Here're the V2 vs V1 hoods comparison. V1 screenshots are from Bike Sauce, Oz Cycles, Ribble Valley Cyclist early reviews. They all had the V1 hoods. The V1 has a very smooth, satin like surface. The V2 is more textured and very matte finish. The transition/fitting where the edge of the hood meet the polymer frame on V1 is terrible, gaps on the side, the big "step" on the top of the hood knob where the rubber meets polymer. The V2 is much refined. The gap on the side is gone, there's minimum step on the hood knob. I think the better fitting V2 is because of softer rubber used. I had no difficulty in installing the GeX brifters, hooking up the brake hoses. Flipping the rubber over to expose various ports and bolts was easy for me.