From Billet to Bonneville: Sergio Bayarri

I’m a doctor, and when a patient cancels his booking at the last minute I suddenly have a free slot… and thanks to an unidentified patient, one day I stumbled across Sergio Bayarri’s web page. It included a video about his trip to Bonneville that sparked our curiosity and finally our trip to the Salt Flats. We ended up making a movie called “Salt Fever”, which was screened at the Motorcycle Film Festival in Brooklyn, which is where we met Paul d’Orléans, whom we sometimes encounter at interesting bike meetings.

Sergio Bayarri is a resilient and resourceful man. Born in Madrid, his English mother kept a family tradition by sending young Sergio to boarding school in England. He took up skating in England, and when he moved back to Madrid, Sergio went on a surf trip to the North of Spain and fell in love with the ocean. Since then, surfing has a central role in his life, becoming a source of resilience and an influence on his life choices. After earning an engineering degree in Florida, which he chose to be close to the ocean and surfing, Sergio became involved in show business production in Madrid.

But Sergio and his wife chose to leave Madrid’s hectic lifestyle with their young family, and moved to the South of Spain, where he still lives. After a two-year stint in construction, Sergio changed his career again, with the encouragement of his wife.  He founded Sbay Motor Co to build Harley-Davidson-based custom motorcycles. His creations won the ‘Production Manufacturer’ class at the 2010 AMD World Championship of Custom Building , which brought an invitation to take two of his bikes to exhibit at Sturgis Motorcycle Week.  But on his arrival in Chicago his bikes were impounded by an overzealous customs official, who would not release them without an EPA certificate…which would take at least three months to obtain.

Sergio decided to stage ‘8 hours sit-ins’ at the customs office.  After a few days, another official – recognizing Sergio’s determination – told him that the overzealous officer would be off-duty the next day, and the bikes were finally released. Sergio rented a van, and removed the seats, which he kept in storage in Chicago, along with the bikes’ crates.  The he drove nonstop to Sturgis. After the show he decided to race the bikes at Bonneville. He arrived at Wendover with two bikes and a small toolbox.  But Bonneville is a special place, where bikers exchange knowledge and help each other. That year his very special custom bike ‘Flying’ became the record holder for its class.

Recently, on a chilly morning, we went for a walk with Sergio, an affable wiry man dressed in chinos, white tee shirt and denim jacket, with an HH cap and his sociable Ridgeback “Beau”. The conversation flowed easily and when Beau had run around enough, we entered the workshop.  Several projects were taking shape but the atmosphere was calm and unstressed, with the usual clutter of a busy shop with multiple projects.  He currently produces ‘Flyer’ styled as a cafe racer with conventional forks, and ‘Jerry’ with unusual front suspension, styled more like a cruiser, along with unique pieces designed for customers with specific wishes.

Both the Flyer and Jerry are fast sporting motorcycles with superb roadholding, honed at the nearby Jerez de la Frontera circuit.  They are fun, comfortable and easy to ride. Sergio is a master in CAD design, and uses a huge Haas milling machine and lathe to grind the steering bracket, swing arm, wheels and other components from solid billets of aircraft-grade 6000 aluminum.

The frame incorporates the engine as a stressed member, and is based on a 70mm diameter aluminum tube cut to accommodate the milled parts of the subframe, and everything is TIG welded on jig.  The end result is an exceptionally rigid and light structure.  A new very compact gearbox enclosure was designed and milled from a single aluminum block, decreasing the wheelbase and making the bikes nimbler. Both bikes have superb craftmanship and obsessive attention to small details.

If you visit Los Barrios in Spain, visit Sergio and order a bike!  And don’t miss Casa Mané, a magnificent fish place, and Cancha 2, a truly superb Argentinian grill.