Sticky Brake Hoods

[gxaustin]

I have some Ultegra 6600 brake/shifters which have become distinctly sticky.
Does anyone have a remedy? I have tried washing with water, detergent and white spirit; to no avail.
I have also tried "Blue Coral" plastic cleaner/rejuvenater (French and equivalent to 'Armour All'). That has improved things but not completely eliminated the stickiness.
Any suggestions or do I need new hoods?

[the_twin]

Probably the plasticiser leeching out following exposure to heat and sunshine. Not a lot to do apart from fitting new hoods.

[Brucey]

not all soaps work the same way; I recently cleaned a set of Ultegra ones using a soapy hand cleaner that had something in it to stop your skin from drying out and quite unexpectedly this seemed to reduce the stickiness, probably more than with other soaps. Talc may help too, but most lever hoods are never quite the same again once they start to go sticky and are best replaced.

cheers

[Redvee]

The hoods on one of my previous bikes went sticky after some glove free rides and I cured it by wiping them with GT85, I just sprayed a small amount on some tissue and wiped them down. Obviously you don't want to use too much.

[colin54]

Take care not to let them get too poorly, they may infect the bar tape with something equally nasty,

it was already too late for this patient I spotted in Headingley at the weekend.

[gxaustin]

Thanks for the ideas

[Audax67]

A word to the wise: buy a new set of hoods while your kit is still relatively recent. Shimano have a nasty habit of discontinuing the spares before you need them.

[mattsccm]

Petrol. Wipe it over rather than leave it to soak.

[Brucey]

A word to the wise: buy a new set of hoods while your kit is still relatively recent. Shimano have a nasty habit of discontinuing the spares before you need them.

yup. They also seem to have almost gone out of their way to make the ones on various models of STI different to one another in the last few years, so it is not as if there is something close that will work OK....

cheers

[amediasatex]

A word to the wise: buy a new set of hoods while your kit is still relatively recent. Shimano have a nasty habit of discontinuing the spares before you need them.

Exactly why I have a small stock of hoods for the 1st gen STIs that fit the RSX/RX/105/600 etc. models, some of the most robust STI's Shimano made and especially for 7 and 8 speed use, hoods are hard to come by and a lot of them are reaching the end of their natural lives now, if they haven't already been torn or damaged.

[gxaustin]

My sticky hoods are now much improved after applying plastic rejuvenator (Armoural and Blue Coral). They are about to be fitted to a bike.
Just a follow up in case it is of interest.