Anyway, it's true this whole thing is a bit stale and everybody knows everybody else's hand, so I propose we do an acid test on this one (no, not dissolving fixies in acid):

Anybody on this forum or elsewhere thinks that on a fixie he can better me around here where it's long, long climbs, brutal 14++ % bumps, gravel on the roads, unexpected sharp corners at the bottom of long hills wins a Peugeot px 10 or some other wreck to turn into a fixie in the impossible event that he beats me (or any other moderately fit rider). We can then have a return match where you ride your fixie around a flat town in traffic, and I ride a road-converted MTB with indexed 2 x 7 gearing, cantilelevers upfront and vee-brake rear to normal cantliver levers. Talking about a minimum 80 km+ country ride here, and 3 hours in town, not parading up and down main street impressing the talent at the cafes.

Anyway, fixies are simple, there can be a certain beauty to them. They are fashionable/fad but that's not necessarily bad. They are good for winter training (single speed is probably just as good), and they are good sport, because nothing beats whizzing past a fixie rider stuck to the road. Fixies are fun, not fast except on sprints, or for record attempts on track. When derailleurs were allowed on the tdf, the average speed alsmost doubled.

And with that I shall retire and partake no further in this debate