Whitelock’s eye-popping 48-cylinder “Tinker Toy” was built to put a full stop on an escalating arms race in the UK custom motorcycle scene – and it certainly did, becoming one of the world’s most outrageous and iconic motorcycles in the process.
Whitelock has been a prominent name in the UK custom motorcycle scene since 1985. Simon Whitelock started with more straightforward builds back in the day, putting together two-stroke inline fours using engines and parts from different machines.
Before long, he moved on to more ambitious projects including some remarkable engines, such as a nine-cylinder “triple-triple” and an inline seven-cylinder. All were Kawasakis – and all were two-strokes.