Anybody have any idea what that trippy thing is? My best guess is some sort wild boar...but with a mane.

I remember when I bought the bike from Tony, I asked him how to pronounce IRO. He said, "however you like."

I asked him what it meant, and he told me it didn't mean anything in particular. It seemed kind of odd at the time, but I suppose "soma," "surly," "specialized," and "bob jackson" don't really mean anything either besides sounding cool.

So what about the golden lion-boar? Anybody have any clever ideas?

I thought IRO is tony's last name, hence Tony Iro. Maybe the boar thingy is his new family crest, I wish i had a cool family crest i can put on my stationary(if i had any) and everything else.

i dont know how to pronounce it either, nor do i know what it means......ive heard as I.R.O. (individual letters spelled out) ...but mostly "ear-o" a couple times "eye-row"
i guess it doesnt really matter, but it would be nice to know whats its originally pronunciation was...
i always assumed it was Tony's last name...or maybe an acronym...

when seen on one.....Instant Respect Offered...

i never got the impression that it was his last name. could be wrong though.

for what it's worth, although tony told me that as far as he was concerned the pronunciation was subjective, he usually pronounced it eye-row

Nope, Not his last name. However, Tony was mentioned by name in the April 1 Bicycle Retailer and Industry News bi-monthly newspaper as being in the forefront of Fixie/SS popularity in the realm of city life. They also said that more manufacturers will be offering in this venue for 06'. Jamis/Raleigh/Trek comes to mind, as well as offerings from possibly Felt and others as well. It appears that there will be track offerings...again as well as road geomerty.

I thought it was a Liger

So here we go.

The Headbadge is easy. It is adapted from my wife’s Scottish family Clan Badge. A Mythical Boars head is in the center. The family motto is “Follow me”.

The name IRO. (eye ro) or ( I. R. O.). I use both. It is not my family name but I have been called Tony IRO for a while now. IRO is the suffix of my radio call sign KB2IRO. Back in the days when the Mir space station and the shuttle were docked I spent as much time as I could speaking with the Cosmonauts and Astronauts. As they spoke to me on the radio they referred to me as IRO. My niece started calling me Uncle IRO, my friends heard her call me Uncle IRO and started calling me Mr. IRO and just ended up as Tony IRO. ….. So why not IRO Cycle.



Tony

cool story - nice history. I like hearing little snippets of life like these. Thanks for sharing Tony

Agreed, nice story

now i know...should've let us guess for a bit longer to see what else people can come up with. but thanks for sharing

it's sort of seems odd to me(or maybe not). But I see IRO bikes EVERYWHERE. yet strangely..i dont think ive EVER seen anyone riding one. There is one on my block that is ALWAYS chained up in front of someone's house. Yesterday I saw some girl walking her's thru central park. Another I just see chilling in someone's house looks like it's never used...do people/hipsters who buy these bikes just have em for show?

maybe cause in your neighborhood they are the only good bike that you can actually lock and leave without it getting stolen

i have never seen one in person, any philly people have one?

like i said...there is one on my block always locked up...in west philly. Ive never seen anyone in philly actually riding one tho.

Hipsters buy chrome pistas for show, they're way flashier. joking. they're both good $500 range bikes. i see lots of people riding IROs in manhattan.

no offense to tony, cuz the guy is swell, but the iro's are the not the prettiest bikes in the world. they look good, but that's about it. so i don't understand this "just for show" reasoning.

they are great utility bikes, though. they are inexpensive, ride great, and are super solid. i can lock it up in brooklyn, manhattan, etc. and not really sweat about it too much. i'm not spending a couple week's pay on a vintage italian track bike only to have the paint chipped off by my lock, and have it beat to hell riding on NYC streets. more power to those that do, but i couldn't, at least not right now.

i think tony will agree with me on this as well. when i met him when i went to pick up my bike, he's a real nice, down to earth guy. he's proud of his bikes, and rightfully so, he's making a product a lot of people are getting behind and enjoying. but he also expects people to ride the bikes. he rides his. everyday. in NYC. so, he knows that they'll get beat up, scratched, scraped, repainted, etc. the simpler he keeps it(black only for the mark v, etc.), the cheaper he can keep his bikes, and the more people that will ride them.

and for the record, i haven't been riding fixed for very long. my iro mark v pro is my first bike after the many bmx bikes i've had since being a kid. it's totally stock. i live in east williamsburg/bushwick. i guess i could be considered a hipster, poseur, whatever you want. i've dealt with that sort of stuff being an on-again-off-again skateboarder my whole life, and being an artist/art student has the hipster side of the argument covered pretty well. i doesn't bother me anymore and the whole argument has gotten to a point where it's a caricature of itself. whatever.

so, yeah, not dissing anyone, i just like riding a bike. iro was the right bike for the right price. tony is a nice dude. he's local. so i bought one.

sorry for the long post, but i'm kinda bored at work...

SERIOUSLY. the chrome pista thing is a little overdone...i personally dont particularily like the looks of them...but that's just me.

the hating on the chrome pista thing is a little overdone, if you ask me.
as is the hating on hipsters.
everyone need to get over this stuff and just ride their chosen bike and ignore what and why others ride.

I was wondering about the name & badge. Thanks for enlightening us Tony.

I'm enjoying my Mark V. I took it up to the north Georgia mountains during the Tour de Georgia. Climbed Unicoi Gap from the Helen side which is about a 1800 ft (Cat 1 climb maybe?). But, I didn't bring the gearing necessary to climb Brasstown. I had to use my Litespeed for that climb. I've been doing all my training on it since getting back to Florida & my son has taken my Bianchi Pista away from me! The IRO has been wonderful. It's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Tony!

Dave Frye

"the hating on the chrome pista thing is a little overdone, if you ask me"

i dont hate em. im sure they ride nice...they are just so silver they practically blind me in the sun.


"no offense to tony, cuz the guy is swell, but the iro's are the not the prettiest bikes in the world. they look good, but that's about it. so i don't understand this "just for show" reasoning"

my observations on the IRO thing wernt a personal attack on the guy...simply put ive never actually seen anyone ride them but EVERYONE is talking about them. ALL i hear about is how awesome they look and like you said they arent the prettiest bikes in the world(and i have to agree mostly). I'm just wondering what the catch is. Is it cause they are in the $500 range?
my ex partner who rode an older model pista pretty much switched out every stock part that came along with his bike.
i guess i just dont "get" what the hooplah is all about.

I've seen 2 different head badges, one gold metallic and the other a yellow sticker.
Did they change after a certain year or are they are specific to different models?

there are quite a few on the road here...only seen one jamie roy though.

one of my iro's has a gold headbadge, one has a sticker

i believe the sticker is older

they all have headbadge's now