LaFontaine is general manager of Las Vegas Trikes, a Las Vegas-based manufacturer of exotic, hot rod V8 trikes that are shredding up the pavement in the Las Vegas Valley and beyond.

"They're a blast to ride," said LaFontaine, who has a background in engineering and mechanics and previously worked as a manufacturing manager for Kloehn Co., Las Vegas Trikes' parent company. "I hardly ever ride my motorcycle anymore because these things are just so much more fun."

The company, in Summerlin just off Town Center Drive on Banburry Cross Drive, produces four models, which measure some 15 feet in length and have an 11-foot wheel base with an 80-inch diameter. The two-seat, three-wheel vehicles also have an automatic transmission and are custom built for each buyer. With a base price of $42,500 for the least expensive model, the Thunder Trike, and $90,000 for the costliest, the Widowmaker Trike, it's a means of transportation for the motorist with a healthy discretionary income.

"It's not something everybody can afford," LaFontaine said, "but our customers come from every walk of life. Certainly there's a degree of success that goes along with owning a toy like this, and, let's face it, it's a toy."

The company was founded in 2002 when locally-based Kloehn Co., a manufacturer of analytical medical research devices and instrumentation, acquired Iron Horse Trikes, a New Mexico company that LaFontaine said has been making trikes for almost a decade.

"The owner of Kloehn Co., Garth Kloehn, and his son, Mike, saw the trikes in Daytona and bought a couple of them," LaFontaine said. "They were having so much fun riding them, they decided they wanted to give it a try to build and manufacture them. So we took the Iron Horse trike, and stripped it down and reengineered it and really refined it. We basically took this diamond in the rough and made it shine. We had the financial backing not to have to go to market right away so we took our time and did it right."

Kloehn moved Las Vegas Trikes into its existing 55,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art factory in Summerlin. The company originally invested about $500,000 in equipment to produce the trikes.

LaFontaine said the company has sold 14 trikes since the first model rolled out of production in early 2003. Los Angeles Laker Shaquille O'Neal bought two Cyclone Trikes (with a base price of $55,000 apiece), which were subsequently included in the MTV program "Cribs," which features the homes and vehicles of celebrities.

Local clients include Phil Karpinski, co-owner of Evergreen Counseling, who also drives a Cyclone Trike.

"It's so unique that it's in its own category," said Karpinski, who took a ride on a friend's trike and decided he couldn't live without one. "It goes anywhere just like a car and gives a ride as smooth as a car. It's also very easy to steer and turn, although at first it looks like it might be hard to handle."

The trike inevitably attracts significant attention from onlookers, he said.

"It's an instant tourist attraction when I take it up and down The Strip," Karpinski said. "People always want to take pictures and will seriously stop traffic just to talk to me. It's phenomenal."

Although Las Vegas Trikes has some competition, including Indiana-based Ecstasy Cycles Corp., LaFontaine believes the company is securing a niche in an underserved, largely unrecognized market that is destined to grow.

The company began promoting the trikes last spring, running ads in publications that appeal to affluent consumers, such as Millionaire and duPont Registry. It also advertises in American Iron, a motorcycle magazine, and was featured in the March 2004 issue of Rumble magazine.

The company currently has no authorized dealers, but may consider adding its product line to dealerships selling other high-end vehicles.

"It wasn't something we entertained at first and we're not in a hurry because we like to keep control," LaFontaine said. "We're looking at it from the view that they've got to be able to represent our product in the right light or we don't want to deal with them."

LaFontaine is working to dispel several myths about the trikes, including the fallacy that they are difficult to operate. On the contrary, he said, given the ease afforded by the automatic transmission, learning to drive one takes just five minutes.

Another misconception? That the trikes are unstable and may tip over.

Not so, LaFontaine said.

"It's a preconceived notion that because it's got three wheels it's unsafe," he said, referencing the myriad accidents and fatalities associated with three-wheeled all-terrain vehicles in the 1990s. "But it's one of the most stable vehicles you can imagine. It only sits about six inches off the ground so it's got a very low center of gravity and the icing on the cake is that it has self-centering steering."

He said it can also be challenging to convince motorcycle enthusiasts to give the trikes a shot.

"Motorcycle guys like to be on two wheels, so when they see a trike, they think, 'That's not for me now, but maybe when I get old,' " he said. "But why wait until you get old to have this much fun?"