Bike Hugger 

I was there this morning at 9am.  There seemed to be a lot of people there, but not much “grand opening” excitement.  No schwag for people that came, no give-aways to sign up for.  They do have a program of famous folks signing books and what-not, but that’s late in the day.  There was a trek van out back giving people free demo rides (but the downtown area is not the nicest place to ride a bike, particularly today because streets are blocked off for the March of Dimes).

The store itself seemed polished and fancy and big, but still doesn’t hold a candle to the Bicycle Sport Shop, especially as far as stocking interesting items.  They seemed to me to have a disproportionate amount of clothing.  I was looking for grease, tools, bar ends… they really didn’t have much selection in that area.

Thank you! Did you see that [Naked art bike](http://bikehugger.com/2008/02/that_naked_bike_1.htm)? I wondered where’d they put that. Clothes are tough business, but maybe just stocked for the opening . . . when we come back for SXSW 09, that’s a def stop.

No, I didn’t notice the Naked art bike.  But I was busy drooling over the display of de Rosa frames at the edge of the bike area, so it might have been there and just not grabbed me.

They were handing out free posters and there was also many free stickers.

The most amazing part of the “Mellow Johnny’s” experience was seeing the Custom “art Bikes”.  It was so nice to look at biking from a different perspective.  These jewels were created by Fatmark who is renowed for his art in LA.  He has shown at Track 16 and Otis.  This is definitely Livin Fat.