Denver Paul’s Shovel

April 6, 2016

Article By Chad Lemme

Photos By: Chris Callen

Originally Published In The February 2012 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

If you’ve never been to Bare Knuckle Choppers’ annual holiday party, I’m sorry, ‘cause that shit is fun! At one point, Shannon was doing a burnout up against the building with his monster truck; naturally, Darren and I lit it on fire. I woke up under Nichole’s desk with an entire box of t-shirts on top of me, and Chris was snoring at full volume. When he woke up he said, “That was the most hillbilly shit I’ve ever seen ! ” You’re all invited next year! But let me back up here. A few days prior, Paul from Bare Knuckle, told me about some crazy assholes coming from Colorado to party with us. And crazy they were. Rockin’ Beers, Josh, Joe, and Paul were doin’ shitty’s in the parking lot with the rental van and the cops showed up with guns drawn. This was a Thursday. By some grace of God, nobody went to jail, or whatever metaphysical answer you’ve decided on. Right before the party, Denver Paul showed up with a very beautiful Cameron in tow and this badass Shovel to boot. Turns out, I had met Denver Paul a few years prior while I was building a giveaway bike with what was then the Black Label Tour. So we caught up a bit and he told me about this fine piece of equipment that he put together himself. Darren and I were both commenting on the fact that this thing looked different than other bikes out there because of the narrow nature of the whole thing but with fat bob tanks. It seemed like a combination that would be tough to make look right, but Paul nailed it! Let me share his story of this build with you all.

One day, this fella walks up and asks how much Paul would need to part with his ‘86 Heritage. Not really wanting to sell it, Paul rattled off a rather large number, and away it went! Now I never run across these good deals you hear about; I must have been an asshole in a previous life or something. After this, Paul picked up a ‘76 FXD in running order for only $4,000. Some guys have all the luck! At Paul’s place of employment, Phat Rides in Loveland, Co., he immediately began cutting away the unnecessary crap the factory feels that you need. I was told to pass along a sincere “thank you” to Randy for allowing him to chop this thing to pieces in his shop but also for all the years of guidance and wisdom as well. The first thing to go was the back half of the chassis and it was replaced with a Bare Knuckle Choppers’ hardtail kit. This killer machine was also outfitted with a set of their controls too. To round out the back half, Paul took to a steel fender armed with little more than a bit of ScotchBrite, and quickly had it powdercoated in clear. It made for a really nice finish that matched the stainless parts of this build like the handlebars for example. These were scored for something like fifty bucks (of course he got ‘em cheap) and were attacked with the ScotchBrite as well, but not after removing a couple inches from the center. On top of looking really nice, Paul has a little trick coming off the internal throttle. He removes the original cable sleeve and replaces it with a mountain bike brake cable sleeve. It makes the cable assembly much more maneuverable along with being a lot narrower. The bars sit atop a set of Mullins’ chain drive triple trees which hold the 41mm tubes and shaved-by-Paul legs. Rounding out the frontend is a Wargasser spool to keep it simple as well as appealing. This frontend is T-I-T, TIGHT! But the tanks are what really stand out on this shiny Shovel. See, the insides of the tanks were painted with a pearl white but the outsides were done in black. He said it looked funny alone, but it sure looks good together.

Paul made all of this motorbike on his own and from his own ideas including the struts, stainless exhaust, bitchin’ key switch mount, oil bag, and the list goes on. But the parts that mean the most to him are the Super E carb and the seat, which he also hammered out himself. A dear friend and talented tattoo artist passed away awhile back and always had trouble with this carb, so Paul decided to get ‘er up and running in his honor. Not only this, but Paul also hammered one of his sketches right into the seat: Nicko. May he rest in peace. After this great tale of Shovel chopping, we decided to get blind drunk and light almost everything in sight on fire. We drank Mighty Whitey’s Fighting Fluid out of Bare Knuckle Springer parts, spray painted 50% of Gotta Go Joe’s body black, and stood our ground all eight times the fuzz rolled in to break up our innocent fun. But I’m truly pleased to have been able to catch up with Denver Paul, meet his wonderful wife Cameron and share his story of this fine build with you all. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. See ya all at next year’s holiday party.