Originally Posted by
pkpyro
If it's your first fixed gear bike, they don't need to be uber-nice. Make a bike with cheap enough components that you can toss around, then upgrade later on.
that's just my personal take on things.
+1. After riding a while you will learn enough to make a more informed decision down the road.
In my case, I started out with a Schwinn Cutter single speed bike that my wife bought me for Christmas. I rode it two years as a SS; when I started breaking spokes I tried my first attempt at wheelbuilding using a fixed-free hub and a cyclocross rim (to handle the nasty city streets with minimal damage). I had previously done a couple of wheel truings where I took the spokes all the way slack, then tightened them back up, so that part was easy. It was my first time lacing, though. I followed the Gerd Schraner method which turned out to be frightfully easy to me, then tensioned up the wheel and.... so far, so good.