While the following article does not feature a bagger, we felt supporting Klock Werks, Victory Motorcycles and Donate Life America as well as the families of Vic Briggs and Austin Shimon as something we should do. Check it out- the information, the awesome custom bike and make up your own mind. Whether a bagger rider or not, this is one cool motorcycle and it could be yours.-T.

Tattooed for LIFE: Custom motorcycle fabricated by Klock Werks that started life as a Victory Kingpin. Links to enter raffle below.

Bike Imagery: Michael Lichter 

Klock Werks, of Mitchell, South Dakota, is well known in the bagger world not only for its custom motorcycles and parts (like the Flare windshield), and records on the Salt Flats, but by the people that run it. At the helm is the wife and husband team of Laura and Brian Klock and the ever positive, Big Joe Mielke. Over the years we’ve watched Brian develop as a builder and businessman and then family man and role model when he and Laura, along with her daughters, joined forces.

Over the past few years the Klock team hit its stride and put the company at or near the top of many insider’s ‘best of’ lists. Laura, Brian and team seem poised to take their place in the motorcycle industry hierarchy as many of the legends are nearing or past retirement age. Victory Motorcycles notices trends like other manufacturers, but unlike most of the others, they embrace and support forward-thinking companies such as  Klock Werks and Roland Sands Designs. While the partnerships and promotions are different than the Ness crew and their Signature Series models, Victory makes it very clear they like and respect what others in the industry build and create.

We hear about giving back a lot in the motorcycle industry; it’s very popular to be on certain wagons, such as supporting the military or various charities. Although it’s easier to say than do.

Due to the unfortunate loss of two people very close to the Klock Werks’ family, Klock Werks and Victory Motorcycles are using its resources to educate and give back. Vic Briggs, a beloved member of the Klock Werks team, died as the result of an auto accident in June 2011. Vic was just 29 when he passed. Vic was a registered organ donor and his spirit and heartbeat is alive and well, fueling the life of a teenaged boy.

It‘s in Vic’s  memory that Klock Werks and Victory Motorcycles teamed up to create “Tattooed for LIFE,” a dazzling Victory custom that will be raffled to raise funds for Vic’s four young children and to raise organ donor awareness. Proceeds from the raffle will benefit “The Br Kids,” Vic’s four children whose names all begin with ‘Br’: Brooke, Brittany, Brandy and Brycen.

The bike and organ-donor awareness effort also pay tribute to Austin Shimon, a friend of the Klock Werks team and son of one of Laura’s lifelong friends, who died in 2009 at the age of 20, following a motorcycle accident. Like Vic, Austin too was an organ donor whose short-lived life helped and enriched the lives of many others. Click the Austin Shimon link below for Laura’s own, personal and powerful account.

Many of you saw Tattooed for LIFE at the nationwide IMS shows. The bike will continue traveling throughout the country to major bike shows ending up in Daytona for Biketoberfest (Vic’s favorite motorcycle event) when the raffle winner is selected.

Surprisingly, Tattooed for LIFE started out as a 2010 Victory Kingpin. Klock wanted to honor Vic’s passion for sportbikes by morphing the classic cruiser into a café racer. Among the bike’s custom features are the clip-on handlebars, modified rearset foot controls, headlight with the Frenched-in speedo, added a second front brake setup, hopped up engine and custom exhaust, Klock Werks front fender and lots of black powdercoating. Brian said the team created a handbuilt steel rear tail section using a factory Victory Hammer tailight, and they were proud to have retained the stock frame and stock seat. Darren Wenzel of Gasoline Art in Austin, Texas, provided the custom Satin White PPGpaint. The graphics on the fuel tank and side covers replicate Vic’s tattoos, while Austin’s initials appear on the tail section. The Donate Life logo appears on the tank.

Click HERE for a video featuring Brian Klock discussing Vic, Austin and Tattooed for LIFE.

The raffle will continue until October 20, 2012, when the winner’s name is drawn during Biketoberfest.

Click HERE or on Austin’s photo below for a PDF of Laura Klock’s “Any Road” column about Austin Shimon’s life and how he changed and influenced her world and many others:

Here are some interesting stats from Donate Life America (*as of March 2012):
113,115 Total People Waiting for a Donor*
     63,016= Multicultural Individuals*
     1,801=Pediatric/Children*
 
28,535 Organ Transplants Performed in 2011
14,144 Organ Donors in 2011

For more information about organ donation, click the Donate Life image.