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Go with the floe: Ice Cycles back on river trail

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/2025/01/24/go-with-the-...

AN ICE bike rental company hopes to slide to success after mild weather cancelled its 2024 season.

Ice Cycles has set up shop under the footbridge at The Forks and will be open for business starting today.

The company rents four different models of ice bikes — vehicles with the body of a bicycle or tricycle, minus the front wheel and mounted on a blade similar to the kind used in skates or on a short ski.

There are two models for individual riders, a tandem model and a “minivan” model that can accommodate up to two adults and three children.

Due to their stability and ease of use, ice bikes are an accessible winter activity for people of all ages, according to co-owner Sinan Leylek.

“This is a great way to open up Winnipeg’s famous river trail to people who say, ‘I don’t know how to (skate),’” he said.

Ice Cycles is Canada’s first ice bike company.

It’s a division of Spark Rentals Inc., an event equipment rental business Leylek started in 2015. The company provides audio-visual equipment, lighting, dance floors and staging equipment for weddings, socials, corporate events and film productions.

Leylek discovered ice bikes while travelling in northwestern China in 2014. He decided to bring them to North America in 2021, after Spark’s business suffered due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

Ice Cycles opened for business in January 2022.

Leylek was disappointed last year’s warm weather meant Ice Cycles couldn’t operate in Winnipeg. The company is also an international wholesaler, though, and Leylek sold a fleet of the bikes to the City of Edmonton.

He’s also sold ice bikes to customers in the Yukon, Ontario, Michigan and Vermont.

“(We want to) validate the markets in Winnipeg and show you how much fun it is, how successful it can be, and then find other municipalities or rental operators that want to bring it into their own cities,” Leylek said.

Ice Cycles kicked off its 2025 season Jan. 11 at the Assiniboine Park duck pond with free rentals as part of the park’s three-day We are Winter celebration.

More than 500 people rode the bikes that weekend, according to Lewis Keller, Ice Cycles manager.

“People were excited that it was back,” Keller said. “It just really proved that people love something to do (outside), even if it is the winter. We are ‘Winterpeg’ — the snow’s never stopping anyone from going out and having fun.”

The bikes were a welcome addition to We are Winter, said Laura Cabak, Assiniboine Park Conservancy communications director.

“For people who might not have skates, this was another fun activity we could offer,” she said.

Ice Cycles will be open this weekend: today and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. A Captain America impersonator will be on hand for two hours Sunday starting at 2:30 p.m. to take pictures with customers.

Walk-ups are welcome, but advanced reservations can be made online at sparkrentals.ca.

“I’m hopeful for (good) weather to kind of keep the trail open until mid-March,” Leylek said.

The Forks officially opened the Nestaweya River Trail on Dec. 31.

The trail is currently four kilometres long and will be extended to its full six km length as soon as today, according to Zach Peters, spokesperson for The Forks.

Weather conditions last year meant the trail did not open until late January, with only a small section of it open for nine days.

In 2023, approximately 220,000 people used the trail, which was open for 72 days — only three days shy of the longest season (2019).

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.camailto:aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca