Mellow Johnny's! Start booking your flights...

[Melalvai]

With the gas prices, there are a number of bike shops reporting record sales of people getting back into it, after many years.

Is there an article or report somewhere about that? That is great news.

[KnottedYet]

here's the bike on the cover of Momentum: http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes...an/soho/sohos/

I guess i don't really want one after all. (I could almost get two Kona Smokes for that price)

Why does it look so much like a Marin?

Sorry for the drift... bike lust, y'know....

[Zen]

It's OK, Knot. We understand.

$550 for a bike with no gears

[Running Mommy]

When I first read about MJ's I was stoked to go down to visit my friends in Austin to take a look see.
And then I read some things in my bike shop trade mag that made me pause.
Seems Trek doesn't have a problem with letting a shop like that go in so close to existing Trek dealers. From what I read there are two (maybe 3) trek dealers within 3 miles of MJ's.
As a little guy I sure feel for these shops. Hopefully they have a strong enough client base built up to handle the big kid who just moved in.
I'm sorry, but it's a no brainer that a shop with Lance's name (well you know what I mean) and capital is going to put a big hurt on everyone.
I admit it, I'd be making a beeline to it.
I still want to make a trip down, but I'll also make sure to seek out the other guys in the area as well.

[Zen]

Hmmm. Maybe what I've read about him being not such a nice guy is true.

[Aggie_Ama]

When I first read about MJ's I was stoked to go down to visit my friends in Austin to take a look see.
And then I read some things in my bike shop trade mag that made me pause.
Seems Trek doesn't have a problem with letting a shop like that go in so close to existing Trek dealers. From what I read there are two (maybe 3) trek dealers within 3 miles of MJ's.
As a little guy I sure feel for these shops. Hopefully they have a strong enough client base built up to handle the big kid who just moved in.
I'm sorry, but it's a no brainer that a shop with Lance's name (well you know what I mean) and capital is going to put a big hurt on everyone.
I admit it, I'd be making a beeline to it.
I still want to make a trip down, but I'll also make sure to seek out the other guys in the area as well.

This is how I felt as well. While I think it is great what he is doing for the commuting community (showers/bike lockers are unheard of here), I think we will see some shops close. My favorite area shop is very close to there but they are big time and should only feel a small hurt. The others in the area do not have the volume of the shop I frequent. There are also several non-Trek shops in the area, but they are triathalon shops.

Although, I am curious how personal his shop could feel. The one I frequent is big but you see the same employees and we aren't regulars at that location but they treat us like we are. We will probably visit his shop to drool on the bikes then take our money to our normal shop.

[ridebikeme]

I'm glad that you brought that up Running Mommy... I read that as well and like you, wonder why Trek isn't protecting their IBD"S more. It's wonderful that Lance is opening up a shop, but I wonder why they would allow three dealers to be so close...what happened to the "territiory" that a dealer is supposed to protect? It seems to me, that this and a couple of other things that have happened in the past few years, that Trek is no longer someone that I would want to carry... being a bike dealer is supposed to be an agreement between the dealer and the bike company to make the the sport and that particular line grow.. of course with support from the two sources. It looks like some pretty poor business decisions to me....

[BeeLady]

I was at my LBS today and the owners had gone to Austin Saturday to see Mellow Johnny's. Its a small bike store with mainly storage space for commuters to park their bikes and it has showers for commuters. From what the LBS guy told me, Lance is not doing this mainly to sell bikes but to support computers. There are some bikes for sale but mainly commuter gear and stuff like that.

Anyway, sounds like a neat idea.

Aggie-Ama -- have you been there yet? What's your take?

[Running Mommy]

This is how I felt as well. While I think it is great what he is doing for the commuting community (showers/bike lockers are unheard of here), I think we will see some shops close. My favorite area shop is very close to there but they are big time and should only feel a small hurt. The others in the area do not have the volume of the shop I frequent. There are also several non-Trek shops in the area, but they are triathalon shops.

Although, I am curious how personal his shop could feel. The one I frequent is big but you see the same employees and we aren't regulars at that location but they treat us like we are. We will probably visit his shop to drool on the bikes then take our money to our normal shop.

Yeah, a shop knowing your name means something.
Yesterday our friends were in from Northern CA for their first visit. While they were there no less than 5 customers who we know not only by name, but greet as if they are family, walked into the store. Even Douglas our homeless guy came by.
One of our friends asked if we knew all of our customers by name. lol

It was then that I realized that we kind of DO know them by name. I mentioned that to Allen, one of our regulars and he said that's what he likes about us. He said we have "changed his life".
That means a TON to me.
We have been so busy, I'm fighting the flu, our mechanic/manager/fit expert/sales guru has a bad knee and is in constant pain, and running hubbys regular job has kept him from helping me. So stress has been through the roof. but comments like Allen's keep us going.

I can only hope that the other shops in Austin have created that kind of atmosphere for their customers.
I still want to go check out MJ's, but at this point I don't know when I'll be able to find the time. (a good problem to have).
Of course I've always wanted to check out Austin in general- so just another excuse.

[tygab]

We are going to visit our family there in the fall (visit #2) and DH has already said this is a "must do" while we're there.