There are a couple of things that people should know about Dave Carkhuff of Concord, CA, before reading the story about his bike. First of all, Dave loves anything with an engine and wheels. He throws some clothes in a bag and spends many of his weekends wrenching on a nostalgic top fuel car. He wasn't really the mayor of Antioch, no matter what his drunk friends might try and tell you. And for as many years as he has threatened to build a bike, he finally went and did it-you are looking at the end result.
One foggy Bay Area morning, Dave's phone rang, and it was Shawn from Frisco Choppers. Shawn was getting ready to call and order a couple of Santee frames that he had seen on sale, and thought of all the times that Dave talked about building a bike. Shawn pretty much told Dave to come to the shop and drop off a check-he was getting a new Santee frame because the price was too good to pass up. Dave drove across the bridge into The City, produced the check, and picked up his new frame-and that's how it all started.
So for the next couple of years, Dave would comb through the swap meet sections of the nostalgia drags between rounds, and he always came home with a little something for his bike. One week it would be a $25 gas tank from Bakersfield, or a set of $5 dirt track bars (that later turned out to be 7/8-inch) from Long Beach. Then there were the eBay scores like the Bates rear fender that was still in the original bag. There were even more bro-deals, like the $100 narrow glide frontend from Shawn at Frisco Choppers. There were bargains like the factory H-D 80-inch Evolution engine and five-speed transmission. And there were items that were kind of spendy-but worth every penny-like all of the Performance Machine hand and foot controls, PM primary drive, wheels from Black Bike, and the seat from Duane Ballard.
What helped Dave tremendously was the fact that one of his best friends is none other than Greg Westbury. Greg's input helped keep Dave on track, and Greg knows a thing or two about how all of the little details need to come together to make a motorcycle look amazing. Unmistakable Westbury trademarks like the ball mill marks on the triple trees, license plate mount along with his signature "Beehive" oil filter, and knockoff fuel cap make Dave's bike a Westbury Custom from any angle. And when it comes to getting quality help, he knows where to look.