We all know that MV Agusta’s F4 is a legendary motorcycle, but did you know that equally powerful, high-tech motorbikes are made on our very doorstep?
There are owners clubs on this coast for everything from Ferraris and Mustangs to Harleys and Minis, but pretty soon someone should think about creating a chapter of Sbay owners. Why? Because these beautiful works of engineering are not only magnificent examples of hand-built, custom-made super sports bikes, but as if that’s not enough of a reason, you could also add the salient detail that these powerful machines are made not in Japan, Germany or even Barcelona, but right down the road in Los Barrios in Cádiz!
It seems an honour to have a company of this kind in our midst, and Sergio Bayarri, who founded the brand in 2009, proves what can be achieved with a great deal of vision, ambition and guts. Though his background is in managing companies rather than designing racing machines, motor sport has always played an important role in Bayarri’s life, and ultimately led him to pursue this very daring and personal quest.
A flying start
Those who thought the company’s beginnings would be slow and anonymous, with SBay destined to remain a brand with strictly local impact, would be proved very wrong, for the moment the first model, the radical-looking Sbay Flying, hit the road it scooped awards, praise and no end of admiring looks from professionals and fans alike. In 2010 the Sbay Motor Company even managed to do the unthinkable and win the AMD Custom Bikes World Championship in the Production Category within the first year of participating.
In 2012 the company moved into a new 800 square metre facility in Los Barrios, complete with R&D centre and the latest testing and tuning equipment. Not long after development agreements were signed with the engineering departments of several leading universities in Spain and abroad, and the project reached another level.
The powerful, almost menacing-looking Flying was followed by a second model, the Jerry, while 2013 saw the launch of the upgraded Sbay Omega. Here, Sergio Bayarri develops contemporary models of his own, doing in the bike world what Horacio Pagani saw as the founding principle behind the Pagani Zonda, namely to produce pure-blooded racing machines with the use of the latest technology and design.
A singular design and engineering philosophy
At the SBay Motor Company form follows function. But this is no bad thing, for while the powerful, stripped-down look is devoid of unnecessary stylistic frills it produces maximum performance and exhilarates all who climb aboard an SBay.
These are very much 21st century bikes, powerful, tooled by hand and seemingly ready to pounce. It should be clear by now that SBay motorbikes are made by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, making this one of the ultimate riders’ bikes available today. What’s more, the new bikes come with ABS, traction control and are emission compliant, so they are Euro 4 homologated and can now be shipped and licensed worldwide – but you’ll just love cruising the Andalusian countryside on one!