Weight Weenies

Hello everyone.
I am riding my FM066SL with 9000 shifters and 6800 groupset.
On my routes, I have climbs around 3-4 kilometres and sometimes steeper than 16, 17 percent.

I am a really light guy but since it is too steep, I have to use my arms too on climbing, and Dura-Ace hoods are a bit slippery. It makes me squeeze the hoods more and my arms are getting tired.
I don't remember I had the same problem with the 6700 shifters I used before...

Anyways, since I hate riding with gloves, can anyone recommend me new hoods which will make it a bit more comfortable?

I also wonder if I am the only one have that problem...

I think it's just you.

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I think so too. But anyway, you can try to remove the hoods and wrap the levers with the handlebar tape.

I remember some pro rider doing that because of allergy, but can't remember who it was.

I was doing that too for a while. For me it was a bad habit. It made me more tired riding this way than anything else. I worked to eliminate this from my riding, and I feel better for it. For me it was not effective as a riding solution.

Might be worth trying soft compound Hudz.

http://www.odigrips.com/hdz-shimanodura-ace7900enhancementbrakehoods.aspx

Would this help? http://fairwheelbikes.com/far-and-near-dura-ace-9000-brake-hoods-p-5808.html

Funny, I find the da9000 to be by far the grippiest shimano hoods. I thought i would hate the way the two tone hoods looked, but I didnt and I can really appreciate the increase in grip. I would try cleaning them with some diluted dish soap or isopropyl alcohol being careful to avoid soaking the internals. Rinse with water and let dry. I was actually remarking to a coworker the other day how drastic the difference in grip is between 6800 and 9000, in the favor of 9000!

Not sure about the 9000 hoods specifically, but just to throw some crazy alternative possibilities out there, you could:

-Wash those suckers really well, like 743power mentioned above. I have found my shimano hoods would get slippery periodically from contamination from my hands such as if I had applied a moisturizer earlier in the day and had residue on my palms, or if I had been doing work on my bike right before the ride and had a tiny bit of grease/chainlube etc... on my hands. Even without outside substances, your skin (particularly if you have a moist complexion) can crank out a lot of its own natural oils that can accumulate on the hoods.

-If you find that it is only an issue on hot days/high efforts, it may simply be that you are sweating so much that you are accumulating a layer of water between palms/hoods. There is not much to do about this other than wear gloves, although I have seen some antiperspirants specifically made for the palms of your hands, which are sold for applications where maintaining grip while sweating is critical. I have never tried one, although I have been curious about them.

-If you are creative, you could modify your hoods to provide better grip. You could put inserts underneath the rubber to square off the shape more to give better purchase. You could also smear/run beads of a higher friction rubber material (silicone, sugru, tool dip, etc...) in key areas, and if you pressed grooves in this material it could help to channel sweat away too. You could pick up some rubbery friction tape from an athletic store and run a couple wraps around the circumference of the hood to see if that helps. And of none of those work, there is always skateboard style grip tape, although that might get rough on your hands after a while!

Hi,

I experienced the same slippery hood phenomenon today. Temperature was quite high (30 deg celcius) and I was mostly going uphill. Will thoroughly clean them today and watch for improvement. I also ride without gloves. Must be a combination of excessive sweat on my hands and the natural occurrance of skin oil.

ToffieBoi wrote:Hello everyone.
I am riding my FM066SL with 9000 shifters and 6800 groupset.
On my routes, I have climbs around 3-4 kilometres and sometimes steeper than 16, 17 percent.

I am a really light guy but since it is too steep, I have to use my arms too on climbing, and Dura-Ace hoods are a bit slippery. It makes me squeeze the hoods more and my arms are getting tired.
I don't remember I had the same problem with the 6700 shifters I used before...

Anyways, since I hate riding with gloves, can anyone recommend me new hoods which will make it a bit more comfortable?

I also wonder if I am the only one have that problem...

Are your hands clean when going on the bike?
I mean when you have used oil, lotion or grease for maybe your body or face or hair, whatever, then when later your hands become sweaty it is coming out your hands again and creates a slippery film on the hoods.

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