This madness is the brainchild of Simon Whitelock and has been christened the Tinker Toy (named after the Duxford Air Museum, which houses several flying fortresses), who is already known for having made some other motorcycles from engine combinations. This is a motorcycle, or rather an engine around which a motorcycle has been built, which is truly incredible. You read that right, 48 cylinders, a record not only in the field of motorcycles, but also in motorsport. To achieve this, Simon, a passionate engineer, used 16 engines from the old Kawasaki KH 250, in other words, 16 units of the three-cylinder in-line two-stroke engine used in the 1979 KH. To achieve this madness, he connected six banks of cylinders, three rows of 16 cylinders each, overlapping longitudinally and connected by racks and timing chains.
In fact, there is a forty-ninth cylinder, a 125cc, which serves as the starter motor for the entire set of heads, cylinders and pistons that make this object worthy of a museum dedicated to science and technology. Incredibly, the machine works and, although it must be admitted that it takes some courage to get on a motorcycle like this, with its friendly weight of around 600 kg, for a ride, it has now even been given permission to circulate in England.
Feeding the air and petrol thirst of a good 4.2 liters of total cubic capacity is a set of six carburetors positioned at the front of the bike and equipped with the classic mesh filter of the most common specialties. As for the rest, the “bike” has a gearbox and final drive shaft of BMW origin, a sturdy steel tube frame and the front wheel from an old Honda Goldwing. Additional springs have been added to the fork outside the clamps to support the weight of the bike, but the bike retains a classic, decidedly seventies line.
Perhaps in terms of ergonomics the bike isn’t very successful, but as a showpiece it could make a good impression in your living room. If you’re interested, it looks like the bike will be on sale at the Bonhams auction house in April, at the next International Classic Motorcycle Show in the spring, with a starting bid of 51,000 USD.