Originally Posted by noglider

I happen to find the original topic AND the tangential topic interesting.

For what it's worth, I bought a cheap fixie from Nashbar in 2008, for only $304. It was a really good deal, and I liked the bike a lot. I didn't secure it well enough, and it got stolen. I had to replace some parts quickly, and I had to reassemble it, since it was badly put together, but being a former bike mechanic, I didn't mind. However, I would normally dis-recommend a mail order bike to most people. It had an aluminum frame, and the bike's overall weight was pretty low, maybe about 20 pounds. Nice ride, too.