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I've been riding fixed since I was 9 when I first rode track, now I'm nearly as old as Bill...and still race track.
when I moved to London in '88 the bike I brought with me was my track bike and yes it had no brakes and had tubs on it, I was working as a chef and used to ride in to Soho from Leyton and back at all hours on it....a Carlton, sprayed up as a Geoffrey Butler, with Dawes Concorde bars.....would love to get my hands on a pair of those nowadays.

My dad rode fixed when he used to race and train in the late fifties.

riding fixed is great for commuting, couriering, racing track and hill climbs....I love it, but it's pretty useless for anything else (tricks, touring, road racing, country rides, canal towpaths etc) and I Iove it no more or less than riding my road bike fast or mountain biking, there is no zen, it's not better or special, it is just a little different that's all.

I rode a few fixed bikes when I was a courier including Matt Seaton's old track bike, which snapped while riding over the cobbles in Covent Garden, my last courier bike was a Veto, which I still commute on now......they get a lot of stick from bike snobs, but it's solid, stiff, yet comfy has an indestructible paint job and won't get nicked.....what more do you need for a good London work-horse?

I rode fixed as a courier mostly for maintenance reasons (I put a new transmission on every 18 months, then did nothing...never cleaned it) and the fact you've got more control in the rain....I worked on my road bike a couple of times when my fixed bike was off the road and found it to be much faster, because it's got er? gears! also you can ride much closer to kerbs and fast too on a freewhweel. But it was too shiny to use every day.