sic transit L.A.

Kinda looks like a cherried out hog. Kinda looks like a sleek 10-speed too. The Trouble-T is a morph of both.

The stylish and expensive bicycle was created by body shop owner and onetime hair cutter Jeff Solak, 33, of Newport Beach, who came up with the Trouble-T after he couldn’t find himself a suitably radical cruiser.

His friends quickly pleaded for Trouble-Ts of their own, and a business was born.

That was 11 months ago. The Trouble-T, in wildly different paint jobs and styles, start at less than $2,000. Prices vary and go up with the degree of customizing and art work. Some 150 have been sold--mostly by word of mouth--and customers are said to include talk-show host Jay Leno.

They are available through the Original Instigator, the Upland company formed by Solak and his brother Mike, 41. They are also selling at some Harley-Davidson dealerships. The brothers hope to produce 300 bikes a month.

The T is not for the shrinking violet. “It takes us awhile to get anywhere. People stop you and want to talk about ‘em,” says Mark Umatum, sales director at Sterling BMW, who has ordered one for his showroom.

The company’s motto: “It doesn’t matter how fast you get there, it’s how cool you look when you pull up.”