I first started riding fixies back in 1973 or so for winter training. My second or third good bike (after the PX-10 or the Paramount) was a red Gitane Interclub track bike. It was drilled for a front brake, so I put a Weinmann sidepull on it. After moving from Oakland, CA to Vancouver, BC, I was riding it to work very early one winter morning, with snow and ice on some steep, hilly streets. I hit the front brake when I shouldn't have and did an endo into a snowbank. I don't know how I managed to avoid landing on my head, since nobody wore helmets in those days. Usually it was just a wool cycling cap (with "Campagnolo" embroidered on it) in the winter, and a cotton cycling cap in the summer. Since then, I've always installed front and rear brakes on my road fixies, even if they are track bikes, and even though I only use the front brakes on dry roads, since I ride fixies year-round. But my actual track bike is not drilled for brakes at all, since it's used exclusively on the track.
The interesting thing about that old Gitane was it provided a good demonstration of how bad those cheap French components of those days were. I remember breaking the spindles of the original Lyotard pedals it came with, and of the replacement Lyotard Marcel Berthet platform pedals. It came with cheap tubulars and cheap wheels built on cheap Normandy hubs.
When I went to Simon Fraser University between 74 and 78, I used a road frame modified for a fixed gear during the winter months to get to the campus, which was located on top of a 1200' hill with a 3-km road going up it. This is where I destroyed a set of Phil Wood hubs and bottom bracket in one month of winter riding. I also remember one night coming down the icy road in a snowstorm with the back wheel locked up, the ultimate drag brake. It really gets exciting when the bike, with back wheel fully locked, starts accelerating on the descent, and you have to start stabbing gently with the front brake and hope the front wheel doesn't wash out...
I don't understand the hipster attraction to fixed gears, but although we both ride fixed, we're miles apart on philosophy. I eschew lockrings (they're dangerous) and have two brakes mounted. Hipsters use lockrings and often have no brakes installed, relying on skidding the back wheel to stop. I was taught that it's bad for the legs to backpedal, and you never, ever want to backpedal to slow down in a paceline on the track, even just a little bit!
I think the next step is to install a 3-speed IGH, like the Sturmey-Archer S3X, since it comes with 120 rear spacing and accommodates fixed-gear riding, or you can install a separate BMX freewheel. It's amazing how little friction there is in a one-speed or fixed-gear setup. It's actually an advantage running a fixed gear on certain gentle grades due to the very low drivetrain friction compared to the friction in a derailleur setup where you've got the pulleys, the dirty chain, the chain wrap, and the angle of the chain to contend with. I'm still thinking about where to put the shift control, since I don't want to run the wire all the way to the handlebars, since the bike is designed to come apart for travel, and I don't want to use cable splitters. But I'm sure a 3-speed would put the Alps within reach!
Luis