Motorcyclist USA — September-October 2017

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well-known car builders Carroll Shelby

and Delmo Johnson, among others,

to travel across the country (and the

world) to have their airplanes main-

tained by one of the best in the busi-

ness. Reared in a hangar among aircraft

wrenches, Sofi was destined to be

mechanically inclined.

Motorcycles were a major part of the

Tsingos household. Sofi began riding

dirt bikes at age nine. At 16, with the

impetus of her father and the fortuitous

acquisition of a free track session at the

Dallas International Motorcycle Show,

she began doing trackdays. Moving from

a Suzuki GS500 to a Ducati 748, she

started making passes. Once she could

push the 748 no faster, a race-prepped

996 propelled her to a podium finish,

the one and only time she competed in

formal competition.

Later, Sofi went on to enroll at

WyoTech in Daytona Beach, Florida,

where she graduated at the top of her

class. While Sofi was working as a Ducati

service writer in New Hampshire, her

father’s diagnosis spurred the move back

to Plano so she could be near family and

his physicians. As part of the recovery

process, Sofi and her father began

building motorcycles in their home

garage as GT-Moto.

Sofi’s most recent project was a

collaboration with Alicia Mariah

Elfving (better known as “Moto Lady”),

an MV Agusta Brutale 800, which was

raffled off, the proceeds going to St.

Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Each year,

GT-Moto builds a bike for charity, and

the Tsingos take great care in selecting

the recipient. Being touched by cancer

themselves, they felt that St. Jude’s

commitment to the families of cancer

patients, as well as an active research

program, earned their donation.

above Building a custom

motorcycle has its ups and

downs, Sofi said. “You are

doing something you have

never done before, so you

are learning a lot, but you

are also having these really

hard moments.”

below left The striking

MV Agusta Brutale 800 was

raffled off, with proceeds

going to charity. GT-Moto

will surely continue to

impress with its metal and

altruistic works well into

the future.

below Specialty tools fabricated by George Tsingos are scattered across work-

benches, each marked simply with a Sharpie. Out of sight, a lathe sits silent, the floor

around it littered with shavings from its last use. Packed tightly against the welder are

a planishing hammer and English wheel awaiting their next assignments.

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