Icicle Tricycles is turning 25 years old in July, and with such a milestone fast approaching we wanted to take a look back through our history and showcase some of the work and milestones we are most proud of.
Over the last 25 years we have focused on creating a fun, safe and unique method of engagement in public spaces. We are proud to see our trikes actively benefitting small businesses like Octavia’s Bookshelf, marketing and branding engagements like Dorito Lays at Superbowl LIX and globally active companies like Google and Twix. From selling ice cream and beverages, to marketing activations at major festivals and helping entrepreneurs start small businesses we here at Icicle Tricycles push the boundaries every day in providing unique solutions to our customers’ ever evolving needs in whatever industry they may be in.
One of our most unique products, The Book bike, has a soft spot in our hearts due to its natural ability to extend libraries’ reach into under-served communities. Allowing true mobility and access to literature, arts, classes, and many other such programs the Book Bike serves as one of our most requested models.
The newest addition to our trike family is another favorite of ours. The City Cleanup Bike. With a focus on safety and efficiency, the cleanup bike stands out in its ability to enhance street cleaning teams performance through its mobility, cargo capacity and an optional sprayer package. Having been thoroughly tested in our hometown of Portland Oregon by local city cleanup aficionados Central City Concern (CCC) and Ground Score, this trike sibling is already making a huge impact in the cities it has been deployed in.
“Partnering with Icicle Tricycle on making our mobile cleaning fleet safe and efficient has been amazing! Our mobile cleaners need to be able to respond to cleaning requests from business owners for general trash clean-ups, cleaning biohazards and graffiti removal. They listened to our needs and provided a safe well-built trike that can cut down our response times while being able to haul 5-7 gallons of water for our sprayers, our equipment safely. Thank you Icicle Tricycle for being essential in our mission to clean up Portland!”
-Kris Jeffries
Operations Manager for Central City Concern’s Clean Start Program“Icicle Tricycles has allowed us to meet and exceed our twin goals of environmental stewardship and employment justice. Through our trikes, we supply work to people that would ordinarily be shut out of the transportation side of the waste hauling industry and doing trash collection via Trike has saved thousands of tons in carbon while leaving our city cleaner and quieter. At every turn, Icicle Tricycles have supported us as we grew and their sturdy, well-built trikes have amassed thousands and thousands of miles in travel and are still going strong all these years later.”
– Nic Boehm
Co-Executive Director Groundscore
No matter what trike model goes out the door though, we are dedicated to providing unique and customized cargo tricycles to all who want one and creating a low barrier of entry to activations, small business growth, and employment.
Growing Our Shop to Increase Capacity and Outreach
July 1st is Icicle Tricycles 25th birthday, and through all those years we have always committed to measured growth and the fulfillment of our core values. If there’s one thing we stand by, other than the absolute excellence of our product, it’s that we do what we say we will do.
Over the course of our 25 illustrious years creating unique trike solutions, we’ve found ourselves working out of 5 different shops, each one with a unique buildout and history that we strive to honor through community engagement and building management. Our newest shop, and the largest one we’ve inhabited to date, allows us to prebuild all through the winter to keep turnaround times low and our customers happy during the busy season. With dedicated office space, storage and support for non-profits, a large climate-controlled print shop to keep customization and QC in-house and an ample mech area, our current home has opened up our ability to grow and better support our customers’ needs.
“Since the very beginning we have had Icicle Tricycles by our side. In 2012, we began storing our library bike at the Icicle Tricycles shop. We’ve been there ever since. Providing us with a base for our operations has been essential to what we do. Icicle’s generosity allows us to store our bikes and supplies right in the heart of Old Town, making it much easier for us to serve the highest-need communities. It would not be an overstatement to say that Street Books depends on the space provided by Icicle to function effectively downtown.
Street Books is only possible because of the support and love given to us by our community. Icicle Tricycles has been an exceptional part of this and we know we could not have done it without them.”
-Diana Rempe
Community Outreach Director/Street Librarian
Purpose Driven Innovation
Here at Icicle Tricycles we have invested deeply into our core product and have focused both our time and our energy into producing new models that support our mission, goals and our customers’ ever evolving needs.
One of our newest models, introduced in 2024, is the City Cleanup trikes. A fresh, eco-friendly way to maintain cleanliness throughout city streets. Having been thoroughly tested by local city cleanup organizations here in Portland, Oregon to ensure they hit quality, usability, and durability standards, these models are ready to ship out across the U.S. and Canada.
What The Future Holds: More Pedaling and Beyond!
Human-scaled solutions to complex problems have always been the focus of Icicle Tricycles, and we plan to further expand our offerings in order to scale up and evolve with the needs of our customers. Very soon we plan on establishing ourselves as an ongoing retailer for custom electric vehicles, offering our customers a brand new method of mobile vending, marketing and advertising activations, and consumer engagement.