Just a passing though since I don’t have a tri bike at the moment since selling my P2K. Wouldn’t it be retro cool to race a Hooker. That bike is still the standard for aerodynamics desite all the carboplastic hype of newer bikes.
Does anybody own/race a Hooker? What are your thoughts about the bike? i imagine if one showed up on ebay the bidding would be fairly high?
There have actually been a couple on ebay just in the last few months. BUT… The thing to remember about the Hooker is that the STA is pretty slack by tri standards. 24" front wheel, too. Sure, it’d be cool, but I think even if I did own one, I’d only ride it on the most pristine of days, and I certainly wouldn’t race it.
The last one I saw on ebay didn’t actually go for that much–under 1K, IIRC.
I bet they just lost some value, too–now with USA Cycling set to adopt UCI regs for some events for 2008.
Bleeker Street. :^)
Ric
The thing to remember about the Hooker is that the STA is pretty slack by tri standards. 24" front wheel, too.
Most (if not all) Hooker bikes had 75 deg seat tube angles coupled with a proprietary zero-offset seatpost.
Most Hooker bikes had 700C front wheels.
Some notes about the Hooker that I have (Cat.1):
It’s very easy to setup a very aggressive position because of the design of the seatpost clamp. My seat is close to 80deg now.
It’s a heavy frame, my bare frame weighs 1.8kg. With the steel fork, it adds up.
The seatstays are really nice and aero. That makes them a bit stiff too, so the ride is a bit stiff.
BB height is really high, that is why it’s easy to just put a 650c fork and make a funny bike. High BB makes for a good crit bike, but when going downhill makes you think you’re taking the road curves on top of a ladder.
The design of the frame has some details that makes most other frame designs look clunky. It’s just a very sleek, beautiful design.
For those (me) that have no idea what one looks like where could we find a picture or could you post one of your bike?
Paulo
Very, very nice !
I’d like one also !!
Is that a Hooker road frame? or a TT frame with a 700c fork? I’m thinking the latter, the BB looks kinda high judging from the chainstay angle.
Funny how the mind works…
I thought that maybe you were looking to complete a ST rugby team & was going to sign up.
Wow. Stunning. Thank you.
My personal pet peeve here on ST? Really big signature files 
Anyway, I am pretty sure that this frame was designed with dual 700C wheels in mind. But maybe one of the Hooker experts here can confirm this.
Blame Desert Dude. His rant was too good to lose to page 84 of the forum.
I’ll join the ST rugby team. I’m a bit small to be a lock these days (but then again, I always was). I don’t even think I could play inside/outside center without being severely mauled. I imagine our team would consist of a whole lot of wingers, flyhalfs, and maybe some flankers.
I am pretty sure that this frame was designed with dual 700C wheels in mind. But maybe one of the Hooker experts here can confirm this.
I can confirm it.
Crit bike? That BB looks really high to me.
Crit bike? That BB looks really high to me.
Your eyes are correct: the b.b. height of the Hooker Elite Cat. 1 dual 700C road frame was 11". What I don’t know is whether that was because Hooker et al. are from Southern California (home of lots of criterium and track racing), or because they had the conversion to a ‘low pro’ in mind when they designed the bike.
I figured he was talking about this one:
http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/features/hookers/hooker.html
.
maybe so you dont have to stop pedalling round corners on the aerobars
.
