Ice bikes arrive in Winnipeg

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This article was published 21/01/2022 (1533 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Icy surfaces and bicycles are typically a recipe for a bad time — until now.

Winnipeg’s Spark Rentals is behind Ice Cycles, Canada’s first ice bike company. The colourful, stable frames are designed for cruising across frozen rivers, lakes, or ponds. Outdoor enthusiasts had the chance to test drive the bikes on the Assiniboine River trail below Bourkevale Community Centre on Jan. 8.   

“You don’t need to know how to ride them,” Sinan Leyek, co-founder of Spark Rentals, said during the launch event. “They’re very intuitive. It’s not like ice skates or skiing … Ice bikes, you can just sit down and pedal away.”

The bikes come in three models: The classic bike has a skate at the front and a tire at the rear, as well as a long seat that can support two riders; the fat tire bike has two skis at the front and one thick tire at the rear; and the tandem bike, which accommodates two riders on its side-by-side two-bike frame, is supported at the front by a set of skis.

Leyek said the Ice Cycles are ideal for tourists or newcomers unfamiliar with Canadian winters. Leyek came up with the idea for the Ice Cycles while travelling in northern China. There, he spotted a similar type of bike.

“I love Winnipeg, I love the winter, but why don’t we have this? This is something we should bring here,” he said.

Fast-forward six years, Leyek decided the pandemic was the right time to put his idea in motion.

The Ice Cycles are available for rent at the Bourkevale Community Centre’s Assiniboine River trail on the weekends for the rest of the winter. The rental company partnered with volunteers who maintain this 3-kilometre stretch of  ice with a snowblower and sweeper.

It costs $20 per hour to rent the classic bike and fat tire bike, and $40 per hour for the tandem bike, when reservations are made online 24 hours in advance. For walk-ups, the price goes up $5 per rental.

Spark Rentals hosted a pop-up rental on The Forks river trail by Bonnycastle Park and has plans to offer the rentals on a flexible basis in the upcoming months.

“Essentially, we’re mobile,” Nick Meyer, Ice Cycles co-founder, said. “We’re going to be all over the city this winter — wherever we can be.”

Meyer said his company hopes to offer the Ice Cycles, which he described as “accessible” and “very, very safe,” to area schools and residences for older adults.

Ice Cycles come at a time when more and more people are taking to the outdoors, especially the rivers, for entertainment and exercise. Steven Maxted, the owner of Type Eh Bikes Inc., decided to share his love of outdoor adventure with a broader audience when the pandemic began — just as Leyek and Meyer did with Ice Cycles.

Founded in 2020, Type Eh Bikes Inc. rents kick-sleds, snowshoes, fat bikes in the winter, and a suite of outdoor equipment in the warmer months. Maxted’s kick-sleds are popular in Nordic countries, where folks use them for transport and recreation.

“The whole idea is to break down the barriers to get outside and be active,” Maxted said at the launch event.  

Up-to-date information on how to rent the Ice Cycles is available on the Spark Rentals website. To learn more about Type Eh Bikes Inc., visit, www.typeehbikes.com