Lockhart Seat Hooks

LOCKHART SEAT HOOKS

EVALUATION

kRT FOR ART'S SAKE; HOOKS FOR PAINT'S SAKE

MOTORCYCLES DON'T EXACTLY QUALify as objets d'art, but don't try to tell that to their owners. Indeed, many riders guard their steed's finish jealously, and react to scratches, nicks and chips with the same horror art lovers felt when Laszlo Toth took a hammer to Michelangelo’s Pieta. And bungee cord ends are one of the offenders, because almost invariably they chafe and saw away at paint, leaving the owner with a beggar’s choice; Live with a defaced master-piece, or don't bungee anything to it.

Now, though, there's another choice, in the form of Seat Hooks from Lockhart (15717 Texaco St., Paramount, CA 90723; [213] 6304621 ). Available in packages of four, the seat hooks are S-shaped pieces of metal with a strip of adhesive in one of the S’s hollows, and vinyl-coated on one end. To install them, merely place the adhesive portion over the bottom edge of the bike’s saddle, crimp the hook’s sides with a pair of pliers, and voila ; the vinyl-coated ends form convenient anchor points for bungee cords.

But the seat hooks’ value goes beyond their role as bungee anchors. Because they mount to the saddle’s edge, they keep bungee hooks clear of the bike’s bodywork, allowing the paint to stay pristine. If the saddle fits too closely to the bodywork, though, the seat hooks themselves can rub on the finish. Plus, Lockhart's hooks do stick out slightly—about an inch from the edge of the saddle—but they’re not so obtrusive that they make the bike look baroque.

Some hard-line aesthetes will, no doubt, object to what Lockhart’s seat hooks ($7.95 for four) do to their bike’s appearance, but they’ll be missing the point; the seat hooks are less important for what they bring to the bike than for what they let you bring with it. They’re an artful dodge against bungee-induced damage, ¡g