Nick Bondarev: Triumph Scrambler 900

STORY

Base Model: EFI Triumph Scrambler 900

A lot of people tend to focus on the end product when customizing their bikes - wanting their mods to result in a concrete and final build, often resembling some image they may have seen before. But the focus for Nick has more to do with the process - being able to personalize aspects of your life by investing your time and thought into it.

“When I think of motorcycles, I always think of Triumph. Living in California and surrounded by desert, choosing the Scrambler was sort of a way to try combining riding for transportation with dirt biking.”

“The process of modifying and personalizing the bike, solving issues one by one, making the bike work for me - that is such a grounding feeling. Building, making decisions, choosing stuff, parts, making mistakes, learning. That is the best part of customization, like meditation while arranging. Some people look at the end product as most important, but there’s actually no end to it. As long as you’re a growing and evolving person, you’ll still want to change things and learn more in the process of customizing constantly. It’s part of life.”

Read more about Nick Bondarev & his background here

Nick Bondarev's stock Scrambler 900

"Looking at it every day, it was so ugly looking to me, with a tank that looked like a Pokemon ball, and there were things about its performance I didn’t like either. I started to wonder what to do to make it a little more satisfying, and that’s when I found out a bit more about British Customs.”

“I scratched all the paint off the tank and clear coated it in the backyard, immortalizing some flies into the tank in the process (they ride with the tank forever now). I began to make changes to my intake too, and changed my set up into a full exhaust system for more power. One by one, I added more and more mods, until I felt satisfied.”