Birth Year Chopper

March 9, 2016

Article By: Mitch Bodine

Photos By: Kerri Schindler

Originally Published In The August 2013 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

Chris asked me to write this story on Teach’s Shovel build you see here. Instead of just writing the usual feature bike article, I thought it might be cool to first share one of my favorite Teach stories. It was during the Sturgis rally a few years ago during the Limpnickie Lot days. We were set up at the Buffalo Chip. My buddy Tom Freund and I came whipping back to the lot campsite in the golf cart around 3 or 4 a.m. It was like a ghost town; everyone was sleeping except for Teach who was standing there admiring his sweet ass Knuckleheads. It was kind of a funny sight, although who could blame him? I would probably do the same.

The three of us ended up bullshitting and drinking a bottle of blueberry vodka till well after the sun came up — good times! Now I’ll get on to the bike. Teach had built his buddy, Josh “HMIC” Arment of Aloha Monkey Tattoo in Burnsville, MN, his first bike awhile back. It was an 883 Sporty that he hardtailed and put a Springer on. It was a worthy first bike for Josh, but in time Josh was ready to move up. He wanted a 1978 Shovel. His birthday is 7-8-78 so this would be a true birthday bike. Teach found him a motor, and the project began. They worked a deal for Josh to pay for parts and they would trade off labor. Teach got his Knucklehead back piece in the deal — nice!

The motor was sent to Smiley’s Cycle Works in Prior Lake, MN for the buildup. Smiley’s used S&S internals and an Andrew’s C grind cam in the 98 inch beast of a motor. They went with an S&S Super E carb, and a Morris magneto was sourced from a swap meet to finish it off. The exhaust was built by Teach himself. The stock tin cover primary powers the kick-only Harley four speed trans. Josh will definitely be getting a work out kicking that 98” motor! The frame is a 2011 Paughco with stock dimensions. Teach chose one of my favorite forks: a Spartan Frameworks’ riveted Springer. He also custom made the bars to mount directly to the top tree. To round out the bars, JayBrake hand controls were used. Next, Teach laced up one of his 23” spool wheels for the front and went with a Cheng Shin Trial tire. Out back a stock Harley dual flange hub was laced to an 18” rim and an Avon MKII tire was mounted. To stop this beast, a Harley rear caliper and disc were used as the braking power.

The sheet metal was all Teach as he modified the Sporty peanut tank and used one of his Baas Metal Craft rear fenders with custom fabbed struts. He also handmade the badass mid controls and went with one of his seat pans which was covered by Jordan from Union Speed. The headlight and taillight are from Teach’s stash pile at his shop. Finally it was time for the paintjob. All of the paint and prep work was handled by Zee’s Custom Paint in Savage, MN. The paint is PPG black and candy yellow; the graphics that Brent and Jimmy laid out are awesome. You can see it spells out seventy-eight across the tank; a very cool touch. After eight months of many late nights and a long cold Minnesota winter, Teach had the bike finished and road-ready for Josh to take it out for his inaugural birthday ride. The 7-8-78 was complete.