THE SHOP GIRL
Emmi Cupp
Photos by Harleigh Cupp
At the age of 15 , when most girls are thinking about school dances and social media , Emmi Cupp is building a bike . And building bikes seems to be a family affair . “ The one who got me into motorcycles was my Dad , Jeremy Cupp ,” she said . “ All my life he ’ s been building bikes , going to shows and working in a machine shop . Everyone says I am a spitting image of him , and I ’ ve been around him and all his ‘ bike buddies ’ all my life .”
Emmi has been working in the shop with her dad for some time , starting with a small minibike build and later doing some leather work and smaller projects . Then her dad built a sidecar she calls his “ fun bike ,” which she helped him with . But then she got her first motorcycle , a 1958 T20 Triumph Tiger Cub , for Christmas – and she was hooked !
While Emmi ’ s been helping in the shop by sweeping floors and running a CNC machine , she also started creating her own shopthemed jewelry . “ I ’ m notorious for making people little trinkets and gifts for birthdays and Christmas ,” she said , “ so I ’ d already made a lot of jewelry and wallets in the past . I just decided to go for it , and called the company Shop Girl Jewelry and Leatherworks , and I even opened my own Etsy shop . While business isn ’ t as good as I ’ d like ,
“
AUNT TINY , MY BIKE , STARTED AS A SIMPLE LITTLE PROJECT ... NOW IT ’ S SOMETHING I WANT TO DO AS LONG AS I CAN .
I don ’ t really mind because all I want to do in the shop these days is work on my bike .”
Not only is she working on her own bike build – and funding it with the money she makes
‘ Aunt Tiny ’ – Emmi ’ s bike build – started out as a simple project ( below ), but now bike building is something she ’ d like to do as long as she can .
38 | MAY 2020 | THUNDERPRESS . NET