Name: Thomas (you can call me Tommy)
Occupation: Motorbike and car mechanic (but I work mainly on bikes)
Location: Italy, north-western part (very near to french and swiss borders)
Interests: Motorbikes, cars, videogames, music
Vehicles Currently Owned: Suzuki GSX-R 600 K1, VW Polo 9N3 (1.6l 105hp petrol)
Dream Garage Vehicles: Toyota GT-86, Mazda RX-8, Aprilia RS 125 track-use-only, Aprilia RS 250, Yamaha YZF-R1 1st gen… and maybe a dirt bike too!
Previous Vehicles of Interest: Aprilia RS 125
How did you find us? Google (I was looking something similar to Car Mechanic Simulator)
About:
I always had a passion for motorbikes, when I was about 14yo my dream was an Aprilia RS 50 (a two-stroke italian sport bike; even if by laws it’s considered like a moped, it’s very fast and funny to ride!), but unfortunately I didn’t earned enough money to buy it, so I waited 16yo to buy an Aprilia RS 125.
I became an high-speed and knee-dragging enthusiast, and unfortunately I begun to snub cars. Please consider that here in Italy we cannot drive cars until 18yo and for the first year after getting the driving license there are very very strict limits (even my cheap Polo would overstep them!), but at 16yo I was riding a little monster that could get to 200 kph… so I think it’s kinda obvious why, at that age, I considered cars “just useless”.
In the meantime I’ve developed a passion about mechanic, so, I’ve became a motorbike mechanic and started to dream about owning my own bike workshop. Then, a few years later (when I was 19) I met the one who eventually became my best friend, that had my same dream and feelings, but… cars-oriented. Thanks to him I’ve became interested about cars, and he became interested about motorbikes thanks to me.
The same year I got my first car; I wanted a 5th gen VW Golf, but because it was too expensive, I’ve bought a 4th gen facelifted Polo, that is very similar. Two year passed and my beloved RS 125 started to be a little too “tiny” for me (even after tuning her): I wanted something more powerful. So, when I was near to my 21th birthday (the age when you can get the “unlimited motorbike license”) I started to search for a new ride.
I wanted a bike “old enought to be almost electronical-s**t free” (as many bikers does, I really hate ABS, TCS etc etc), but at the same time “new enough to have EFI instead of carbs”, cheap, reliable, comfortable enough while driving in traffic but also enjoyable during track days, and with an “old fashioned” look. Pretty hard to find something like this, isn’t it? Well, I eventually found it: I’ve chosen a 2001 600cc Suzuki GSX-R.
When I was looking for my next bike, I saw a GSX-R that was nothing more that a piece of junk ready for the scrapyard; I cannot explain it clearly, but I felt very sad when I saw her: she was kinda… begging for help. I bought her a few days later for a small sum, and I started to fix her: it took me about six months, working during weekends and free time, but I did it.
And then, well, for me a bike (and also a car) in stock condition is nothing more than a blank sheet of paper with a bunch of coloured pencils aside it. You can create a masterpiece with those elements, but you need to spend a lot of time and hard work! So, I begun to tune and spice her… and now, after about three years, the work is not over yet. I have no rush
Sorry for being so verbose Hope you liked my personal story!
PS: I’m sorry for mistakes, but English is not my native language and at school it’s not teached so well (we’re forced to study French instead… duh…), so I’ve had to self-taught me… and I’m not a good teacher