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Eddie Trotta is a bit mysterious. Looking like a lost member of the Ramones, he is trailed by a past that can best be described as intriguing. Yet we don't want to dwell on his life here but rather on his bikes, the Thunder Cycle Design brand he established in 1991 in Fort Lauderdale.

You have undoubtedly seen Trotta's custom choppers on the Discovery Channel's Biker Build-Off series or maybe caught them in person on the Hard Rock Custom Bikes Tour. His designs are so distinctive that the National Geographic Channel is planning to explore them. When a photographer puts a bikini-clad woman in the saddle of one of these bikes, a funny thing occurs: Your eyes go to the bike first and then to the woman. Then, your sight gets blurry and you can't tell the difference between the woman and the bike. "I always design my bikes with a waistline as it is," Trotta says. "And then the fat tire in the back becomes the big butt."

"I don't have a girlfriend, so this bike is my girlfriend," says Steven Levy of Hollywood, the recent winner of a bike built by Trotta. (See sidebar below.)

See what we're up against here? We have to put Trotta's pre-1991 history to rest so we can get to the bikes and the butts and the artistic way it all comes together. So let's line his past up and knock it down quickly -- one, two, three -- the way Trotta matter-of-factly does.

1.) Growing up in Connecticut, Trotta lived next door to a Yale music professor. So he started taking piano lessons from him, attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston and became an accomplished pianist. "And then, rock 'n' roll happened," Trotta recalls. "Stones and shit."

2.) During his first spring break in college, Trotta headed to Fort Lauderdale to visit his aunt. At the time, she was married to a horse trainer, who began taking young Trotta to the track. "I started making a ton of money. If you ever imagined one lucky guy in horses, I was that guy," Trotta says. Between his winnings and eventual investments in the horses, he began living like a dysfunctional king.

3.) Trotta used to be afraid of boats. But after he got sick of his friends ranking on him about it, he became a powerboat racer. "I was a 28-year-old with money," he remembers. "I thought [racing] would make a man out of me."

It did. On the boats, Trotta was the throttle man on a team that won the coveted Bacardi Cup. Then, in the late '80s, Trotta did a couple of years in the big house for conspiracy to evade income tax. When people are all wrapped up in the frenzy of boat racing and betting on the ponies, stuff like taxes kind of gets away from them.

Anyway, we could spend days on Trotta's past, but we have to fast-forward now so this story will leave plenty of room for photos of his bikes, the women who sit on them and the details of how Trotta's evolution will forever be intertwined with the chopperizing of America.

You know those glossy coffee-table books that weigh, like, two tons? Well, one titled Choppers: Heavy Metal Art lists Trotta in its legends section, along with such motorcycle-world stars as Indian Larry Desmedt.

"Back before 1995, before all this Discovery Channel stuff, people thought I was in a chopper rut," Trotta says. "It was like, 'What the fuck are you building?' "

High-octane Japanese bikes were in. Choppers were out.

Despite everything Trotta has taken on over the years -- playing classical piano, checking the bloodlines of horses in France, hydroplaning over the Atlantic Ocean at 440 mph -- his life has always been rooted in choppers. He built his first shovelhead engine at age 16 while working part-time at East Coast Choppers in New Haven, Conn. "When it comes right down to it, it's all I really know," he points out.

Today, the legend is shuffling among the cardboard displays in the showroom of Thunder Cycle Design's new $2 million, 30,000-square-foot location at 550 W. Sunrise Blvd., in Fort Lauderdale. With a half-dozen bikes always sunbathing out front, the dealership is impossible to miss.

"I know the name is big enough that we could just operate out of a warehouse off the beaten path," Trotta says. "But this fits me better."

"The place has become like a tourist attraction," says Nick Ayala, the head of the parts department. "People from Canada, South America, Europe, they just want to say they've been here."

A visitor could get lost in the showroom, which features, among other things, a beige-felt pool table, a Mike and Ike candy machine and a blue-haired girl named Jessica Jackson working behind the counter. "I was walking by one day, and they needed a gothic girl for one of their videos for a TV show," Jackson says of how she came to work for Trotta. "I ended up in a coffin with Eddie." All the showroom's flourishes and distractions, however, are secondary to the bikes, which live up to the description of "heavy-metal art."

Trotta exhibits all the traits of an artist. He often wakes up in the middle of the night to sketch out a new form. He stares into the deep metal flake of a gas tank as if it were an abyss. His creative confidence can easily be mistaken for conceit. Trotta has built hundreds of bikes. His name has been plastered all over TV and in bike magazines, and he has made the kind of money that goes with such popularity. But he never forgets the fact that his name is on every piece of machinery that rolls out of his shop. Nearly everything that goes into designing and building the bikes is done on-site, including making all the parts. Chroming is the only thing that is farmed out.

While recently making the rounds in the work area directly behind the showroom, Trotta noticed employees placing a set of vision-forged pipes onto a bike for which they weren't intended. A customer had cajoled the workers into putting them on, but they had neglected to OK the request with Trotta. He proceeded to throw what can only be described as a hard-edged hissy fit with the assemblers. "It won't happen again," a top member of his crew kept repeating. But Trotta just glared down at him as if no apology or assurance would ever be good enough.

"The buyer is lucky if he gets to pick out the color," Trotta says. "You have to tell him, 'You want a bike designed by me or you?' "

Howie Jakobi, a member of Thunder Cycle's sales force for seven years, says it used to be so much easier selling Trotta's bikes to the public. "Now, with the TV shows, the customers all have their own ideas. We used to just build it and put in on the floor."

Even so, the sales staff's motto is: You don't come to Eddie Trotta unless you want an Eddie Trotta bike. End of story.

"But there's nothing wrong with being into the build. That's what a lot of the customers get off on," Trotta adds. "They want to get you on the phone and talk about production. It's a bug."

It can also be an addiction. Many of Trotta's regular customers become collectors. Thunder Cycle is also the exclusive distributor of bikes mass-produced by Big Dog Motorcycles of Wichita, Kan., a company that has borrowed more than a few tricks from Trotta's art book. In the Thunder Cycle showroom, the generic Big Dog bikes share space with the astounding, one-of-a-kind Trottas that range in price from $50,000 to $90,000 and beyond.

Of course, in that price range, his customers have to be loaded with mad money. When he was still playing for the Florida Marlins, New York Mets slugger Bobby Bonilla bought a bike from Trotta and later returned with the entire team to make purchases. "We're currently working on a bike for [Aerosmith singer] Steven Tyler," Trotta says.

Thunder Cycle's clients include people such as Sara Lee executive C. Steven McMillan, who collects Trotta's designs. In the past, he has received commissions from the Hard Rock Cafe and RJ Reynolds, for which he built the Camel Roadhouse bike. He is now working on an elegant bike for Venus Swimwear.

"But we're not about the theme bikes," Jakobi insists. For example, the Camel cigarette bike doesn't look like a camel. Jakobi and his Thunder Cycle colleagues view things such as American Chopper's Spider-Man bike as "kind of retarded."

Thunder Cycle is no novelty act. "Our bikes have the lines of an elite sports car -- clean and classy," Jakobi argues. "You'll be able to look at the bikes in 20 years and still appreciate that style."

Trotta has won two Biker Build-Off competitions on the Discovery Channel. First, he defeated the renowned Russell Mitchell of Sun Valley, Calif. Last month, he took down North Carolina customizer Kendall Johnson. Both of the choppers Trotta designed for the contests, named Discovery 1 and 2, are on view in the Fort Lauderdale showroom.

On average, Thunder Cycle puts about six months into each bike, and Trotta is involved every step of the way. "I meet with each department each day," he explains, sounding like the businessman he is.

He operates with a core group, including Billy Craker, who's known for his own lowrider designs, and painter Chris "Bones" Tulson, the subject of a recent profile in Easy Rider magazine. The majority of Trotta's 22 employees have been with him for about eight years.

"Turnover can be funny in this business. A guy will be with me for six months and think he can go out on his own," Trotta says. "But you need three to four years to learn how to build a bike that someone can get right on and ride 1,000 miles and not have to worry about it catching fire or falling apart."

Trotta is trying to get used to the glut of custom builders currently flooding the market. Because of his high-profile touring and build-offs, he is often mentioned along with the other major names associated with the so-called chopperizing of America -- Billy Lane, Jesse James, etc. "Most of them are good guys," Trotta says. "A few are dickheads."

He picks up one of those chopper coffee-table books. "Good guy, good guy, dickhead, good guy, dickhead," he says, pointing at their names and pictures.

In Fort Lauderdale, people are so familiar with Trotta they often take his masterworks for granted. But when he makes appearances at out-of-town shows, which he does almost every weekend, people line up for a hundred yards to meet him.

"I was in Kansas City when I saw this one bike, and I said to the owner, 'Hey, that almost looks like an Eddie Trotta bike,' " Trotta recalls. "He said, 'I came in one day and you were too busy, so I had someone copy your style for me.' " Trotta has since made himself available to the guy and about 50 of his friends.

The televised revolution of custom bikes has left Trotta feeling a bit delirious. "In one week, we were on three shows. If people don't recognize me, they know the bike," he says. "I'll be crossing a border, and the guards recognize the bike. They talk about you like you're God."

Maybe they think he's that other guy, the one who was busy creating snakes and designing choppers while the good Lord was making apples and gardening. Just consider what Trotta named his most recent bike for the Discovery Channel: Sinister, "because it's so dark and mysterious," Trotta says. "When we were working on it, I said, 'I want this bike to be so scary that kids will cry when they see it.' "

Amen.

Thunder Cycle Design's grand opening will be held in May at 550 W. Sunrise Blvd., in Fort Lauderdale. Call 954/763-2100 or visit www.thundercycle.com.

Let it ride

For many people, owning a Trotta bike is a dream. For this contest winner, it's a reality -- and a challenge.

Hollywood resident Steven Levy was one of more than 45,000 people who entered to win a chopper in The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Roadhouse Sweepstakes last year. So he was a bit overwhelmed when he was selected as one of five finalists for the final drawing at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood. "It was surreal," Levy recalls. "Every time I was at the casino, I would just stare at this bike they had on display. And then, they were calling my name."

The rest of the night was a blur. "They gave me a room for the weekend, and we got this big party going," Levy says. "But you can only bring one six-pack up to your room. Isn't that a weird rule? So I had to pay people off to fill their luggage with beer." Between beers, he'd go down to where the bike was on display and stare some more.

The reality of it wouldn't hit him until a week later, when Eddie Trotta personally delivered the bike to his place of business. "All it took was the sight of the Thunder Cycle truck, and everybody in the complex was outside," he says.

Levy, who operates a medical supply company in Hollywood, is certainly not hurting financially. "But to own a bike like this, I always thought you'd have to be a celebrity or an NFL football player," he says. Levy reads all the chopper magazines, watches all the TV shows and has always dreamed of owning such a sweet machine.

"But I was scared to ride it," he admits. "This thing is so stretched. It's 9 1/2 feet long, a rigid, no-shocks monster. I waited until the whole office complex cleared out, because I didn't want anyone to see me trying to ride this thing."

And then?

"I stalled out in the first turn," he says. "But Eddie had warned me, 'You can't be scared to ride it.' I told myself, 'I'm gonna ride this fucking thing if it kills me.' "

And then?

"I could ride it but only make left turns."

"It is an intimidating bike," Trotta agrees with a laugh. "I had trouble riding it. We had it so set for show that after [Levy] won it, I wanted to change some stuff for better balance. But he was like, 'No, no, I want it just like it is.' "

Eventually, Levy took command of the bike and actually started riding with some other cyclists. "But they have to give me so much space. No one's in my league out there," he explains. "You don't understand; this thing is such a monstrous masterpiece. Fireballs shoot out the back. The attention is overwhelming."

Levy's goal is to ride with Trotta and his friends, but so far, the highlight of his excursions took place when he was leaving Hooters in Pembroke Pines. "Every person on the entire outside patio stood up in this glorious moment," he recalls. "I was praying I wouldn't stall."

-- T.M. Shine

Want to win a cool chopper of your own? Go to www.hrroadhouse.com to enter this year's Roadhouse Sweepstakes. Trotta won't be designing the bike this time around, but it'll still be pretty sweet.