Cutting a unique shape in this year’s competition, the ‘Bunker Imprint’ CL250 made by Turkey’s Bunker Custom Cycles (@bunkercustomcycles) has been crowned the 2024 Honda Customs winner.
The 2024 competition built on the success of previous years, and put the spotlight on the CL500 and 250 – two bikes loaded with scrambler style and evocative design details from front to back. Developed under the guiding principle of ‘Express Yourself’, the CLs are ideal base models for the competition, as they are open invitations for customers – and professional customisers – to exercise their creativity, self-expression and individuality to the max.
The winners:
P1 Bunker Imprint – Turkey
Taking 9,383 votes – 37% of the total 25,558 cast – on hondacustoms.com, Bunker Imprint tapped into contemporary retro café racer style, taking a 180 degree turn from the CL’s scrambler roots. The team at Bunker utilised a stock CL250 and added a bespoke glass-fibre reinforced Nylon FDM 3D-printed half fairing, new side panels, a sculpted belly pan with enclosed exhaust, a new tail and revised seat.
Bunker Customs are the fifth customizer to take the title at Biarritz, joining:
2023: Portugal’s Art on Wheels (@artonwheelsgarage), who created the ‘Furiosa’ Dax in in collaboration with Tamara Alves (@tamara_aalves)
2022: Italy’s Motocicli Audaci – creators of the Maanboard CMX500 Rebel
2021: Portugal’s Mototorfa Motorfa dealer – with the Fenix CB650R
2020:Switzerland’s Brivemo Motos who created the ‘Africa Four’ version of the CB1000R
Bunker Imprint’s victory for Turkey is reflective of the growing interest and demand for motorcycles and scooters in the country. In 2023, the market reached over 530,000 units – a figure equivalent to 38% of the 1.3 million sales registered in the rest of Europe. This figure is based on exponential growth, with the market almost trebling compared to the previous year (190,000 in 2022) and reaching almost four times the 2021 figure of 140,000.
Çetin Kardeş, Head of Motorcycle, Honda Turkey, commented: “It is a pleasure for us to win this award with this project, which reflects our vision of creating a healthy and unique motorcycle culture in Türkiye. We will work harder to further encourage and expand the motorcycle world in society. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all our colleagues who contributed to this success.”
P2 Ocean’s Track – France
Chasing hard throughout the voting process was France’s ‘Ocean’s Track’. Created by Oceane Motos (@Oceane_motos_officiel), the bike introduces an American flat track style, mixed with a hint of stunt bike to create an eyeball-popping visual. Key changes over the standard CL500 are the red frame and swingarm, gold wheels, super wide handlebars complete with bar end mirrors, twin LED projector headlights off-set in the front number board and solo seat unit.
P3 CL Surfer – Germany
Rounding out the podium in this year’s Hondacustoms event was Germany’s CL Surfer, which took inspiration from the beautiful beaches and laid-back surfing vibe of Biarritz – home of the Wheels and Waves festival. Created by the team at the flagship Honda Centre dealership in Frankfurt (@hondamotorrad_de), the CL Surfer fits the mood, with its metallic silver fuel tank and front and rear mudguards (with signature blue stripe), plus clip-on handlebars, new exhaust and distinctive brown leather bench seat.
P4 Alpina 500 – Switzerland
Completing the competition’s top five were the stunning Alpina 500, built by Meister Engineering (@meisterengineering ) and the Enduro 500 from Spain’s Stil Moto.
Celebrating 50 years of Honda Switzerland, the Alpina 500 draws on Honda’s rich heritage while referencing details such as the CB-style fuel tank, stripped subframe, and minimalist bench seat.
P5 Enduro 500 – Spain
The Enduro 500 very much embodies the scrambler style of the CL, and has been designed to tug on the heartstrings by evoking memories of a beautiful, golden era of motorcycling history. Featuring eye-catching tank paintwork, a high-mounted front mudguard, mesh headlight cover, bespoke number boards, a variety of handmade parts and an Arrow exhaust muffler, the Enduro 500 was the brainchild of the Stil Moto (@stilmotohonda) dealership in San Sebastian.
The vastly different colour palettes, design details and aesthetics of these five CL’s are a testament to the platform’s versatility as a base for customisation – and a clear manifestation of its ‘Express Yourself’ development theme.
Hondacustoms headlines
This year, 25,558 people visited the www.hondacustoms.com website over the summer to cast their votes – an increase of 18% from last year, with almost 7,000 people downloading the custom wallpaper of their chosen bike.
For those wishing to take a closer look at all 16 custom motorcycles, the Honda Customs page is still available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Users are still able to download a wallpaper of their favourite bikes for desktop or mobile, as well as share their choice of ‘liked’ bikes on their social media channels.
