Tinu

About Tinu

I was born in summer 1984 close to the Swiss capitol Bern, in a village of 400 souls. I was still a little boy as my godfather took me on my first motorcycle ride. In the beginning I was afraid of the noise and speed of his red Ducati, but in the end the fascination for his heavy machine outweighed.

Honda CB 900

With 14 I got my license to ride my moped from now on legally. I was 16, as my father helped me out to buy me a 50ccm Scooter (Gilera). With the wind in my back it was running almost 60km/h! It was fast enough to disassemble it in a short amount of time by my sporty style of riding. I was practicing the “total tilt” with my scooter and from time to time I did reach my goal. I loved that thing and rode 60’000km with it.

Exactly at my 18th birthday I got my motorcycle license. From now on my means of transportation was my 125ccm Honda City Fly. It only had 11HP, but for the start it was plenty enough. With time I got too bold and did my first highsider. Officially I never got into an accident though and after 2 years my ccm restriction got liftet.

By the age of 21, I passed my apprenticeship as a carpenter and started to serve my military service. The next bike I bought was a Honda Hornet CB 900. At first I was battling with the 110HP. Luckily I always had enough respect and never had a crash with this beast.
With 25, I left Switzerland to work as a carpenter in Bellingham (WA, USA) for 1 1/2 years. I left my motorcycle at home, but I took my downhill bicycle with me. I spent every free minute riding it and almost every weekend I got to ride at the Bikepark in Whistler (Canada).

La Guerrera

After my return to Switzerland I exchanged my Hornet for a 2008 Yamaha XT660Z Ténéré and my buddy and I did a 6 month motorcycle trip through South America where I met Xenia. Patric and I covered more than 32’000km on our motorbikes. After every crash, I was able to pull my bike out of the ditch and it still would work. From +45° to -14° (degrees celcius), indifferent where or how, “La Guerrera” (the warrioress, that’s how I named her) never let me down.

Back in Switzerland I moved in with Xenia and our first motorcycle trip led us through the Balkans. On this 4’000km I noticed that my Ténéré was using way too much oil. The amount of sand and my improper use of the airfilter took its total. It became clear that after all these kilometers together I had to give “La Guerrera” up. This was very hard for me. I exchanged my “old Ténéré” with the new ABS version XT660 ZA Ténéré built in 2011. Some of the old extra parts I screwed on the new Ténéré and that way there still is a small amount of “La Guerrera” travelling with me today.

The first test for the new bike was “Iceland 2014”. There were only some problems with the battery but back home it was easily solved. With a new battery we got through “Morocco 2015” with no failure at all.