Lewiston Idaho: Frozen MOTO

The Lewiston snow-bike company continues to make strides in Idaho’s rec-tech industry

Frozen MOTO, a start-up company from Lewiston, is quickly gaining international attention and recognition for its groundbreaking snow bikes.  Earlier this year, the company entertained a group of Russian buyers, demonstrated the snow bikes and showed how well the snow bikes performed on various terrains. 

The Frozen MOTO Industries first generation snow bike was created in 2010 by Randy Gentry.  Over the next year Dan Shanahan became involved with Frozen MOTO and together, Gentry and Shanahan produced the next generation system, model year 2012, that incorporated elements of the first system with additional refinement – resulting in the SMX and SMR systems.  Shanahan took over the business from Gentry in the summer of 2012 and moved the company to Lewiston while continuing to work on improving both the technology and process for producing the newest system on the market for 2013. 

“I think that snow biking has a potential to be one of those things that explodes on the international scene prior to exploding in the U.S.,” Shanahan said. 

That’s why showcasing the snow bikes in ideal conditions to the Russian buyers was so important; Shanahan wanted to demonstrate that the equipment and technology had wide-reaching recreational advantages. The Frozen MOTO team guided their visitors up through the state from Boise to Lewiston and took the opportunity to test the snow bikes in different locations.  Now the buyers have returned to Russia and are in the process of negotiating orders and distribution contracts with the Frozen MOTO team, as well as working on dealer development in Russia. Being located in Lewiston has significant advantages, as the city has Idaho’s only seaport, giving the company unique benefits when it comes to shipping and production needs.  Frozen MOTO also has developed excellent relationships with top companies within sister industries  in the area – such as snowmobiling and motocross – since the Frozen MOTO snow bikes are essentially a hybrid of the two.  These relationships provide insight that allows the team to address components from different perspectives while creating and refining the best product possible. 

Frozen MOTO was chosen to be a State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) Grant recipient, a grant program distributed by Idaho Commerce.  The company is planning to use the grant funds to travel to Russia in November for three weeks to continue developing dealers and driving export sales.  Shanahan believes Frozen MOTO’s marketing efforts are better suited driving sales internationally, even though it may cost a little more to begin with.  Additionally, Shanahan has some new leads in Japan and will be hosting a Japanese group in mid-June. 

To learn more about Frozen MOTO or to order a custom snow bike, visit www.frozenmoto.com