Brake Bracket Hood?

[wild]

I need to find black hoods for the Shimano SLR brake brackets on my soon to be finished 86 SR500 project. The originals were a very dirty white and got tossed. Any info is appreciated.

 

[black lightning 1987]

First piece of advice, never toss anything without knowing the availability of a replacement. Never toss a hood that isn't too crumbly to use. I've cleaned up very ugly hoods using lacquer thinner, but it sounds like you don't have that option now. Shimano used a different hood design for most models of levers, so you will have to look for hoods specifically for that model of lever - or be sure of cross compatibility. They may be out there for your levers but without checking for the specific model I don't know. The easy solution may be a new pair of modern Tektro levers. Likely to be less expensive than a NOS pair of hoods to fit your original levers.

 

[wild]

Well, they are definitely gone so I might change out the levers with a newer set if I can't find anything. Everything else is finished except for the crank which will be in tomorrow, and the tape for the handlebar.

 

[black lightning 1987]

I wish that I was more knowledgeable about the various models. I don't have any Shimano parts books from that era but you might find something by searching.

 

[wild]

I'm just going to wrap the handle bar in black, and let the brakes stay shiny. None of my earlier bikes had hoods, and it didn't affect the ride from what I remember.