'84/'47 Shovel Knuckle - Super Cool From Super Co

Hidden deep in the big city of Los Angeles is a little-known secret - a cool little custom bike shop called Super Company Customs. This shop is known for taking dead bikes from the past, giving them a new heart, and then bringing them back to life by tricking them out with the true soul of their intended riders. The shop has been around for about 10 years but only started getting serious about bikes five years ago. Owned by Trevelen, the shop originally started out working on mostly Chevy Impalas for the Japanese market but would also build a bike now and then, Far East style.

After the overseas car market started to decline, the bike biz was still booming and since Trevelen came from both backgrounds he decided to concentrate fully on bikes. When he decided to start doing just bikes, most people didn't understand Trevelen's style. At the time, most people were into fat tires, loud paintjobs, and billet-heavy bikes. Trevelen's father was a flat-track racer back in the '60s. He raced with famous racers such as Swede Savage, Dwayne Ketter, Dickie Mann, and Fast Eddie Worth. He always told Trevelen, "You build a bike the way you see it and stay with that style."

The shop has history and culture coming from East L.A. and everyone who works or is involved in the shop has a craftsman degree in biker lifestyle, and not because they saw it on TV. Four generations of bike builders work at the shop starting with Chilly Willy of the first generation, then Mansion Mike who Trevelen watched build bikes when he was younger. Then there's Trevelen himself and Jorn, known as Fast Swede, from the third generation. The fourth generation is 16-year-old Omar learning the traditions from the older gurus.

Trevelen got a call one day from a friend by the name of Scott Craig from Chopperville Custom Cycles. He told him that Jay had a frame for sale and was letting it go for really cheap. The next day Trevelen took a ride to check out the frame and as soon as he saw it he decided to buy it - for a price he couldn't pass up. They brought the frame back to the shop to get started on a new project deciding to go a different route with the drivetrain and combine a knuckle top end with a shovel lower end. So Fast Swede contacted Anders of Flathead Power for the right combination. After they received the top end from Flathead Power, Fast Swede contacted Rich over at STD for the custom shovel case to accommodate knuckle lifter blocks.

After the motor was finished, Trevelen called the folks at Baker Drivetrain to tell them what he planned for this build. They said, "No problem, we'll build the trans for it and have it shipped out by the end of the week." The 3-inch open beltdrive is a Rivera/Primo that links the trans and motor together.

As Baker was building the trans, Trevelen, Mansion Mike, Chilly Willy, and Bromar started mocking-up and fabricating the rest of the bike. When the bike was fully mocked-up it was time to take the sheetmetal to Mexico Collision Center in Lynwood, California. Mexico decided to shoot a Candy Root Beer Brown with a Pearl White racing stripe. After the paint was finished, the crew took the bike to Danny Galvez at D&D design to give it the fine-line pinstriping and gold leaf lettering.

The braking system is an Exile sprotor kit with the forward controls done in house by both Trevelen and Old Man Nick. The front and rear rims were laced up and balanced by Mark over at Black Bike. The seat was handtooled by Clutch and leather-laced by Kettle Black.

The bike took a total of three months to build. As it was coming to the end of the build everyone in the shop was trying to figure out how to keep the bike for themselves; however, in the end, the bike was sold to Big Huero, but Trevelen let all the guys think that he was just building a shop bike. We think deep down he was hoping to keep it as a shop bike too. The consolation is, as with any great artist out there, Trevelen looks at each bike as an opportunity to build something even cooler. With that attitude, we can't wait to see the next one.