Ame brake hoods came out no later than 1986, although this was the first year I saw them, they very likely could have come out a year earlier in 1985 and I just was not privy to them. This makes them an off topic subject, but what is not off topic is that a serious limiting factor in the restoration of classic period road bikes is in-fact brake hoods. Many on this list have lamented the poor quality of Campy copy off brand brake hoods, and they are often not cheap to boot. This begs the question of why some enterprising company has not manufactured quality copies of various older brake hoods (dia compe, campy, dura ace, suntour etc...). Certainly these would be easy to make if one had nothing more than the old hoods, one could make a mold and pour some kind of substance (with or without lavendar dye) into the mold and viola, it would be possible to sell hundreds of hoods at $20 a pop to an appreciative public. I have three old bikes with either sub standard hoods or hoods that I paid dearly for (much more than $20) and no where to turn for replacements. If capitalism is a motivating factor in marketplace doings than I simply don't understand why this situation hasn't resolved itself.
Garth Libre in Miami Shores Fl.