How long is normal before you start doing heroics at 80?

[unseen]

Well I pretty much started right after hitting 80. The only thing I did first was finish up my storm peaks and icecrown quests which netted me something like 25,000 gold, which allowed me to buy ~4 crafted epics per character as well as nice gems etc so I could start out heroics with an uncrittable tank and decent spellpower level on my shamans.

I'm still working on getting epic flying, so the gold I'm getting from quests is going to be thrown into that first -- which will leave me broke again .

From what I've read, pretty much everyone suggests getting epic flying prior to gear-- or is that not the case?