[jrockway]

Honestly, cheap bike components aren't inefficient, they just wear out very quickly. Low-end components use plastic where high-end components use metal, and really high-end components use titanium instead of aluminum.

In my opinion, cheap components look and feel ugly regardless of what kind of bike they are attached to. The good news is that you can build a fixed gear bike out of good equipment for what you'd pay for a racing bike groupset.