Back Issues Feature Bikes In The Magazine

Swingarm Shovel

March 1, 2011

Groovies Got Game Swingarm Shovel

Article by: Chris Callen Photos by: Hunter

Hunter Johnson operates a shop in Phoenix, AZ. under the name Groovie’s Cycle Shop and although he is part of the young crowd, he comes about his wrench skills honestly. His old man, he says, is something of a Harley genius so he just followed his lead and picked up the habit. Although he is partial to Harleys, Hunter likes everything cool so if an opportunity comes up, he’ll make stuff for anything.

Often times, Groovie finds great steals on Craig’s List but rarely have any of us heard about one like the deal that brought this Shovel to him. It was a simple post that read “Wanted” and attracted a man who found himself in bad times who had this Shovel for sale. Hunter and his dad rolled over to the cat’s pad to check it out and as you would expect, it was a generic, run-of-the- mill Shovel but had shades of its former glory. They picked it up for $1700 which would have alone been an awesome price, but when you factor in that he sold enough of the stock parts on it for about nine hundred dollars, the cost ended up being under a grand.

The bike sat around the shop for a month or so until they got around to tearing it down. Underneath all that bullshit was a serious engine. The cases had been polished and upon inspection, Hunter could tell there had been plenty of work put into it. The mill was solid and so was the tranny. Once the layers had been peeled away, it was looking pretty good. Hunter had a ton of parts lying around the place that were perfect for this build. He had the black wheels, welded up a Sporty fender to give it some flare and along with his dad, Kage, he bent the handlebars from scratch. A Biltwell seat was the finishing touch and in the end, he realized there really weren’t a lot of parts that went into it. This was more of an exercise in simplicity and once it was trimmed down, it was the way it was supposed to look.

One thing that remained was the stock fatbob tanks, complete with color and factory graphics. Once the bike was finished, those stock tanks would lead its original owner to find it. Hunter had placed the bike for sale in some ads and from the photo he ran, he received a call from a cat who claimed to have had the Shovel for 15 years.

Having a hard time believing him, Hunter hung up from the call and wondered. The man would eventually show up at the shop to see his old girl, complete with photos of how he used to have it dressed. He expressed how much he wanted to buy it back but was low on funds and couldn’t swing it at that time.

This isn’t a one and only from Groovie’s, man. He has a list of cool shit on his site at grooviescycleshop. blogspot.com, too. He was also, for anyone who missed last month’s magazine, the creator of the “This Is My Scene” video that has been all the rage of late. Be sure to check him out.