Originally Posted by
chris wielk
i'll generally agree with this. but, i bought an iro complete and have basically switched out all the parts at this point, i did spend a good bit of money, but theres no way i would have been able to make a purchase that large all at once. now im looking at new frames. i'm planning on getting one sometime during fall, and then build the iro back to stock, throw a brake and some fenders on and have a foul weather bike. if you do plan on just building up one bike and keeping it for awhile, maybe get one of those bike island frames, then go to you LBS and get parts. or at least buy a kilo or windsor or cheaper complete bike and add to that.
It is easier to learn from riding and thereby finding out about what kind of bike you should get. I suspect that that is what most of us did (I am still doing this with the Steamroller I bought a year ago), who did not already have experience with track bikes before. It costs more money to learn this way. But it may be necessary, given that you may not have access to a really kick-ass bike shop where they can help you out.