It was a cold and rainy Ohio afternoon and Old School Jeff, a Sucker Punch Sally partner, was dreaming up his next bike. It had to outdo the bikes he’d built before, represent the company, and it had to be ride-able. Jeff’s deadline, to have the bike finished by the Big, V-twin expo, but distractions at the Sucker Punch shop threatened to burn time. Since Jeff and his partner Donny formed Sucker Punch almost two years ago, Jeff mocked up their manufactured bikes one-after-another in a stupor. Ya see, they don’t crank out models. Every scooter is a one-off creation.
So in between SPS bikes, and few specialty custom bikes, he burnt his creative candle at both ends. “He outdid himself every time,” Ken Conte a SPS staffer said recently. “Everytime he attemped to build himself a ride it got sold before he had a chance to break it in.” This time it was going to be different. He wanted to build a piece of class for the show and Daytona with SPS traditional old school flavor and some modern bling. Jeff is known for working enough hours and the effort of two people, but it’s still his labor of love, his addiction, his hobby and his art.
Jeff knew he wanted a satin finish on the bike, so he called up the guys at Black Bike and ordered a 21-inch spoker for up front and a 17×7 for the back, both satin polished aluminum. He was sure there was a frame lying around the shop, and there was. A classic, rare, straight-leg frame from ’56 or ’57, but it was just too damn narrow in the back to fit the wide 7-inch rim, so he hacked it apart and spread those shapely legs. He wanted to use a Sucker Punch, H-Bomb oil-bag but had never done one in gloss black. This bike was going to be different.
He gave Donny a Shovelhead motor he found in a barn and asked him to freshen it up a bit. Donny rebuilt the entire motor and bored it out to 80-inches. To stick with the aluminum idea, Jeff called Bossley's Cycle and asked them to make a classic aluminum, peanut tank. Once he got it he decided to do some mods, so he centered the gas cap and made the tunnel deeper.
He knew he wanted a front brake, but that would mean mastering some engineering in order to use the V-Twin, Springer reproduction. He got it handled, put a PM brake front and back, and machined the axle up front. While he was at the lathe, he decided to make some cool, brass foot and shifter pegs. The engine would be mated to a Midwest, four-speed he had lying around, and connected with a BDL, open primary.
Once he had everything mocked up, the betting began. Jeff said he wasn’t going to sell the bike until fall; it was January. The crew, at the shop, bet he couldn’t hang onto it. Jeff and Donny have a problem most builders would kill for, they can’t seem to hold on to any of their bikes after they put them on the Web site.
As soon as the paint came back and it started to really take shape, the stakes got higher. There was no way he could hold on to such a sharp-looking bike, the silver frame with a flamed tank, and that gloss black oil bag. Tension grew, the odds were jacked.
The bike made it to the V-Twin expo and was featured in the House of Kolor booth, and a few pictures made it to Sucker Punch Web site. Jeff’s wife, Bev, who handle web maintenance, jokingly named it “Shovel Love” without anyone at the shop knowing it. They kept getting calls about a bike called “Shovel Love” and no one knew what the hell was going on. Finally someone on staff checked the Web site, and the ribbing and teasing hasn’t stopped since. No self-respecting biker can put “love” in a bike name, so officially this is Old School Jeff’s Flamed Shovel. That’s bullshit and everyone knows it. You can see the love in every component and in Jeff’s eyes whenever he straddles her.
BIKERNET SPEC CHART FOR SPS
Owner: Jeff Cochran, Sucker Punch Sally’s
City/State: Miamitown, Ohio
Builder: Jeff
Company contact info: www.suckerpunchsallys.com
Fabrication: Jeff
Manufacturing Time: Three weeks
Welding: Jeff
Machining: Jeff
Engine
Year: This one
Make: H-D
Model: Barn Shovel
Displacement:80 cubic inches
Builder or Rebuilder: Donny Loos
Cases: S&S
Case finish: polished
Barrels: S
Pistons: S&S
Barrel finish: black paint
Lower end: S&S
Rods: S&S
Heads: S&S
Head finish: polished aluminum
Valves and springs: S&S
Pushrods: adjustable
Cams: S&S
Lifters: Solids
Carburetion: S&S super E
Other: chrome velocity stack
Transmission
Year: ’05
Make: Midwest
Gear configuration: 4-speed
Final drive: chain
Primary: BDL
Clutch: BDL
case finish: polished
Frame
Year: 1956
Make: H-D
Style or Model: straightleg
Stretch: nope
Rake: stock
Modifications: trimmed and powered
Front End
Make: aftermarket
Model: H-D replica
Year: 1948
Length: stock
Mods: chromed
Sheet metal
Tanks: Bossley aluminum modified by Jeff
Fenders: Jeff modified Yaffe
Fender struts: Jeff
Oil tank: H-Bomb by SPS
Other: no front fender
Paint
Sheet metal: Brandon Armstrong
Molding: Brandon Armstrong
Base coat: black
Graphics: Brandon flames
Frame: Silver by Brandon
Wheels
Front
Make: Black Bike
Size: 21-inch
Brake calipers: Performance Machine
Brake rotor(s): Performance Machine
Tire: Avon
Rear
Make: Black Bike
Size: 17/7/200
Brake calipers: Performance Machine
Brake rotor: Performance Machine
Pulley: Custom Chrome Sprocket
Tire: 200 Avon
Controls
Foot controls:
Finish:
Master cylinder:
Brake lines:
Handlebar controls: Performance Machine
Finish: chrome
Clutch Cable: brass rod to suicide clutch
Brake Lines: braided
Electrical
Ignition: kick
Regulator: Compu-Fire
Charging: Compu-Fire
Wiring: Jeff
Headlight: 4.5-inch mini
Taillight: Cateye
What’s Left
Seat: SPS/Dave Theobald
Pipes: Jeff, stainless
Mufflers: none
Exhaust finish: stainless
Handlebars: Apes
Grips: yep
Pegs: Brass by Jeff
Oil filter: spin-on BDL
Oil cooler: nope
Oil lines: rubber hose
Comments: Built in 3 weeks for Daytona. Jeff says he will keep it until fall we all have bets he will sell it before hand. Jeff took an old straight leg frames and widened it so he could shove a 200 tire out back, all brass was turned by Jeff, motor was rebuilt by Donny Loos it was found in a bran and completely done over. Exhaust are Stainless that was bent and welded by Jeff, had to change handlebars for Daytona then put the apes back on when they got back home
