The 2011 LA Calendar Motorcycle Best of Show winner "Sentoh from AFT Customs. From the left: FastDates.om Calendar Kitten Camilla, hostess Emily Jaye, AFT Customs models and builders Shelby, Nalani, promoter Jim Gianatsis, builders Sarah and Jim Giuffra, Show assistant Lee Chapin.

AFT Sentoh 1970 Honda CB750 Retro Custom
Best of Show winner 20th Annual 2011 Los Angeles Calendar Motorcycle Show
featured in the 2013 Iron & Lace Calendar
by Jim Gianatsis / photography by Jim Gianatsis

The Queen Mary Seawalk Village, Long Beach, CA, July 16th 2011 - The 20th annual Los Angeles Calendar Motorcycle Show presented by Russ Brown Motorcycle Attorneys, America's premier streetbike event returned to the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA on Saturday July 16th. The legendary event celebrated its 20th Anniversary and the annual premier of the FastDates.com Motorcycle PinUp Calendars, both produced by motorsport and fashion photographer Jim Gianatsis, with a move from the Show's it's traditional Queen Mary Event Park location, to dockside next to the historic Queen Mary ocean liner in the exciting Seawalk Village which replicates an old British seaside town for a step back in history.

Making history this year was builder Jim Giuffra and the beautiful motorsport spokes models of AFT Customs / www.AFTcustoms.com who created not one, but two all-new customs bikes to premier at this year's Calendar Show Bike Building Championship. The 4-time consecutive Best of Show and Metric Class winners were back to try and retain their titles and they did. Their very unique and original 1970 Honda CB750 based custom sportbike named "Sentoh" featured a hand built perimeter frame, a single Mikuni HSR45 carb fed 4-tract induction system, hand made exhaust and kickstart system and modern RaceTech racebike suspension and Beringer brakes. Sentoh emerged out of the Sportbike Class, amid fierce completion from the other classes including Pro Builder, to take 2011 Best of Show and give AFT Customs their 5th consecutive Calendar Show win.



Jim Giuffra / AFT Customs, talks about his 2011 LA Calendar Motorcycle Best of Show winner Sentoh -
"I bought a CB750F when I graduated from high school & still have it. I figured the time was right, now, to build a custom using this classic original 1970 Honda 750cc 4-cylinder streetbike - the Japanese bike that heralded the death of the European streetbike market of that era.
A lot of the important details in building Sentoh, can’t be readily noticed in the photographs, but nearly very piece had to be custom fabricated for for this bike. Here are a few of the high points – Our buddy Bryan From TPJ Customs made the perimeter frame & was kind enough to let our model Cyndi do a little of the TIG welding. Race Tech custom built the shocks using 15 different measurements from the bike. R1 forks with custom trees by our buddy Alan Kraus. We used CRF 450 hubs, foot controls (we modified) And took a CRF 450 K/S & shaft & mated it internally to the 750 mechanism. It has an exposed stator by Cycle X.

All the lighting, switching and instrumentation is digital & LED by Clearwater Lights, Grip Ace and Motogadget. The bike is street legal. The rear License plate flips vertical or horizontal for riding or display. Some parts are MotoGP prototype pieces from Beringer like the remotely adjustable hand levers. Beringer also supplied the front and rear calipers & rotors (supermoto style). The front brake even has a a MotoGP quick disconnect front brake line. And there is a new steering stabilizer design that is making its debut on our bike.

The oil tank is the tail piece. Fuel tank holds almost 4 gals. Bars are 1 3/8′ with our Double D risers. We completely went through the engine & added the Wiseco 836 kit & Web Cam. Dynatek provided the ignition system.We wanted to ditch the engine covers phillips screws & go to 8mm head bolts. They don’t make those longer than 45mm that we could find so we had to make our own in lengths above that.

The intake manifold (4 into 1) was probably the hardest piece to make & then the exhaust. We cut the Leo Vince cans down 50% then reassembled them. They layered the name for us. It weighs 420 with a gal of gas & 4 qts. oil – 10 lbs lighter than an '05 R1 Yamaha that we also weighed.

The AFT Girls did most of the sheet metal, welding, engine rebuilding, wheel lacing /truing and final assembly under my supervision. I like to teach them to do all the labor intensive jobs, then I can just sit back and watch them go to work! I’m very proud of all their hard work & commitment to excellence. AFT also serves as a model agency for companies wanting attractive motorsports savy spokesmodels to understand, represent and talk about their products at consumer and trade shows. "

The AFT Customs bikes are sponsored by suppliers: Miller Welding, Race Tech, Works Connection, Bell /Easton, Dyna Tech, Joker Machine, Grip Ace, Beringer Brakes, JE Piston, Web Cams, Clear Water Lights, Moto Master, Shorai Batteries, Leo Vince, Joker Machine, Grip Ace, Motion Pro and Avon Grips and the FastDates.com Calendars.

Return to Iron & Lace Garage Index

 

Jim Gianatsis photographed the AFT Sentoh for the FastDates.com Iron & Lace Calendar with models Shannon Baucom and Camilla Chiniquy at the Gianatsis Design Design Studio in Woodland Hills, CA


AFT Customs
12370 Martell Road
Martell, CA 95654.
Phone: 209 223-3848 www.AFTcustoms.com





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