the only thing to wait for is the new clamps from Berk.but ill do new bar tape and hoods when they arrive. Someone needs to beat me as in the excitement i forgot to weigh the damn thing! AAARRRGGHHH!!!! although im fairly confident its 106gm each (216gm the pair) although this is with the original clamps not Berks master pieces. So that takes the originals from 280gm (correct me if i'm wrong) down to an estimated 195gm / 200gm a pair with the new clamps... Not bad huh

Here are some finished photos....







For some reason my I-Phone doesnt like photgraphing the felt... looks like elmo as pointed out by dereksmalls previously...

On the hoods i held a lighter near it and all the fuzzy bits melted away and the hood took the shape of the lever better, it fits nicer and feels nicer after the heat work. Im happy with the end result for now! Testing to come.

My next objective, (because i like sharing the love) is to make a 1:1 stencil you can draw onto your levers to do the same tune on your rides... ill also try perfect the stencil for the hoods, although this is proving VERY hard and ill link that in too... unless people would be intested in just buying them off prendrefeu if he makes a small business venture out of it...?

Anyway, let me know what you think about the entire tune, ill update when i finish the other lever and get my little birthday present from Berk!

Sorry no pics of the lycra hoods . They just were not robust enough as you can imagine but looked cool. It was about a year ago they have been long thrown away. I did use some taxidermy tape again its a bit messy and it wears pretty quick but looked good . I use taxidermy tape on my bars .Its very light spotted it on a websight.
Im back to normal sram hoods . The thing is that they have to function and do ther job and I don't want to be messing about with my hoods every other ride . Hopefully someone will come up with a light design thats no hassle

That colour does not look to bad .
show us a pic of your whole bike .

im doing a seat clamp rebuild at the moment so my baby doesnt haver her saddle on and would therefore be scrutinised for poor bicycle presentation ill do one when im all finished....

So while you all anticipate the final presentation i thought i would entertain you with some of my other projects that i have done... check it out!


this is a seat clamp for an ISP frame i built, i dont use it anymore but it was one of my first projects...


Sram Red rear derailleur tune, 104gm finished an operating for 1000km now


A pair of my barrel adjusters (go on the down tube, they are actually lighter than this at the moment after a fit issue)


Specialized Romin 143 carbon saddle


Ultra tuned Speedplay pedals... 54gm each


Home made Aerolite pedals, 70gm for the pair.


Carbon yokes, these have a big alloy insert to take thread but the ones on my personal bike are 8gm a pair. These are for Dereksmalls on here

I also build carbon cradles, that are 9gm each among other small parts. any requests of what to build next? haha what dop you all think?

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Nice Stuff .