I felt the same way. IROs and most other cheap frames have hideous looking slack geometry.
I think thats why the Kilo TT got so popular...at least it has nice looking geometry. No idea how it rides though.

Kilo TT's / KHS's ride nice. Not quite as nice a handbuilt keirin bike, but they're good enough for most.

Probably because most folks spend more time riding their bike than looking at it.

Am I the only one that has noticed all those frames have regular ass horizontal dropouts, even a bunch of them that were on Ebay

well, i guess atleast with bike geometry you actually feel the difference. dutret will likely tell me this is not the case, though.

:)

To call the lug work well-done is to admit not knowing a whole lot about nice lugs.

I wouldn't sweat it. It's obvious that this is just more spam from those Spatron clowns.

:)

If by hostile and self righteous, you mean overly perceptive and critical, then yes, we have reached an agreement :D

I mean I've ridden the Sparton myself. It's an "okay" bike, insofar as for someone who absolutely must have lugs, track ends and a low price tag while sacrificing other merits. Hearing about / seeing the forks fail, seeing the lug work / overall craftsmanship up close in person (looks a little rushed and sloppy to me), and observing how these guys are conducting business (which is to say, confusing the hell out of a lot of their potential customers), I'm not exactly into what they're doing.

that looks pretty terrible.

The "Sparton" stamping is a bit on the brutal side. Look how deep the S is... Thankfully, there's not much stress on that bit I guess but it's not very confidence-inspiring.