^Trendy, unexplained, moronic, unhelpful in any way comment=
idiot.

As someone who just this last summer got back into hard, daily biking, I have a few ideas.
I was riding a trek mountain bike. I have had it for 8 years. Taken it out to utah, colorado, and local trails. Never have had to do any parts replacements on it. Great, tough bike.
Moved to the city and realized that I needed a road bike for daily transport. The MTB is now my winter beater. I decided I wanted a fixed gear or single speed simply because it would be easier to maintain, and there are NO hills in chicago.
I looked and looked and finally bought an SE draft off craigslist pretty cheap. Started looking at components at LBS, bike coops, and online. I wanted to build this bike up with nice, durable, quality parts.
Then I stumbled onto these forums and bikesdirect was recommended over and over.
I soon realized that I could buy an entry level road bike with decent components complete for less than I was looking on spending on building this hiten POS frame.
I know that you pay for what you get. I always buy the more expensive tools, more expensive boots, more expensive parts for my computers and cameras. I understand quality.
So I bought a kilo after reading many many reviews here (and elsewhere), and I am really happy with it. I was able to get some good long riding in before the hard winter hit.
I understand that I could spend some more $$ and get a much nicer ride, which I will probably do when (and if) this thing wears out. But by buying a complete kit I was on the road in a week instead of slowly building one and probably having to wait until spring to be able to get some miles on it.
I think that is the real appeal of bikesdirect. Mid quality bikes at a great price NOW.

I could have built this bike, I know how to wrench. I wanted to support a local bike shop. My girlfriend and a friend had just bought bikes from Rapid Transit here in chitown, but they didn't have anything that I liked. So I threw them some cash in having them tear the kilo apart, lube, adjust and assemble everything. This gave me a 30 day warranty. I also spent the xtra 5$ or 10$ here and there by buying parts (pedals, straps, better lockring, fenders) from them instead of the internet.

I have no idea why some knock the kilos and messengers. They are great middle of the road quality bikes. Elitism, I suppose. But whatever, like what your ride, ride what you like and enjoy.
It's about having fun on a bike, not what kind of bike you ride. Any REAL bicyclist will agree. Trendy snobs will not.