Welcome to Klock Werks Kustom Cycles

Welcome to Klock Werks Kustom Cycles

Welcome to Klock Werks Kustom Cycles!

Every shop has a story of "how it all began".

We thought you might enjoy learning a little more about Klock Werks - how it started

and what it's grown into today. Here's a Note From Brian Klock:

When I was a kid, my parents owned a small gas station in Emery, South Dakota, population 384, where we resided in one half of the building. That could very well be where my knowledge and love of cars and motorcycles started. I guess it’s not a surprise I am where I am today when I realize I was a young entrepreneur with a love of all things motorized even back then.

We laugh now as we look at the photos of the cars my brothers and I would spray paint in the garage at home. It turned into more than just messing around for me. It lead to my first FXR project in 1988, and then to my first Kustom in 1990 that won several major awards. John “Quigley” Patton let me start Klock Werks in his garage at home, and in 1996 he helped me finish a turbo-charged bagger for my dad. He mentored me on how to deal with Baggers in general. Our first magazine spread happened in 1997 just as we moved Klock Werks to a little single-car garage with no sign. I had hired Dan Cheeseman, my first ever employee and now C.O.O. and it was in that garage where we learned a lot about pacing ourselves, customer service, and of course bikes – everything from kustoms to Sportsters to Baggers. When you’re located in the proverbial “middle of nowhere”, running a Kustom bike shop can be daunting, so you work on whatever comes through the door, including all of your dad’s friends’ bikes.

I studied guys like Donnie Smith, Arlen &, Cory Ness, Dave Perewitz, Jim Betlach, Lee Clemens, Don Hotop, Tom Motzko, Grady Pfeiffer, Tank, and many more in those early years. It was both fun and challenging. Now, to be in the same room with them at major events is just as exciting since I am such a fan of our industry! My respect for these guys and a desire to never fail kept me in that small garage “under the radar” for a lot of years.

Here's some photos you might enjoy of our first shop, first awards, and many of our first kustoms:

Then in 2004 with the help of a bunch of friends and well wishers, we moved into our current location. And with a sign above the door, Joe Mielke and my wife Laura added to the staff, we were about to embark on the next stage of our adventure.

Laura provided the focus for our still small group and more importantly pushed me to execute on ideas and designs I had previously held close and not given the light-of-day. New software systems, a bigger building, and Quigley finally getting the dyno he’d been harping about all those years. Wow, this was really happening! We started to develop our Klock Werks Brand product line with focus on quality and fitment when the call came to participate in the Discovery Channel Biker Build Off in 2006. We took a chance, said yes, and strategized about how we could debut our new parts ideas. We incorporated them all into the design of the first bagger ever built for the show, and we won!

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