Pseuds Corner

From
http://www.citycycling.co.uk/issue46/issue46page12.html

On fixed gear/single speed:

This is directly reflected in the anarchic views prevalent amongst the attendees of Critical Mass - the machine does not control the cyclist; it is the cyclist who has power. The increased popularity in recent years of single speed and fixed wheel bicycles signifies a further push towards autonomy. Removal of the derailleur, gears and even the brakes demonstrates an increased emphasis on man over machine.
(The above quote is from page 13.)

The return to the single speed and then to the fixed gear signifies the increasing need for cyclists to redefine themselves as separate from the masses of cycling commuters now occupying the bus lane. With the appropriation even of these to the mainstream arena of ‘courier-chic’, cyclists are now looking for even more extreme and exclusive ways of riding, for example in the form of ‘tall bikes’, where the outcome is a truly wacky and difficult to ride piece of engineering that still legitimately signifies subversion.

(The above quote is from page 14.)

So now that's you told why you do these things.

On 'courier style':

Further, with its increased popularity, the Critical Mass is in danger of having its signs re-appropriated and absorbed back into mainstream ideology. Indeed, this has already begun to occur within courier culture in London, which has become romanticised and commodified.

The development of courier style has been repackaged as a trendy ‘look’ similar to the 1960s ‘Beats’, who took on romanticised of black down-and-out jazz poets, therefore degrading them.. The autonomy that might once have been associated with this cycle culture is being eroded as it become part of a fashionable set of signifiers for people to subscribe to.
(The above quote is from page 14.)

I could quote the entire article, but I don't want to ...