Single speed conversions are, of course, recycled.
Growing up, many of the bicycles I'd ridden were pulled straight from the trash (including my well-loved but much too tall Motobecane Mirage). Often these bikes had a flatted tube, a split tire sidewall, or frayed bar tape---nothing a couple of bucks and a bit of elbow grease couldn't fix. I was always struck by the ridiculous wastefulness of it all. These bikes were tossed to the curb presumably to make room for a new department store mountain bike, or worse still, another car.
I haven't found a bicycle by the curb in a while---and I think that's a good thing.
Breathing new life into old bicycles is important to me, as is human powered transportation in general.
So, another good reason to ride single speeds: the environment. Re-purposing these bikes helps make them more useful and prepares them for a few thousand more miles.
Why would anyone opt to pay more for stiff, lifeless, aluminum frames with ugly welds when they could instead have beautiful, vintage lugged steel? The heart shaped braze-on often found underneath the downtube (to accomodate downtube shifters or cable guides) on these vintage steel bikes summarizes how I feel about them.
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