Bar tape is one way to dress up a road bike. Now there is another way to feel fancy. Hudz, has come out with colored brake hoods, and throughout 2008, according to their site, they will be shipping hoods in 8 different colors that will fit Shimano Dura Ace (7800) and Ultegra (6600, which also fit Ultegra SL and Shimano 105), Campagnolo, and SRAM levers. The Hudz colors are as follows:
Bastogne blue
Roubaix red
Ghent grey
Wallonne white
Brugge Black
Paris Pink
Vlaanderen Yellow
San Remo Green
(I'm not sure about the color naming conventions? Pink doesn't bring Paris to mind. It brings to mind a city in Italy?)
Hudz is also able to create custom colors for brake hoods, to match team colors for those putting together club, race, or special event team bikes. Also, the company plans to donate money from the sale of their products to charitable organizations. Each colored hood has a charity associated with the color. Hudz is looking to sponsor bike teams or groups who ride and are socially and environmentally conscious, and they redesigned their product packaging, so it is takes up a smaller landfill footprint.
I haven't tried these brake hoods. But I do know that some designs and rubber compounds feel more comfortable than others on the webbing between my thumbs and index fingers, and different rubber compounds wear better than others. If you put some Hudz on your ride, post a comment.
(Photos lifted from the Hudz website and a vendor's catalog.)
Got some white Hudz a few weeks ago for Campy Record in white. Installation was simple. Takes a little while to get used to the lack of texture (feels different) but I guess if you wear gloves you won't notice much. The product seems to be well-made and I have no complaints so far.
Posted by: Atomic Bombshell | February 07, 2008 at 04:01 PM
I wish Hudz would consider making replacement hoods for the Cane Creek/Tektro R200 levers that are so popular with non-Ergo/STI fans out there. That would be a great splash of color for us singlespeeders and downtube shifter dorks!
Posted by: Ghost Rider | February 08, 2008 at 04:02 AM
http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/SL310B00-Shimano+St-R600+Sti+Small+Hand+Levers.aspx
cool-looking colored brake hoods...
On a somewhat related topic: does anyone here know if these shimano shifters have smaller brake hoods than standard. my wife has really small hands and her problem is that the brake hoods on her shifters are too thick for her to get a good safe grip on the brakes when on the hoods...
Can anyone recommend a set of shifters/brakes taht are good for this?
Posted by: gero | February 14, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Have her try some SRAM levers--you'll have to swap out her derailleurs at the same time (but not crank or cassette), but they're AWESOME for small hands--extremely comfortable.
Posted by: MarvinK | February 24, 2008 at 12:35 PM