Celebrating 25 Years with ICE Trikes

Inspired Cycle Engineering also known as ICE has been in the Trike game for a long time 25 years to be exact. This year they're celebrating their 25th anniversary and over the next few weeks we have some awesome content to celebrate them and all they've done for the trike community.

We've been working with ICE for a long time now almost as long as we've been in business. We first started our partnership with them 17 years ago. As we went back through all of our old records, we found that one of the first trikes that we have on record selling at our very first location in Spanish Fork, Utah, was one of ICE'S trikes. Through the years working with ICE we've loved seeing the different models and improvements they made. In today's article we thought that we would cover some of the history of ICE and how they've become the trike manufacture that we love today. Let's get into it!

ICE started making recumbent trikes in Falmouth, England all the way back in 1999. The history of ICE goes even further than that though, before ICE was the trike brand that we know and love today they were known as the brand TRICE that started in 1986.

When TRICE started in 1986 one of the first trikes they started with was the original trice that had 20 inch wheels all the way around. The 20 inch wheels would later be slightly changed and the front wheels would turn into 16 inches keeping the 20 inch in the back.

In 1990 TRICE made a big move and started to expand where they were selling their trikes. They decided to take a leap and start selling their trikes in the United States. This was a move that would add even more to their continuing growth. In the same year, due to their growing popularity, they made a couple tweaks to their original Trice design. They made the frame lighter and they changed back to 20 inch wheels in the front. They also added a 700c wheel in the rear of the trike.

In the year 1996 for their 10 year anniversary TRICE decided to make some more changes to their Trice trike. These changes allowed the trice to be even more reliable than before. In 1997 they changed their tires from the English's 20 inch and the continental 700c for the American 20 inch (406) and 26 inch (559). This would allow the tires to be more consistent with what was commercially available and to be sturdier.

By the end of 1998 Chris Parker, one of TRICE's original directors, teamed up with Neil Selwood and then Inspired Cycle Engineering also known as ICE was born. ICE would then take over TRICE’s production and it was just a matter of time before they started rolling out new models. The two new models that they would release were the XL and the Explorer.

Chris and Neil worked together through the early 2000’s to make ICE the best that it could be. They were always working to improve their trikes and better their company. Changes were made on almost a monthly basis as they worked to build ICE into the brand that we know and love today.

Through the early 2000's they released a variety of different trikes including the ICE Q, ICE T, and the Trice Micro.

The changes weren't done yet. ICE made major changes to their brand in 2010. They renamed their trike that was known as the sporty “Q” to the Sprint. The “T” would also receive a name change and would become the Adventure. After some modifications and major upgrades these trikes would be the start of ICE’s flat twist fold. The folding technology is seen on many of their trikes that they have available today. Due to the folding technology you can fold your trike down in between 15 - 30 seconds and then you’re ready to get back out riding. These trikes were absolute game changers in the trike world. This was also the year that ICE would do a redesign of their logo and their website. Making their logo the awesome one that all know and love today. This would also be the year that ICE would release the Vortex. The Vortex would be a racing machine that also featured ICE's flat twist fold technology.

In 2012 the sprint x was released. The Sprint X was another member of the Sprint family it is known as “the practical cousin to the Vortex/ VTX” on ICE’s website. It’s one of the fastest trikes that can also fold that is available on the market. It took the best of the vortex and the sprint and made an awesome trike that still holds up today.

In 2013 the Vortex would be redesigned and given some adjustments that would make into a brand new trike. Due to how much it changed ICE decided to give the Vortex a brand new name, the VTX. The VTX is still available today and it would go on to become a winner of the Multi-Track class World HPV Championships 2018.

That wouldn't be all for ICE in 2013. ICE would go on to make a custom trike called the Polar Cycle for Maria Leijerstam on her record breaking ride to the South Pole from the antarctic. From this the ICE Full Fat frame was made. This trike shows that what was thought to be impossible is possible through hard work and dedication. We love the Full Fat here at Utah Trikes we recently made a video showing how awesome it does in Utah snow!

Moving forward, in the year 2022 ICE became an employee owned company. They set up an employee ownership trust to oversee the business. With this they can keep their existing talented workers working hands on with trikes and allow for innovation at every turn. This would also make it so that ICE can continue to make awesome trikes for years to come

Over the last 25 years ICE has grown to be exponentially popular. ICE trikes are all over the world and are in 32 different countries. There are people from all different places and walks of life who know and love the ICE brand.

In honor of their 25th anniversary ICE has released a limited edition special color scheme of some of their trikes. This color scheme has lovingly been nicknamed the "ICE Cream" color scheme. We won't go too into detail here but, we will have a video all about a very special build we're doing of an ICE Adventure HD in this color scheme. Along with our video we will have an article all about them and how you can get your hands on one coming soon.

We are proud to be in a partnership with ICE and that we’ve been able to see first hand their growth and innovation over the last few years. We here at Utah Trikes wish them a very happy 25th anniversary and we can’t wait to see where they are 25 years from now.

We hope you all enjoyed this article and that you were able to learn something new about ICE and what goes into making one of their trikes. If you liked this video let us know in the comments down below what you think about their 25th anniversary trike and be sure to wish ICE a happy anniversary! If you That’s all we have for you today. We'll see you next time but in the meantime remember to relax, spin fast, and ride trikes.

Sources:

Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine
ICE
Maria Leijerstam