I'm the man behind UGLY! Pads. (
www.uglypads.com)
I make all the poser'ish tattoo, rasta, my little pony, or any other crazy wierd creation my fixie friends can come up with. Fur... it doesn't matter. UGLY! Pads is not, by any means, my main source of income (I'm in estate planning)... it's more of a labor of love than anything and I usually recycle my earnings into my obsession with garage projects. But, in the end, it's really an artistic outlet for me, and I'm glad to make them for people who want to "decorate" their bikes.
Top tube pads, IMO, have a purpose, to keep from scratching your frame when locking it up, hoisting it on your shoulder, or whatever. Anything beyond getting some padding and wrapping it around your top tube with black electrical tape is simply decoration, and nobody should be "knocked" for wanting to customize their stuff. Hot rodders and lowriders do it to cars, chopper builders do it to their motorcycles, and some people like to decorate their bicycles. So what's the big deal? If they earned the $20 to buy a top-tube pad from me or any other vendor - I don't think it's anybody else's business. Live and let decorate. Ride in peace and grease!
In the end, top-tube pad or no top-tube pad... whatever. If people are having fun with it and like it... I say, more power to them. I plan on making these top-tube pads for people, in any crazy eye-sore, silly-willy, design they can come up with, as long as the orders come in - and when they stop (which doesn't seem to happening), I'll shut down the site. I have a lot of fun doing it, and I think people who get these for thier bikes are just trying to protect their bikes, maybe pose a little, but ultimately personalizing what they have, which I think is freakin' great.