What would you do, spend $280 on a Windsor Hour and spend $300 or so and upgrade various parts, or spend $600 on an Iro? Pros and cons for either?

Assuming you are otherwise indifferent between the two, it depends how much upgrading you want to do. If you plan on replacing everything right away anyway, the Kilo is obviously a lot less expensive. On the other hand, the IRO includes parts like a wheelset that is very nice for the money. If you're planning on ordering new wheels right away, those are obviously no help to you, but if you plan on riding them for a while, they're a nice upgrade.

Make sense?

I vote IRO, much nicer frame (with higher quality steel and welds) and you dont need to worry about upgrading so many parts. The IRO wheelset is real nice.

Do people really buy brand new bikes and immediately spend more money on upgrades than what the bike originally cost? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of getting a cheap bike?

Let me rephrase my question. If you want to spend $600 total, does it make more sense to buy a cheap bike and upgrade to the parts you want, or just spend the $600 on a nicer bike like an Iro, or Eighth Inch?

Ah, but if you're going to overhaul the whole bike, then you might as well build from scratch, me thinks.

Otherwise, I would definitely go with the IRO over the Hour, especially if you have the budget for it.

Go for the IRO; you're comparing two totally different levels of quality here....

Like, really.

Get the IRO. The name-brand steel, decent wheels, and custom configuration options (gear ratio, stem length, crank length, etc.) are easily worth the cost differential. There is absolutely no need to upgrade the IRO and you'll end up with a better bike than if you spent the equivalent amount of $ on upgrading an Hour.

Good luck!

Haterss):

to mihlbach: thanks, thats exactly the info I was looking for.