Hardly. If one of your pals (or mine) rides a high wheeler for pleasure, and another had a fetish for unicycles, I still would not be any more impressed with their suitability for commuting in busy Center City Traffic. Choosing a fixed gear, stripped down, no comfort bike for commuting or utility cycling in Center City Philadelphia is not the mark of a great thinker IMO and it is immaterial how much other cycling knowledge is possessed by the fixed gear bike fancier. Any single speed in rideable condition such as a Schwinn, Huffy, Columbia, Sears etc with coaster brakes would be a more useful and safer bike for commuting in flat cities than any esoteric fixed gear custom job, even if not considered worthy by the bicycling intelligentsia.

BTW if I thought it made me more worthy to bask in the glow Sheldon Brown's bicycle collection, I would post a picture of a bicycle that was more practical for commuting in Philadelphia (the subject of this thread):


Even this bike would have problems due to probable crappy braking when the rims are wet. Otherwise a real winner for practical city cycling.