My own personal experience: in the 70s as a teenager I had a Raleigh Grand Prix (which in retrospect was a great machine, and really should have been left original) which I just couldn't leave alone. one of the "upgrades" I made was installing universal sidepulls (not sure the model), which as I recall were available mail order for dirt cheap. Of course the Weinmanns worked fine... they just didn't have in my mind the cachet of sidepulls. Once installed they seemed more finicky and didn't have as good a feel: one of our little stunts back then was to lift the rear wheel about 2 feet off the ground when coming to a stop, and I could never quite pull it off with the sidepulls. If you parked your bike in the sun for anytime the Universal hoods would become all soft and gooey, by the end of summer they were a cracked up mess. The real advantage of sidepulls? If you have some exotic bike all the centerpull hardware doesn't obstruct your fancy headbadge.
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