High tensile = low budget

Witness the 2009 Mongoose Maurice HiTen.  As in, high tensile steel.  It used to be that bikes made of 'high tensile' steel or 'HiTen' were sold at KMart or had streamers on the handlebars.  High tensile steel has a lower strength to weight ratio than Chrome-Moly steel, making it a nice intermediate material between sewer pipe and the stuff grown-up bikes should be made of.  Performance Bike has apparently got into the department store bike game with this offering.  BikeSnobNYC should be gratified that it is an urban style fixie and that its low asking price ($289.99) and upgradeability make it a harbinger of the coming"Fixed Gear Apocalypse".  They are offering a Chrome-moly version for about $200 more.  However, given today's economic situation, I'm sure they're selling plenty of lower end bikes as basic transportation.

Photo swiped from PerformanceBike.com