Finding Vintage Shimano N105-1050 Brake hoods

Gummy, dirty, & or deteriorated brake hoods can truly make or break a bike restoration. While they’re quite a few companies that carry vintage hood types, some styles are still very hard if not impossible to find. So during a recent bike restoration, I came upon an obstacle, I needed to find replacement hoods for vintage Shimano N105 brake levers- more specifically Model 1050.

During my interweb searches, I quickly found out white replacement hoods would be just about impossible to find. So I compromised and started looking for black hoods. I did find some NOS hoods on eBay, but at $50 I just couldn’t spend that much. So I kept looking. Eventually, I found a pair of new 105 hoods that Shimano still sells, but they were for the slightly newer 1055 model. They looked very similar, so I took a chance and picked them up to see if they would work - and they did, quite well actually.

Here are some pictures of the hoods - new vs. old.

New Shimano Brake hood covers

Old vs. New. The the grip patterns are quite a bit different.

The hoods are very similar in shape.

The new hood interior has the same indents plus two at the top, I believe for added comfort.

Old vs. new hood installed | Shimano N105 Levers BL-1050

I like how the superSLR is branded on the hood which matches the decal on the lever.

The new hood has a little more gap around the top of the lever. Not a huge thing, but worth noting.

Overall I’d say its a 90% fitment match. Not bad for new off the shelf hoods.

If you are looking for replacement hoods for Shimano N105-1050 aero brake levers, these will work just fine. They look pretty darn good too.