As one who has been riding fixies long enough to be completely bemused by their current heptitude, I gotta say I think the mech hanger removal is simply a fashion thing. Easy enough to find an old roadie that is nearly braze on free (I think I've got at least a dozen of 'em in the house now); the removal of the mech hanger serves absolutely no purpose. You're not gonna bash your knees into it doing a skid-stop, FGS.

Which leaves aesthetics as a purpose. Now I ain't gonna rage against the pursuit of aesthetics or nothin' (I do like them lugged steel frames), but there's too often an element of fashion in aesthetics.

I do like seeing the old rides reborn, just not completely hacked. Years back (gah, it pains me to think of this) I was married to an art conservator... now I learn from my exs, and one of the things this one taught me was a conservator's credo: never do anything that can't later be undone. Makes a lotta sense on the older stuff.

Still, if the choice is between the dump and someone hacking stuff off so they can make a fixie, well, I'll choose the later. But here at least, old road frames are getting thin on the ground, they ain't dump bound. I think there are two reasons behind this: one, a lot of the bikes I see in thrifts etc. are from the mountain bike boom; although I see a fair number of old roadies, the number has certainly declined in the last five years; and two, a lot of younger riders snatch 'em up fo fixies. I get at least a couple of emails a month from local folks looking for a frame for a conversion. And two of the local dealers have asked me to explain to them how to do a conversion.

I'm glad to see them riding, and I hope they follow my ex-wife's conservator rule when making their fixies.