In 2010, I sold my custom Trice XXL trike in order to buy a new Vortex. I was hoping that the Vortex would be similar to the unobtainable Trice Monster. As it turned out, I was disappointed in the Vortex. It was so wide and tall, plus the seat recline was just not enough to satisfy me. The trike just felt big and slow to me. What I really wanted was a Monster. That was a long, low, narrow custom Trice. It had small (355) front wheels and a 559 rear wheel.
I contacted ICE to see what my chances were of having them build me a Monster. They are just too busy with their current production trikes, so the answer was a firm no. I managed to find 2 Monster owners – neither of whom wanted to sell their Monsters. So I came up with my own pseudo Monster by picking and choosing ICE parts from past and present.
Looking at the old ICE website, I saw the ICE S from 2005 and 2006 (I used to own a 2005 ICE S). It was a couple of inches narrower than today’s ICE trikes. It also had a 4″ longer wheelbase than the Q to accommodate its hard shell seat. I found a 2006 ICE S for sale and used it as my donor trike. I bought a Vortex rear end meant for a 700 rear wheel, boom and handle bars. In order to lower the trike, I installed smaller wheels front and back (349 front, 559 rear). In order to lay the seat back further, I re-positioned the rear seat mount further up the back of the seat. In order to accommodate this mount position, I had to pull the rear frame member out quite far. It turns out that the old S main frame is longer than the Vortex main frame as I was able to pull the rear out much further on the S than I was on the Vortex. I was not a fan of the Ventisit pad on the Vortex as it seemed too hard for my comfort level. I was able to buy a very nice covered pad from the guys in the UK who supply the seats to ICE.
Overall, I’m very pleased with this Trice. This is my favorite Trice of the 4 that I’ve owned. It’s low, laid back and narrow. It’s as close to a Monster as I’m going to get until I can get ICE to make one again or until I can find a current owner who will part with his.
Update… I did find a real Monster and have since sold the Pseudo Monster to a buddy in the VCRR group.
Laid Back Log 
I’ve sold the Pseudo Monster today to the owner of the original ICE S donor trike, Stephen. When he heard that I had a Monster coming, he asked if his old trike were for sale. I really like this trike so I was hesitant to sell it until I was sure that the Monster lived up to its potential. Well, I wasn’t disappointed in the Monster so I decided to sell it. I’m glad that it went back to its original owner.
It’s been almost two years since I bought the Pseudo Monster back from Michael. Other than re-naming it the Munster, I haven’t changed a thing, and still think it’s the best thing on three wheels.
Great job, Michael!!
Stephen
Hello Michael & I have an Ice Q26 and am contemplating switching the front Xrims to the Velocity A23 406mm rims, in order to try my Big Apples in tubeless mode. My worry is that the spoke lengths might be a problem and while I see you haven’t opted for a 406 mm rim, am wondering if you had any problems with spoke length (I have the same front brake hubs/spindles) when changing to Velocity rims and if so, how do you solve the problem?
thanks,
John
I don’t believe that Velocity makes the A23 in the 406 size any more. At least I can’t find them anywhere. When you lace your hubs to a different model of rim, the spoke length calculation has to be done for that combination of hub and rim. That means that you usually end up with different length spokes. I do my calculations and buy my spokes cut to length. Find a bike shop that has a spoke cutting tool that can build your wheels for you.
Velocity advertises an A23 in a 406 size on their web site; I assumed they’re available. I think finding a bike shop with the cutting tool might be the best idea, yet; thank you!
Hello Michael and I stand corrected: while the A23 is available in a 406 mm size, it appears not so with 36 spoke holes.
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