Here's a perfect example right here on BF:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...85#post1938485

This guy took a nice, older lugged steel Schwinn and is in the process of converting it a fixee,

Schwinns of that ilk are smooth and solid. With just bit of modification, that biike could be better than any $600 fixee-in-a-box.

For half that much it could be tweaked and made into a real sweet ride.