No stranger to the pages of SSB, Tony Sesto walked into the limelight once again when he scored the numero uno place at the latest Boz Broz Custom Bike Show at Laguna Seca. With entries from the top echelon of US custom sportbike builders as competition, the Sesto Custom Cycles R1 took home the bacon in the prestigious Pro class with a stunning multi-tonal take on Valentio Rossi’s M1 MotoGP Yamaha. For the effort he also went back to his shop with a brand new R6 courtesy of Yamaha and show sponsors, the Silverstar Casting Company.
With the new R6 as his blank canvas he got straight to work. Forsaking the archetypal custom sportbike format of long and low with more bling than Snoop’s bathroom, Sesto has instead taken the R6 in a direction that’s as smooth and subtle as a set of brass knuckles under a velvet glove.
Sesto's R6 is as subtle as...
Sesto's R6 is as subtle as it is aggressive—a very tricky end result to achieve.
Straight out of the box the 2010 R6 was already a cool-looking bike, and the Sesto creation has kept some of the stock R6’s racetrack stance, while adding to its machismo with a just enough 240mm back tire, (using the original R6 widened rim), and a stock-length, tubular aluminum swingarm fabricated by the TOCE brothers.
Rolling on the OE suspension at both ends, the inverted 2010 forks have been enhanced with Driven Racing preload adjusters and the stock brake lines replaced with black stainless steel alternatives. Yet more Driven Racing parts adorn the R6 with clip-ons and the stock driveline gets a 520 sprocket and chain combo.
The bodywork remains much the same as Yamaha made it, albeit with discreet refinements such as a quarter-turn gas cap and mirror blanks, backed up by a windscreen, undertail and turn signals by Hotbodies. The R6’s horse count has been increased by a stealthy Sesto side-exit exhaust system as well.
A covering of flawless custom paint and shimmering electroplating is the accepted MO for any custom sportbike. Sesto’s R6 has both; the understated theme is continued with darkly brooding autumnal paintwork, (describing the base color as brown would be an injustice to paintmeister Robert Garcia from Altered Image). In place of the usual reflective chrome there’s a burnished copper effect on most everything else, created by Andrew Ramos of True Finish Luxury Plating.
Reminiscent of the finish of antique jewelry, the esoteric copper appearance on the R6’s frame, swingarm, wheels, brake calipers, master cylinders, footrest assemblies and levers works perfectly as an aesthetically pleasing concept when juxtaposed with the cutting edge technology of the R6 and the race-bred upgrades. So much so that you’d expect a techno Genie to appear out of the gas tank if you rubbed the frame hard enough, although all you’d probably get if you tried would be a reminder from the ownerprobably from those aforementioned velvet knuckles. ssb
2010 Yamaha R6
Front end: Driven Racing preload adjusters, Yana Shiki brake lines
Rear end: TOCE stock length swingarm and widened wheel, Yana Shiki brake line, Driven Racing 520 conversion kit
Engine: Sesto Custom Cycles custom exhaust
Accessories: Driven Racing grips, Yana Shiki gas cap and mirror block-off plates, Hotbodies Racing undertail, turn signals and windscreen
Paint: Robert Garcia of Altered Image (
alteredimagehd.com)
Plating: Andrew Ramos of True Finish Luxury Plating
Builder: Sesto Custom Cycles