and you dont have to strip it down to try fixed. borrow a fixed wheel from someone and pop it on there with a shorter chain. the derailers wont keep you from riding it with a fixed wheel, itll just look a bit weird while you try it out, but it might save you a ton of trouble if you are only curious about it now...

and you can always just never shift if you want to know what single speed is like.

one last thing. that bike has a lot of style as it is, id be proud to ride it with gears and all.