Meet the ICE Family

Behind every great company, you will find some inspiring people who make it all a reality. Manufacturing recumbent tadpole tricycles is no easy task, and those who do so often start the journey of designing, creating, and selling trikes because they were cycling enthusiasts first, and from that love emerged their passion in the form of products you and I can buy. This page is devoted to one such family that you may wish to meet, so you can put names and faces behind the proven trikes that come from England’s Inspired Cycle Engineering. Let’s get up close and personal – these are the folks behind the scenes, and it’s time to meet them now:

Those who work here often refer to the staff as a family. It’s not just a business!

THE ICE FAMILY, ONE BY ONE:

Neil Selwood

Neil started his working life as an apprentice in aircraft and precision engineering leading to many years as a CNC production engineer. A bit of a mid-life crisis made him question the large company environment and he therefore moved his family to Cornwall – a place where we all enjoy living. A chance encounter with Peter Ross of Crystal Engineering led Neil to Chris, and together they hatched a plan to take over TRICE, and then together formed ICE. They both had a life-long connection to bikes and a passion for making things. Recumbent trikes were just the exciting thing that they could get their teeth into. The company has grown into something that they could never have imagined and the enthusiasm remains. When Neil is not at work, he is often out and about surfing at one of Cornwall’s many lovely beaches.

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Chris Parker

Chris has a background in design and manufacturing and is a founder member and director of ICE. In the early years of ICE he split his time between brazing frames together and assembling trikes; his evenings were spent designing. He now splits his time between running the company and heading up the research and development team. His head is driven by perfection and his heart by beauty of form and function and these are passions are cultivated in ICE employees and built into every trike ICE produces.

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Ben Dickinson

Ben has been with ICE almost since the start. Multi-talented and obsessed with perfection he splits his time between product development and marketing. If it is made by ICE, and looks good, Ben had a hand in it. A keen trike rider of many years, Ben has done many miles of product development and testing. Ben is the Current World HPV Multi- track champion riding his works-prepared ICE trike and was crowned British Multi-track (trikes) Champion in 2003 in the British Human Power Club (BHPC) series.

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John Olson

John is an ICE veteran of many years and spends more of his day than he would like keeping our Internet Technology alive and healthy, His boundless knowledge of everything is key to ICE’s success. John is a vastly experienced craftsman who was a key part of our manufacturing team until being handed the poisoned chalice that is IT, a role in which he excels. John, originally from Canada, designed and built his first of many recumbents back in 1980; experience like that cannot be bought.

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Hero Selwood

Hero keeps the whole company running smoothly by answering the phone, preparing sales orders for customers and sorting out paperwork for shipping the trikes all over the world. She also does any other little jobs that don’t require too much technical know-how as she claims to know little about trikes, which is not entirely true. What is true is that she can leap tall buildings with a single bound.

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Mikiko Kimura

Kim has been working for ICE for many years. Her speed and quality of working is legendary within ICE and she is the standard by which we are all judged. All the tricky jobs that none of us are confident about pulling off are given to Kim who always makes them look easy. Her ability to read Chinese is extremely valuable when a 40 foot container arrives from Taiwan.

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Darren Osborne

Darren worked in the local Tin mining industry before joining ICE. Working in a dry workshop lit with sunlight suits his health better, but he misses the danger. Darren is a key part of our in-house manufacturing team making many of the smaller accessories we sell. His need for danger is satisfied by his hobbies: fire juggling, and shooting antique firearms. He also runs a toy shop in his spare time.

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Phil Plumridge

Phil joined ICE in 2009 as the 5th full time member of the team. Phil does many things; Health and Safety paperwork (yawn), dealing with sales, overseeing the packing and dispatch, dealing with quality issues with our suppliers, working on the accounting system database, the odd bit of assembly and fabrication, fixing equipment and a dozen other issues as they come up.

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Dan Pearce

Dan joined the company in 2009 as a mechanic, keeping quiet about his degree in photography. His talents soon came to light and he now lives a double life split between building trikes and creating ICE promotional films and photographs. He can quite often be seen working off the effects of staring at a computer monitor for hours by leaping off and over things on his trials bike.

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Andy Tebbutt

Andy Joined the team in 2010, having worked in the cycle trade most of his life, He left the challenges of managing a cycle shop in Loughborough to head up the final assembly section of the ICE trikes production facility. Here attention to detail is essential as every trike must be as good as the next. In 2011 Andy built a staggering 600 trikes and aims to build even more in 2012.

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Nathan Jarvis

Nathan has spent his life manufacturing a fantastically wide range of products and this gives him a breadth of experience that fits perfectly in his roles at ICE. Quality control is Nathan’s main focus but when there is a prototype to be made, he is first in the queue. Nathan has his own trike and uses his motorcycle racing background to keep it tuned to perfection. When time allows, dancing Jive, Tango and Ballroom keep him fit.

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Patrick Selwood

Patrick has retired from the world of quantum physics to take on the bigger challenge of Technical Support here at ICE, so its more than likely that if you’re emailing ICE HQ for help/guidance it will be Patrick who replies. He is also the ubiquitous face and “twenty-something ectomorph” of the promotional videos and photos. Riding bikes, trikes and velomobiles is what makes him happy.

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Wayne Spencer

Wayne is, amongst many other things, a God fearing fully qualified car mechanic, every factory should have one! He has an appetite for work that leaves others trailing in his wake. His time is split between putting together sub-assemblies of trike parts and packing built trikes prior to shipping; the accuracy and care taken in packing helps to ensure happy customers.

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Tim Bodman

Tim joined ICE in 2010 to manage the money side of the business that nobody else cares very deeply about. Having spent many years in banking, he revels in the honesty of day-to-day business. Having an ex-bank manager on staff is a must when it comes to discussions with our own bank! Tim is new to the sporting world but this immersion is having a positive effect on him. It has been rumoured that Tim’s physique was the inspiration for the HD version of the Adventure.

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Lois Leonard

Lois joined the ICE team in the summer of 2011. A qualified engineer with a plethora of skills, manages the communication and marketing, which she says “is an easy job because ICE trikes are so fabulous!”. Lois enjoys cycling with her children, sea-swimming (year round, many of the men here are a little intimidated by this), and hobby robotics, well what else is there to do in the evenings?

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Elliot Hodges

Elliot joined ICE in June 2011. Fresh from studying Art, Design and Media at University, Elliot threw himself into learning how to program for the Web. He was hired to update and re-design areas of our web-site, and, being of an age where social media is normal, he has become the source from which the whole world learns what we are up to. Elliot also produces our technical manuals and other bits and bobs. Complaints about this website etc. should be directed to Elliot! thank you.

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Paul Edgerley

Paul, an engineering graduate and world traveler, joined ICE in 2011. He adds a little science to the Research and Development team and seems unconstrained by the laws of physics, a handy talent when designing the future. A keen cyclist with a rapidly growing fondness for the thrill of three wheels, he is learning fast and his influence is spreading across the rest of the team. Paul is also seen regularly on the ICE promotional photographs and video, often riding alongside Patrick.

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Ewen Bell

Ewen joined ICE in 2012 having completed 26 years in the Royal Navy as a fireman, aircraft engineer and finally as an instructor of avionics to young trainees. He now applies this experience to honing the quality assurance procedures and has seized the mantle of health and safety aka the boring stuff. In his spare time Ewen is also the chairmen of a charity that helps adults with learning difficulties develop in the community, he even manages to squeeze in teaching cycle safety in local schools.

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Matt Evans

Matt joined the production team at ICE in 2012. With 23 years service in the Royal Navy, most recently as a survival equipment engineer, Matt now applies the same high standards to the build quality of our trikes. In his spare time Matt enjoys mountain biking and competes in the local motocross championships.

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Felix Smith

Felix, a natural history student, joined ICE in August 2012. Having grown up around building conversions in rural Cornwall, Felix is practical and consistent when it comes to assembling trike components. His work is varied within the assembly area, from packing parts for retail to fitting tyres and rotating stock. Felix is an aspiring wildlife and sports photographer/film maker who is equally as happy waiting in a hide as on the steep sides of a downhill mountain bike trail.

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Euan Crowder

Euan, a design graduate, joined ICE in September 2012. Growing up, bikes and recumbents especially were an integral part of life as his father owns Future Cycles (a bike shop selling both recumbents and conventional bikes alike). Much of his degree work focused on bicycles and as a keen rider he takes pleasure in restoring classic cycles. Euan is here to join the design team, bringing his practical approach and exacting standards; striving for perfection in everything he does.

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Now, you’ve met the family. If you are an ICE trike rider, that should make it a little more personal. I have personally met several of these folks, and I can attest that they are indeed a friendly and helpful group of triangular enthusiasts who will stand behind their trikes to keep all you ICE trikers out there happily pedaling over hill and dale.

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Here are a few more photos of them at work: