Never ridden one, but I've seen them around and I can make very good inferences from specs.
Back in the day, they were one of the first companies that came out with completes that didn't need upgrades.
Even to this day, it's hard to find a bike under $900 that's going to be really nice out the box. Usually, for that price, you get a very very nice frame, probably some nice cranks and cockpit, but seriously crap wheels.
I have no idea why every company just decides to go with crap wheels on all of their completes. Seriously, look at all bikes under $900 and you'll see what I mean.
Lucky to get low rotational mass, sealed cartridge bearings, and double walled rims that aren't like the cheapest alex rim or something (alex makes nice rims but they also make really crappy ones).
They kept it relatively cheap for what you were getting too (I think it was like $850 for their base model).
I remember looking on their site expecting serious compromises some areas but I was surprised when I saw that they rolled their own allen bolt cartridge bearing hubs, their rims were double walled and nice, nothing was hi-ten or shoddy quality aluminum, really nice reynolds steel, etc.
I was like "wow, someone's actually doing it right".
They seemed to understand that wheels are awesome, and they found a way to make really nice wheels on the cheap (hand trued and stressed too).
That being said, I can't speak to their ride quality or how the bikes have faired over the years. I've heard very, very negative things, and some good ones.
Some of the stuff seems pretty cheap and of questionable origin.
Their frames seem to have compatability issues as well because they made their spacing very proprietary.
Personally, for that kind of money, I would go custom and hunt on ebay/CL for things like seatpost, pedals, bars, etc.
But I have a pair of phils laying around (just begging for nice rims and a hand build), and a lot of extra parts that can just go straight onto another bike.
I'm not your guy looking to get just get into the world of bikes and i'm not that guy looking for their first bike.
For what you get, I don't think that it's like x-treme hype omg, but I've never ridden one so it could be like the smoothest, sexiest, most amazing ride.
They probably ride much better than most completes out the box simply because of their attention to and appreication of the wheels.
But for a person that wants an already well built and nicely configured bike out the box, doesn't want to think about their bike too much, and they want something that they can ride for like the next 5-7 years without ever thinking about ugprading anything cept maybe the seat and tires and stuff a few months down the line, they seem like a good value.
Doesn't seem like the best bike in the world, but to me it seems like they definitely have a very solid place in that price range and would probably end up on any "curious about fixed gear, and want something that i'm going to ride daily" persons list of choices when they want to drop that kind of cash.
Then again, you can
#kilott and get like a very seriously nice custom wheelset and have a similar bike (arguably better because you have sick custom wheels now) for like $100 less.