I agree with you - one of the first fixies I saw was set up with a downtube shift lever to actuate the front brake. I thought it was a prelude to a massive fail. I did a few mods to my PX-10 frame, but it still functions as a touring bike, and still has 15 speeds. Well, it did, as I stripped it to the frame for the move from New Mexico, and plan to transfer all the high-grade components to a Peugeot mixtie I gave to my daughter, but which is too big for her. A mixtie has more lateral stiffness than a normal road frame, giving good pedaling efficiency, but also less vertical stiffness than a normal road frame, yielding a more comfortable ride.