Dave Wolf of East Amherst, N.Y., tries out an ice bike at the Ice at Canalside in Buffalo, N.Y. Wolf rides a three-wheel bike for exercise in warm weather and also likes the ice bike.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — If it were possible for anything to be hot in Buffalo this winter, it was the newfangled “ice bikes” that debuted at an outdoor skating rink.

The bicycles on ice skates were an immediate hit when they glided onto the Ice at Canalside the day the new rink opened on the city’s waterfront.

Since that December day, the bundled riders who have ignored breath-taking cold to rent them have convinced inventor Lisa Florczak that she’s onto something. That, and the inquiries from several other cold-weather cities in Wyoming, Michigan, Minnesota and Canada interested in rolling them out next year.

“I had no idea if this would work or how people would respond,” Florczak said on a recent afternoon as some Parkinson’s patients tested the bikes for their exercise potential. “I thought I might end up being the laughingstock of the city.”

Instead, she is relishing being part of Buffalo’s efforts to revitalize its waterfront and draw people year-round, even when the Lake Erie breeze is something more endured than enjoyed. The bikes give even nonskaters a chance to try out the ice, along with the hot cocoa and beer sold at nearby kiosks.

Florczak’s family business, Water Bikes of Buffalo, was renting pontoon bikes that let riders pedal the Buffalo River in warmer months when economic development officials put out a call for ideas for the 33,000-square-foot ice rink being built nearby on a recreation of the Erie Canal.

“They said the ice is going to be pretty large, and they thought they might need something more than just skating,” Florczak said.

Curling, hockey and broomball leagues emerged.

“I thought: ‘What a perfect opportunity to go from water biking to ice biking,”’ Florczak said.

Riders pay $10 for a half-hour turn.