Bicycling itself is a fad, at least in the USA, and the "fixie" fad is just a subset. I see new people coming to the track, getting all excited and buying an expensive "serious" track bike, entering a few races, getting their butts kicked by experienced riders on less expensive bikes, selling their bike at a loss and getting into something else. Same goes for road, MTB, triathlons etc. Very few people use bicycles for their original purpose: transportation.

I was riding FG on the road, usually cheap road bike conversions, for winter training to get my leg spin back long before the words "fixie", "hipster" and "tarck" were coined. For me it's a life commitment for health reasons and I expect to do it until I drop.

My current "fixie" and SS: