As an infant, the first word I was to utter was "car" and only a Mini qualified as a car in my eyes. As a teenager in London, I was more interested in motorcycles as they presented more thrills and more performance for your money. Where does the name "TINK" come from? It was the nickname my Grandmother used for me as I was always amusing myself taking my toys apart and rebuilding them, making models and "helping" my Grandfather in his workshop/shed.
In the UK reaching the age of sixteen was the first opportunity to hit the streets with any kind of vehicle, restricted to just 50cc and the obvious choice was the Yamaha FS1E, that fastest around, capable of around 50mph! Weekends were spent decoking the little two stroke motor, polishing pistons and any other methods of squeezing a few extra mph from the tiny engine.
After a 125 and passing my test I progressed to a Kawasaki Z400J, a fine machine which would pretty much out strip any car on the road at the time.
In my early twenties I got into motor racing and took a break from two wheels until fifteen or more years later, when I returned to the Kawasaki and another four hundred, this time the ridiculously quick ZXR400 which revved comfortably into five figures and kept pulling all the way to the red line.
Later on I upgraded to a Ducati 748, the smaller sister of the 916 and to my mind one of the most beautiful motorcycles ever produced. A very different ride, almost effortles power with torquey twin pulling from anywhere in the rev range and of course with that unique desmodronic sound!
After I moved to the USA, my first bike was somewhat ironically a Triumph Speed Triple and I still have it today. I love this bike. Like the Ducati, the power delivery from the 1050cc triple is smooth and relentless and the bike is comfortable at any speed and balanced beautifully. It features in the BIKES section as I did a few mods to this along the way, clip on drops, custom exhaust, mirrors, levers and various other tinkering removing the rear end etc.
I added an MV Agusta 750 F4 a year later and then found a really nice Ducati 748 again before delving further into the past and finding a Kawasaki KH500 which I had always wanted.
That didn't stay long and I then added the ultimate jewel in the crown, from my perspective, the MV Agusta 750 F4 Senna Edition.
And that is the collection as it stands in 2020. The story of the first MV Agusta, to date and then the first real fully custom project.
