I shaved 12gms off my Rival clamps by replacing steel bolt with a M6 Ti one, head ground down, and a 13mm alloy caliper nut. Also relieved the clamp a bit. Have to give credit to The Climb blog.
planning on replacing the bands with ones made from a section of a Thomson seatpost.

@dereksmalls I know I know... Laugh it up they didn't have black though...

@lechat I have seen that blog, it's brilliant lot of effort gone into those clamps and the carbon hoods he made too!

So weights of the new hoods I here you asking...

Originals = 22 grams each
Adhesive Felt = 2.21 grams each.

Savings of 20 grams per lever! 40grams for the whole bike! HOLY SHIT!

So I'm looking for a 210 gram lever total (including new clamps) not but huh?

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I've been using the felt-variation hoods for the past 6 months, results have been mixed.
You may find that it won't last more than two rides.

Since then I've modified and perfected the shape and come up with 'finishing' techniques that make the felt tougher w/o losing the weight qualities.

But if I'm successful why not turn this into a product to sell?

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@prendrefeu exactly, it wouldn't be hard. Once you have perfected the shape you would get a punch or cookie cutter thing made then just stamp away. Easy. What did you use as a finishing technique?

The amount of time I ride on the hoods is so little I think I can get away with them as they are, though testing will prove this...

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Very nice work indeed Well done!

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Used to race....got too wrinkly and old Updated: Racing again! Thought this was unlikely! Eventually, I may even have a decent race!

If you had a template or a paper pattern to cut out from, roughly how long would it take to reapply felt to a hood once you had cut it out to shape?

Would it be worth trying some kind of mixed material hood, with say some thin neoprene on the high wear areas? Would add a few grams back of course.

I don't understand why someone has not developed a lighter hood with neoprene etc .
The BTP hoods just dont last long enough . Most of the other options wiil not last and are sticky messy.
We just want them to stretch over and stay put and be light . My lycra ones that I made looked and fitted really well so something like that but a bit more heavy duty with some kind of Gortex cover if it would be made to be pliable enough or just stick to what we have and have a nice cup of tea and a cake .

@oysters, i have got pretty close to having a perfect hood now, and it only takes about 3 minutes to trace, cut and reapply, so in reality its not that hard. Im going to experiment with melting it on with a naked flame which should toughen it a little.

In other news, i drilled a wee hole in the body mechanism cover, but it only saved 0.15gm so it wasnt really worth it... (its the upper hole)



And after some contact with the WW famous BERK, i may be testing some of his new clamps for him... we'll see...

Estimated lever weight total (new clamps, new hoods, tuned and working) = 215 grams for the pair! Ill keep you up dated people!

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the main problem is adhesion, or trying to find enough stretch. If prendrefeu rides felt covers i trust his judgement as a man of clear taste and functionality... ill try them see how it goes

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Re: the felt covers

The adhesive works pretty well, but I tend to do lot of climbing on the hoods so a few factors have come up:
-The initial cut shape needs to be perfect. If there's any overlap, the felt won't adhere to itself very well and eventually unravels. Also, if it is even a little bit stretched on the lever, over time it will come loose from all the minor twisting and fores that come from grip. It's also a matter of getting 3D curves doable with a 2D shape - this would have been a lot easier if I had a perfect 3D model of the SRAM lever body shape) - but anyway I'm really close now, on my 6th iteration of the shape.
-I'm looking into a few ideas of how to 'bind' the shape together around the lever body without adding much weight or effort, and making it as comfortable as possible. Judging by the reviews of Hudz hoods, people can be very picky about how the hood feels on the underside of the hood between the lever and the handlbar, so I'm trying to account for that as much as I can. By itself the felt is super comfy, but again it will eventually slip.

As for the finish? Felt is super comfy to start off with. Untreated it will last about 2-3 rides total, but looks pretty naff very quickly.
I can't say what I'm doing to the surface to make it work, but in a sense I'm making it tougher and harder (with no weight gain here), and the prototypes have held up for months, which is nice! The only thing keeping them from lasting all year long is the adhesive/shape/binding issue.


But, just for playing around or race day? Stretch it and mount it, you'll be fine and it works well. I'm just more interested in seeing if I can turn my efforts into a little product for sale to others... you know, to pay for my WW addiction.

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Judging by this, that would come to the pretty steep price
But if you master the product, I shall be more than happy to support your R&D dept.

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Cervelo R5 VWD 5637g/12.43lb
Cannyon Ultimate slx 5592g/12.33lb
Pronghorn XC SW Race 8284g/18.26lb

+ 1 . Prendy I would def have a couple of pairs .

@prendrefeu I'm on iteration #4 and I'm getting pretty happy. I think one more and it'll be spot on. As for finishing I'm going to try a gentle melting to see if the surface hardens a little. Early tests of this method seem good. I'm pretty stoked with the weight of the honestly they are very light. As for durability for me, when I climb I'm either suffering (on the tops) or suffering (on the hoods) but 90% is on the tops. The only other time I'm on the hoods is when braking on the flat. But as I said I'll test them and we'll see.

Where are you sourcing your felt from prendrefeu? I can only find a3 sheets at the local craft store, and I feel like a twat every time I walk in there...?

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There's lots of adhesive felt on ebay. Not sure how the prices compare to other sources/local craft shops.

Any thoughts on whether it would stick well on top of normal rubber hoods? Eh gasp, yeah I know, ADDING weight, but I'm thinking about long audax rides when I might want a small patch of extra comfort on the top of the hoods (+ say 1.5 grams per side). Felt might make things much nicer, esp on say warm nights, I can take my gloves off for a bit with more comfort.

@oysters. Give it a shot, but it will probably end up slipping or unfurling during the ride. You'll also have to clean up the adhesive from the original hood, which is doable but just something else you have to deal with. Interesting though, there may be a market for a 'thicker' version of the felt to replace the original. Weight won't be great though.

@weeracerweenie currently sourcing from an industrial supply chain out here in the US. I'm interested in getting consistency with the product so that way I can ensure that if someone else buys it they get some measure of quality, so getting a consistent and replicable finish quality is the target with me.

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