so at the risk of exposing the proverbial elephant in the room. .. has IRO fallen out of grace? I can't find anything recent on these folks, reviews etc. but I'm really liking the build-a-bike phoenix.
I've been researching singlespeeds for a few months now and am very close to pulling the trigger on a phoenix for my first ss commuter bike. Most anything will be an upgrade from the Schwinn Frontier MB (circa 1999) I'm using now.
I've looked at lots of frames (surly,soma,pake) and complete "urban" bikes (Soho S, Schwinn Cutter/Racer, Ral. Rush Hour) etc and realized I'd be hard-pressed to build up a Surly CC or something similar for under a $1000 and the complete bikes are lacking in MANY regards.
Anyone know what kind of brakes do they use on these? The only specs I'm seein on the IRO sight are for the frame.

thanks for the input!

I still love my Iro, and may be buying my GF a Heidi soon. I've e-mailed them back and forth and had great quick responses.

i will be getting my jamie roy tomorrow!

New or used? I haven't been able to find one anywhere!

used. im getting it tomorrow though.

my bike





i dont like the fork.

Why not?

i dont like the curve. wheres the rest of the IRO

all IRO bike questions should go on this thread only.

there is an IRO angus in my future. far future probably.

Here is my Mark V I received and put together yesterday. Since then I put on Rolly Polys (gumwalls).

My IRO Jamie Roy!


and in it's winter boots:


Single best winter bike I have ever ridden, and I ride Maine winters. Still have all the stock parts except for the brake pads, tires and a chain. I LOVE THIS BIKE!!

so which IRO is that exactly? I love the downtube on that specific one...

It looks like the Mark V Pro.

Just ordered my Mark V about a month ago, it's sitting at my house waiting for my arrival. I got a 56 but i'm 5'11 with a 32in inseam, so I wonder how that will go. I order the 110 steam and I can always raise the seat if need be. What do you guys think?

I believe it's a Jamie Roy. The white was available for a little while. The Mark V tubing for the top/down tube is circular, the alu tubing for the Jamie Roys are not.

Received a week ago. Got the frame back from the powdercoater yesterday. A friend and I assembled her today. Tires are flat because the pump I got didn't have the presta adapter for some reason, which is why I'm not out riding. Have to exchange the pump tomorrow after work and deal with the agony of it sitting in my living room the rest of the night tonight.

Just built up today!

I think the reason you don't see much about them is because on the internet everyone is either hyping FGFS stuff or the Kilo TT. IRO was really popular in Boston several years ago. They're great frames still.

I beat the hell out of IRO and it keeps ticking. I've put about 5k miles on it in the past year and a half with no frameset issues. I'm actually even running a 35mm in the rear because I've been riding a lot in an area with ****ty ****ty roads. I think that I see a steamroller fork at some point in my future.

I'm considering getting an IRO Mark V as a single speed.

Is it a good SS for a newbie? I don't know much about the quality of the components...

The IRO completes are better than Bikesdirect. They're more on par with the kind of off the shelf SSFG bikes you'd get from a bike shop. What's nice about the IRO bikes is that you can choose things like rim color, handlebar type and stuff right when you order.

I've got 28's on now and I want to move up. Did you crimp your frame?

is this pretty much stock?? Man, i REALLY think these IROs are some of the best looking stock bikes out there. very classy.
i was contemplating getting one when the price was higher, but instead went with doing a custom build. if only i knew two months later the price was dropped to 400 for the stock build....oh well, enjoy your IRO!

ooo yah a steamroller fork would look quite nice on the IRO frames i think! i bought one for my build and loving it. bought it for the same reason, to run bigger front tires (the fork that came with my frame could only run 700x25 with good clearance) and now i have 32s up front, could definitely go bigger! plus i think the crown on them looks really nice.