I don't bike in the city. But, what I've heard is that fixies are popular because they are so crappy and cheap that they aren't worth stealing. They are also

I don't bike in the city. But, what I've heard is that fixies are popular because they are so crappy and cheap that they aren't worth stealing. They are also easy to repair. As hipness goes, a big theme of hipsters is to work really hard at looking like you aren't trying and don't care. Throw on some second-hand-store clothes to ride up the hill on a crappy, completely inappropriate bike to a very expensive dive bar to overpay for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and a dirty well whisky because that's how much you don't care.