Living in London, arguably one of the centres of the current custom scene, one becomes blasé about seeing great bikes all day, everyday. Whilst twidling one’s moustache over a lama’s milk frapalatte there is almost a constant stream of eye candy blasting by. This isn’t the same everywhere and according Oğulcan Özen from Istanbul, Turkey there is a distinct lack of workshops offering what he and his friends crave. The 23 year old Industrial Design student has decided to fill the void with his hobby business, Pride Motor.
This isn’t Oğulcan’s first build, that was a tidy Yamaha Virago 535 he put together as a city commuter, with the help of his painter mates. The bike garnered so much attention that he decided to don a commercial hat and try his hand at modifying the practical and well known CG, adding a dash of class to see if the process could pay for itself.
A local farmer was pottering around his land and surrounding lanes on this 2004 model but was persuaded to hand it over for a sensible price. To ensure the new owner enjoyed the reliability synonymous with these simple singles Oğulcan stripped the donor right back to basics.
Mechanically the CG was in good order requiring the renewal of the main service items, leaving plenty of budget for the cosmetics. Obviously the subframe was the first part to become familiar with the grinder and welder, in this case the subtle kinks rather than smooth loop adds a nice detail. He is a designer after all. The frame, wheels, fork legs etc were black powder coated and the engine painted to match.
Oğulcan’s better half is a graphic designer so she penned the Pride Motor logo, which looks great and reminds me slightly of the early MotoMeter typeface. His painting buddies worked their magic on the two-tone tank which from here looks proper and the logo colour will change with each build to compliment the overall scheme.
New shockers out back suspend the altered subframe, now with factory weld splatter smoothed out. Classic treads suggest a modicum of off-road capability without screaming knobblies. 
Wide tracker bars and a simple speedo are all that’s needed for a neat cockpit and the modern halogen headlamp will light up the country trails way better than Honda’s original.
Civilisation originated just down the road, apparently, socks though have yet to make an impact. Jibes aside it’s great to receive emails each week from all corners of the globe and to see young folk rolling up their sleeves, or trousers, and just having a go. We wish Pride Motor all the best and hope to see them build up features in our archives before too long.
via The Bike Shed
