Peter Cole wrote:
but my favorite times are like last night, riding along no-hands with a
tailwind on a flat road -- dead quiet and feeling closest to just
floating along with no bike at all -- bugs-in-the-teeth pleasant.

I too grab my fixed gear for anything not too hilly or not too long (10
+ 50 miles has been my longest single day on it thus far).

There's no matching the feeling of efficiency. The feeling of momentum
that you get when the bike is pulling your legs through the dead spots
in your stroke is amazing. It's my favorite bike for riding in the
city, it's the best for taking on the train/bus as there are no
extraneous parts to worry about bashing, nothing to interfere with
putting it on a rack, it's light as air (lighter than my AL road bike).
Removing the wheels to throw it in a trunk is as simple as it gets.

Sure... a lot of those benefits would apply to a single speed road bike,
but not the momentum, which is what's magic about them.

As I wrote on my website,
http://twowheels.us/bicycles/peugeot_fixie.html, I first rode one about
six years ago and I was hooked... fixation might be a better word. :-)
I couldn't stop thinking about getting a fixed gear for years, until I
finally got one. I wasn't disappointed! It met and exceeded my
expectations much more than my recumbent experience did!! (Hi Tom!)

I just can't wait for the fad to end... I hate to look like I'm one
following the crowd. The kids that came over to chat with a fellow
fixie rider in the park yesterday were nice, though I cringe to think of
them riding brakeless in skater shoes on platform pedals.

-Rex

--
Work and recreation are not often effected at the same time.
One using a bicycle in business makes an exception to the rule.
- Dr. Edgar H. Earl, Rochester. (~1892)