Dude...you need pictures!

I used to commute fixed once in a while. I started out with a '77 Gitane Gypsy Sport conversion:



a few months later I replaced it with a Surly Cross Check:



I used a 46-18 combo for a while, but eventually got lazy and dropped it to 42-18. Then I moved to a new house and my commute ends with about 250 feet of climbing in the last quarter mile, so I put gears on the Cross Check. Yesterday I climbed the hill in a 36-25 gear, by the end of the summer I may be ready to go back to fixed.

Honestly though, for some reason I think I enjoyed riding the Gitane fixed more than the Cross Check, and I definitely like the Cross Check better with gears, so I may end up rebuilding the Gitane.

BTW, if you skid, you should consider going with a 17T cog to maximize your number of skid patches and save your tires. I like brakes, so it was never an issue for me.