If you didn’t guess this was a Trotta bike at first glance, I’m sure you’re definitely not the least bit surprised to find out it is a product of Eddie Trotta’s ’s Thunder Cycle Designs in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There’s just something about a Trotta bike that makes it its own style or sub-style depending on what kind of category you might be trying to pigeon hole it in. There’s obviously a chopper bias, but it’s not a hard core chopper even though it’s hard core. Eddie’s style is more of a smooth gentleman hard core that can hold its own in any crowd. You know, like if high-end automaker Aston Martin decided to make a flashy chopper, it would be slightly understated and sure of itself. Just like Eddie’s bikes.
Oftentimes a build can revolve around a certain drive train or a special part that seems to determine how the rest of it is built. You know, like when archeologists find one piece of a jawbone of an unknown dinosaur and they reconstruct it how they think that one piece of bone would make the rest of the dinosaur look right up to feathers or no feathers. I really don’t think that Eddie thinks that way when it’s time to construct a bike. I picture there’s a cohesive overall shape that he sees in his head and he works at it until it’s just like the first flash he envisioned. Eddie’s bikes are out there, don’t get me wrong, but he keeps it tight and right. Whether it’s your style or not, you gotta admit that Trotta bikes are flash perfected. Smooth, tough, showy, manly, make that muy macho, and they grab your attention (and hold it) no matter what you feel about flashy, but classy choppers.
Starting with the rigid frame, it’s just a lovely pile of convolutedly curvaceous pipes that dance a good tango to their appointed intersections. Throw on some hand-shaped molding to tie it all together and top it off with a tank that thinks it’s part of the frame and you’ve got a flash dance on wheels. Keep the bars and controls to a sleek minimum, but still part of the drama and the design moves as one. Eddie’s choice of a butch black inverted fork goes extremely well with the murdered-out look of the wheels. There’s a bit of Street Outlaws shining through this build simply because of the daring choice of wheel finish on what looks like a re-imagined Fenton Shark mag wheel straight from a ‘60s musclecar. Eddie’s wheel and finish choice es muy macho and balances out the flash of gold paint choice.
Actually, the particular gold metal flake-infused hue he chose for paint lends just that right amount of flash, interesting and complimentary flash. From a bit back it looks like a striking, but simple gold paintjob with a nice sparkle to it, but the closer you get the more interesting subtle gold leaf graphics adding their own piece of action to the story. It’s almost as if they were being continuously funneled threw the lines of the bike, not just sitting there like a bill board of graphics.
One particular aspect of all of Eddie’s bikes that I particularly like and respect is his not fearing the fender. His style dictates that fenders and fenders and not just some metal doily that you hang out there to give a feeling of a fender. He’s not afraid to use the potentially sensuous fender curves to his advantage like a full-figured body of whatever your choice in life is that doesn’t have an ounce of fat in it. The hug and compliment the shapes and lines around them while giving more platform for paint. The use of a front fender gets big points from me as its really so much easier to just skip one and call it a day. Picking the right shape and proper fitment is something where Eddie can do no wrong. Same goes for the rear fender that seriously covers the 240mm rear tire effectively while becoming an integral part of the total bodywork.
So yeah, I too have come to appreciate Eddie’s style even though I couldn’t begin to afford a personal street-worthy show bike. If I could, I’d definitely check out Thunder Cycle Designs for a flashy, yet classy man bike of my own. Lots of people build really nice bikes, but they don’t have a style of their own. Now I know there’s no truth to the rumor that when Eddie needed an alligator skin for his seat that he tore off his T-shirt and dove into a nearby canal with only a rusty jack knife clenched in his teeth and quickly brought back a fresh hide. Yeah I made that up, but I certainly didn’t have to. There’s only one Eddie Trotta, but there’s a lotta Trotta bikes to come that will always look good no matter what’s the hip flavor of the minute. It’s all about true style and Eddie Trotta’s got a style of his own.
For more info on what Eddie and the crew at Thunder Cycle Designs are up to, check out http://www.thundercycledesign.com/ or visit Thunder Cycle on Facebook.