It was relisted and sold immediately for $800 on buy it now.

On the "Rivendellizing" ... I think that may partly stem from the fact that Rivendell is often a good (meaning less expensive) source for some of the items that people tend to associate with older touring bikes as well as Rivendell bikes, but of course it is also a lot of hype and marketing. Rivendells are gorgeous but the marketing spiel on this page turned me off to the point where I don't think I'd ever buy one. I would have no problem if that description of the Quickbeam focused on how pretty the bike is, how well-made it is, how clever all the options are ... but instead it is based on a whole lot of flat-out misinformation designed to make dumb people think that the only way to get those options is to buy a $1,400 bike from Rivendell.

Most people who convert old bikes into single-speeds aren't converting old track bikes (those mostly get made into fixies); they are converting old lugged-steel touring bikes. Both of mine can take 700 x 40 tires with a fender. He's right about the quick-release wheels, sort of; I have track wheels and they do require a wrench, but I take the quick-release skewers off my town bikes anyway to make it tougher for thieves. My husband has quick-release hubs on his single speeds. We have all the handle bar options and comfortable geometry and everything we want, and not one of those bikes cost more than $350, full built up with very similar components to what is available on the Quickbeam. Except we don't have two chainrings because we don't need them, and while I did consider putting a flip-flop rear wheel with two possible speeds onto one of mine, I decided I'd rather have a second bike ... so I have one that's low-geared and outfitted for town errands, and one that's higher-geared and stripped down, and they are both gorgeous and the total cost for two with all new components (including Brooks saddles) is still about a third of the cost of one new Quickbeam that comes without a saddle.

Which, again, is not to denigrate the Quickbeam; it's a beautiful bike and I'm glad somebody makes it and I think it's awesome that there are people willing to buy it and support its production. I just hate the fact that the marketing of that bike is based on the suggestion that you can't possibly get those options anywhere else, because Rivendell invented every good idea in the history of cycling.