Re: [CR] Asking Manufacturers to remanufacture older sought

afterbicyc le comp...

If folks in this group are serous about making hoods, an appropriate mold would cost roughly $2500-$3500 and the cost of the hoods themselves pretty affordable.

WOW!

I don't want to carry this topic along any further, but this quote is similar to what I got from US sources for my Raleigh grips. Simply absurd.

The Lee-Healey Co. Ltd. in England (which is famous in the cycling world as the old Britannia brand of tyres and grips etc) charged me £400 (now about $750) for the mold for my grips. I suspect they would charge the same for hoods. Of course you need to add in shipping from the UK. But the US sources I found were either dismissive of such a small scale project or quoted this ridiculous $2500 mold cost which is being dismissive but helpful at the same time!

If anyone IS serious about this, I'd be happy to supply the e-mail address and contact person at Lee-Healey. They are brilliant to work with by the way.

Peter Kohler Washington DC USA

Grips are not gum brake lever hoods! The hood's shape is *much* more complex. The raw materials are different. Don't assume anything; get a valid quote from a supplier that can actually do what you want and has a track record of doing it properly. A proper, high-volume injection-mold (with inserts for the logos) for gum brake hoods will cost $3000-9000, depending on it's size and complexity (4-up, 8-up, number of inserts, expected life, etc.), and where it's made. The raw material comes in 50-pound bags, and has a limited shelf life. You gotta make a lot of them in a fairly short time (3-6 months). You also need equipment (or time on equipment) that can run the process, and labor to do the setup and processing/QC. There's no such thing as a free lunch.... As we've already discussed, some cheap repop hoods are gravity-cast, not injection-molded. Big, big difference.
Greg Parker
Dexter, Michigan