By far and away the best results I have ever had with respect to any number of solutions that can be used to supposedly recondition brake hoods would derive from using a product known as Bag Balm (...enough with the snickering already - this has absolutely nothing to do with friction induced chamois burn from your riding shorts). This ointment is a product of Vermont that has been in use on American farms for over a century where it was originally intended to sooth cuts, chaffing, or sunburn on the udder of cows, as well as cuts and/or cracking on the hooves of horses. More contemporary urban uses include treatment of dry and cracking skin on human hands and feet, although this product is still primarily intended for veterinary use and it specifically states on the outside of every Bag Balm container that it should be used on animals only. Bag Balm is available at most pharmacies (...brick and mortar or virtual) and may be purchased for around $5.00 to $10.00 per 10 ounce tin. It is LOADED with Lanolin although it does also contain amounts of petrolatum, or as it is more commonly known, Petroleum Jelly. While safe use of Petroleum Jelly as a human salve may be to some extent debatable, the principal reasons cited for avoiding its use have to do with it being applied in repeated fashion to living human tissue and NOT to an inert substrate such as a gum brake hood. Certainly, there are some out there who decry the use of any petroleum distillate whatsoever on their precious hoods, believing that to do so will only hasten their demise. All I can suggest to those individuals who have already made up their minds in this respect is to STOP READING THIS POST AND IGNORE MY ADVICE.
For purposes of reconditioning a dried and brittle brake hood, I much prefer to have said hood removed from both the bike itself and the brake lever if at all possible. Failing that, I will at least remove the brake lever from the handlebars leaving the hood in place. The reason for this is that to not do so runs the risk of unintentionally smearing Bag Balm on other surface areas where its presence is highly undesirable (...cloth or cork bar tape comes to mind here). Once the hoods are safely separated from the bike, I begin to gently massage Bag Balm into every nook and cranny of the brake hood being reconditioned (...yet another reason for preferring to have the hood separated from the brake lever, as it allows access to the inside surface area of the hood). Once I feel certain that I have worked the Bag Balm into every conceivable crevice, I set the hoods aside for eight to ten hours so as to allow the them to absorb as much of the unctuous salve as possible. After waiting an appropriate amount of time, I wipe the surface area of the hoods relatively dry with a paper towel and then repeat the whole process of massaging in more Bag Balm. Usually it takes three to five applications in this manner before the average dried hood begins to feel supple enough for my own tactile preference.
Please note that the aforementioned regimen will NOT magically resurrect hoods that have gone so far as to begin cracking. True enough, even these types of hoods will begin to feel much more supple after having undergone this treatment - but they will still be cracked. As for durability and (...relatively) long term implications to the hoods themselves, I have ridden hoods treated in this fashion for up to fifteen years without seeing further degeneration other than that begot of normal use. I do, however, recommend that one follow up the initial reconditioning with subsequent applications of Bag Balm on the order of once or twice a year based upon the weather conditions under which you ride.
Robert "this has not been a paid advertorial" Broderick ...the "Frozen Flatlands" of South Dakota
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Does anyone have a process to soften/rejuvenate hoods? I recently picked up about 10 pairs of Zeus NOS hoods and they look great but are brittle.
Scott Edrington
Carmichael CA