'Biker Build-Off' Competition Won By Mitchell Shop

[totalmotorcycle]

'Biker Build-Off' Competition Won By Mitchell Shop
Monday, October 30, 2006 - Yankton Press and Dakotan - yankton.net



MITCHELL (AP) -- A custom creation from a Mitchell motorcycle shop has won a television show competition.

Brian Klock and Todd Snedeker, co-owners of Klock Werks Kustom Cycles of Mitchell, and their team of builders beat a team from Indianapolis during a recently aired episode of Discovery Channel's "Biker Build-Off."

The team constructed a custom bagger -- also known as a road sofa -- which is a bike with a fairing to block the wind for the rider and saddle bags. The Klock Werks team and the group from Chopsmiths Handbuilt Motorcycles built the bikes during a 10-day period in July.



"Baggers are not as cool to see, but they are fun as hell to ride," said Klock, 40. "We knew we could build wild stuff, or crazy stuff. We do it all. So we decided to go with this idea."

Their "Way Fast Bagger," or WFB, boasts a 124-cubic-inch twin-cam style motor with a closed loop fuel injection system, six-speed transmission and carbon fiber wheels. The team built its own gauge and headlight housings and wheel spacers.

The teams drove their custom motorcycles on a 700-mile trek from Des Moines, Iowa, to Sturgis, where the bikes spent a week on display at the town's annual motorcycle rally.

The cycle lived up to its name.

After the Sturgis visit, the Klock Werks team continued west to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and set a land-speed record for a bagger-style motorcycle.

"It felt like being on a huge frozen lake. I half-expected to see someone ice fishing," said Laura Ellifson, who drove the bagger during its record run. "The atmosphere at the salt flats was friendly, and we were surprised how many people were curious to see how fast this type of bike could go."

Klock opened his Mitchell shop in 1997, and it has since grown from a 700-square-foot garage to a 7,500-square-foot building. Snedeker, of Woonsocket, joined Klock in 2004.

Klock Werks has been building custom baggers for 10 years, but they are particularly hot now, Klock said. The shop is continuing to build one-of-a-kind bikes and has been booked solid with bagger orders since the Sturgis display.

"As good looking as they are, and as fast, they're absolutely dead smooth and all-day comfortable," Klock said.