About a day after I got my first road bike, a $20 (canadian) old-school supercycle, with head-tube shifters, scizzor breaks and suicide bars, I did a 150km ride (Hamilton - Toronto and back) with my friends (on mountain bikes, trailing behind). I was sold. Many bikes, and thousands of km later, I built a fixie and love it to death (probably my own).

He hasn't mentioned how much road cycling he's done, just that he wants to turn his old ride into something classy. If only I could have that original supercycle back, and converted....*sigh*. There's so many old-school 10-speeds out there just begging to become conversions (anything with mounts for suicides, shorter dropouts etc might do better just upgrading the old roadie parts), it's such a beautiful recyling project, and such an effective re-use for so many frames that would otherwise be left to rust in garages and alleyways.