Unior IRONGATOR Bench Vise 125mm

A bench vise is the second tool in a working bike shop after the stand. Cutting a steerer needs a vise. Trimming a seatpost needs a vise. Pressing a shock bushing needs a vise. Holding a stem rigid for a clamp-face scribe needs a vise. The Irongator 125mm is the smaller of our two Irongator vises, sized for road and gravel work, smaller benches, and shops that don't service downhill-class hardware on a regular basis.

The 125mm jaw width handles every standard bike-shop fastener and most workpiece sizes a road or gravel shop sees. The cast-iron body gives the mass that keeps the vise from walking across the bench under load. (A vise that walks is a vise that chatters the workpiece; chatter on a precision cut is the difference between square and ragged.) The base is wide enough to mount solidly on a standard 2-inch bench top with four bolts.

The Irongator quick-release system

The defining feature is the lead-screw quick-release. A lever on the side of the vise disengages the lead screw from the moving jaw, letting you open or close the vise as far as you need without spinning the screw all the way through. Re-engage the lever and the lead screw grips again, ready to apply clamping force. The total time savings across a working day in a shop is measurable; minutes per clamp-operation, dozens of operations per day.

Replaceable jaws

The hardened steel jaws grip steel parts directly. For aluminum, titanium, or finished components that need protection, the jaws are removable; install our Aluminum Jaws 722.1AL (sold separately) to grip soft materials without marking them. The change-out takes seconds. Most working shops keep both sets ready: hardened for steel, aluminum for finished work.

A set of pipe jaws is tucked under the flat jaws for round-stock work. The pipe jaws engage cylindrical workpieces (a seatpost, a tube, a fork crown) at four points rather than two, which holds the workpiece more rigidly without crushing it.

The integrated anvil

The body of the vise has a cast-iron anvil section. When something needs to be pounded into submission; a stuck bearing race, a flared end, anything that resists being persuaded; the anvil is the working surface. Saves the cost of buying a separate anvil for a shop that doesn't do enough hammer work to justify one.

Specs

• 125 mm jaw width
• Cast-iron construction
• Irongator quick-release lead screw
• Hardened steel jaws (replaceable; compatible with 722.1AL aluminum jaws)
• Pipe jaws tucked under flat jaws
• Integrated anvil
• Article number: 721Q.6-US

For shops servicing heavier work (DH stanchions, e-bike motor mounts), see the 150 mm Irongator.

Built in Zreče, Slovenia

Unior has been forging hand tools in Zreče since 1919, and is the official technical partner of multiple World Tour and downhill teams. The Irongator vise line is Unior's premium bench vise; same cast-iron-and-hardened-steel construction Unior has been making since the early decades of the company, scaled for the working bicycle shop. The quick-release lead screw is Unior's own engineering, not a re-badged industrial design.

Pro tip from our mechanics

The single best test of a bench vise on first install: clamp a 1-inch piece of steel rod, then strike it with a 2-pound hammer. A well-mounted, well-built vise doesn't move. A poorly mounted (or poorly built) one walks. The Irongator passes this test on first install because the body mass and base footprint are sized for it. Our workshop hand tools guide covers vise selection and the rest of the workshop hand-tool layer: Workshop hand tools every bike shop needs →