NYCBikes. Good folks, good bike, good price, 'nuff said.

 

Get the IRO without the carbon fork.

 

I would go for the IRO

But I would look at the Mark V pro. They have a new straight steel fork that looks great. The difference in weight between the Jamie Roy and Mark V is negliable. You may also want to look at the Rob Roy, which is also a good city fixie frame.

Tony from IRO is a real stand up guy and has done everything he can to make his customers happy. NYCBikes on the other hand have a spotty reputation (at least according to the folks over at bikeforums.net).

 

I think the frames come from the same factory (maxway) in Tiawan. Outside of that I've never heard anything bad about NYCBikes but look forward to doing more buisness with IRO. Its hard to find somone who's as commited to quality product as Tony is.

 

I think you should get the IRO Rob Roy cx bike and throw a fixed cog on the flop side of the hub.
In my mind, the steel frame and front and rear canti brakes beats out the others.

 

IRO baby

I would go over to bikeforums.net and do a search on nycbikes. To paraphrase what another poster said once: "They get bashed around like a pinata"
Many have had negative experiences with them, and it sounds like their customer service is lackluster.
On the otherhand, people have also had positive things to say.
There's a few companies/vendors out there that no one has anything bad to say about. IRO/tony is one of those few companies.
I too would go with the IRO and make a few upgrades.
My understanding is that the NYCbikes one is a pre-order special. The price'll go up thereafter. So make a decision quick, otherwise you might have one made for you.

 

these two share <b>exactly the same</b> frame--NYCB used to declare that on the website. you decision depends on the components hung on them.

edit: nevermind guess the reason they stopped saying it's the same is that their design changed.