Joe DeJesus of Crown Motorz in Las Vegas, Nevada, must have been channeling my A&W memories with his time travelin’ 1968 Triumph T120R Bonneville custom aptly named Root Beer Bonnie. It’s a nice match for his perfectly restored Bonnie, but it’s come a long way to get to this point. “It was one of those, ah, freshly refurbished Triumph 650s,” said Joe. “I bought it on the promise it was relatively fresh and when I got it home, there wasn’t a part on it that was right.”
The engine got shipped off to the talented father and son team of Tony and Andy Dunn at Classic Cycles Inc. in Orange, California, for a complete rebuild. Adding a set of Keihin PWK carbs angling out of the frame gives it performance and a tough look plus the sound benefits of air being ingested through the velocity stacks. Joe’s choice of E.W. Wassell Ltd. high pipes gorgeously scooting around the left side like they were made of mercury harks back to his dirt bike days. “All the Triumphs we rode in the desert had high pipes, but I thought they just looked cool,” said the Mint 400 and Barstow to Vegas race veteran. Pure Brit-twin attitude bellows out of these non-baffled pipes. “You can probably hear them down in Texas when I leave my driveway,” he said laughing. Speaking of attitude, nothing says attitude more than the Joe Hunt magneto hanging off the sidecover, feeding spark to the 41-year-old mill. “We didn’t want a battery and we wanted the reliability of a magneto,” said Joe. “It’s a first kick. You’re probably tired of hearing that. It took me a while to get there, but it’s a first kick and it definitely runs good.”
Joe wanted a bike to ride, often, and decided not to muck with the frame geometry but did add a 2”-stretched bolt-on hardtail section of his own manufacture. “We thought it’d be fun to make our own. We now have a jig for them and it’s a quality TIG-welded made in the USA hardtail.” For the front end, he kept the exposed-spring stockers, but shortened the fork’s tubes 2” to bring it down on the deck. Joe kept “the new for 1968 twin-leading-shoe drum” laced up to a 21” white powdercoated rim with a classic Avon Speedmaster hugging the perimeter. In back, the original sprocket/brake found a new home in a 16” Harley rim with period-fat 4.60 Cheng Shin rubber.
After cherrying out the leaking stock tank, Joe topped it off with a Westbury Big Baller Crown gas cap. The Russ Wernimont fender took four fittings before Joe was happy with the look, but he was definitely happy with the fender saying, ”Wernimont makes an absolutely dynamite fender.”
After welding the tabs on the frame for the Chopper Shox seat shocks and pan tastefully covered by Black Sheep Leather Company, it was paintin’ time. “I like basic primary colors. I’ve never did anything in brown never liked brown,” said Joe. “I just thought I’d do something out of my comfort zone.” Rick Gold of Goldfinger Design sprayed root beer all over it and Jake’s Pinstriping did the tasteful pinstriping that compliments the Triumph tank badge.
“It rides good, it’s very light and has harsh acceleration 0-60, real quick. Very bad brakes [laughs] and it’s loud. Just a lot of fun,” said Joe. Sounds perfect for a Friday night at the A&W.
Up Close: Westbury Gas Cap
It shouldn’t be a big surprise or just a coincidence of style that Greg Westbury’s gas cap ended up sitting on top of Joe DeJesus’s gas tank. Oh sure, like Joe said about it being a crown-shaped gas cap that stylishly represented his shop’s moniker of Crown Motor, that is absolutely true. But, how can you not appreciate something that just looks so cool and is so easy to install?
Joe DeJesus thought so too, although he may just have had a personal reason why he chose this particular style. “Since we’re Crown Motorz, we thought the crown would look cool on there. It’s almost British-like and you think of a crown when you think of Britain.”
The Big Baller Crown cap is just one of Westbury Handcrafted Motorcycles’ way cool, really finely built products like his finned aluminum Beehive oil filter that knocks me dead every time I see one. Greg’s got other cap styles too with one of my favorites being his Hard-Knocks gas cap that looks like it was previously a spinner off a ‘60s Halibrand mag in a former life. No big surprise there as Greg builds mighty fine hot rods, too, besides his wide-ranging portfolio of custom motorcycles.
One of the really neat features about the Big Baller cap is that it is available with a weld-in bung if you’re the ambitious type. If not, Greg has an optional adapter (and affordable) that simply screws into your stock Harley threaded opening and provides a inner-threaded platform to just screw any one of his caps in. No muss, no fuss.
Check out all of Greg’s stuff on Westbury Handcrafted Cycle’s website at www.westburyhotrods.com or call 925-682-9482 for more info.
Builder: Joe DeJesus Crown Motorz
Building custom motorcycles is a serious sideline of Joe DeJesus. He’s the owner of Casino Lighting and Sign in where else, lovely Las Vegas, but his passion has always been motorcycles in one form or another. He’s restored over 20 off-road bikes ranging from Husqvarnas, Rickmans, CZ’s, Bultacos, and lest we forget, Triumphs. That came somewhat naturally as Joe has competed in desert racing’s hallowed events like the Mint 400, Barstow to Vegas, Elsinore GP and a host of others. Crown is not his first foray in the motorcycle business. “I used to own a bike shop in Las Vegas, Motorcycle Tire Center, a big accessories company that did real well before the Internet started,” said Joe.
And yes, he’s a real builder, not a check signer. Crown Motorz came about in 2005 after he teamed up with his son-in-law, Brock Lammers, to tackle building custom motorcycles, and his daughter, Tristina, for just about everything else.
“I’m in the electric sign business, we build those big electric signs on the Strip. I’m kind of at a point in my life where I’m lucky enough to be able to do this, where I can afford to do this,” said Joe. “I worked hard all my life so it’s nice having a choice. What’s important to me about the whole thing, though, is that the hobby process of mine is so much more enriching with Brock and Tristina. It’s great to have somebody now to hand things off to and help me enjoy it. It would be very lonely without my family involvement and it keeps my kids close to me.”
What started as a hobby appears to be turning into a real business, one that Joe has high hopes for Brock to take over. Find out for yourself at www.crownmotorz.com.
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