The 1990 Harley Davidson FXR-P named Iris began life as a stock police bike purchased by Brian Klock in the fall of the same year from J&L Harley-Davidson in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
“It was my first new bike,” comments Brian. “Jim Betlach who worked for Drag Specialties at the time said I could buy a police model cheaper and why not if I was really going to update or change all the parts. Jim Enteman was riding this as his demo bike that year and it was the right deal for me. I will never forget the look at my dad’s face when he learned that I had taken it apart down to the bare frame! A perfectly good brand new bike…, he said.”
That fall Brian took the frame to Donnie Smith’s shop in Minneapolis to have it raked- upon the advice of another local legend, Leo Hess- of Full Blast Engineering. Since that time, Brian has been fortunate to be able to call on Donnie for advice.
“We won shows from Daytona to Sturgis with that bike and it was never featured in a magazine till now because I didn’t want to get famous too fast and disappoint my customers. To this day, backorders on our custom parts haunt me, so much for not being well known. It was as we grew the business that I finally had to let it go. Luckily as Iris changed hands, she stayed in town and was still the same, as Max Ellefson cared for her right here in Mitchell,” said Brian.
Dan Cheeseman was Klock Werks first employee. He remembers the day he saw Iris in the local car show at Hitchcock park. It was then, he too became infatuated with custom Harley’s. Years later, in his first year with Klock Werks, he entered it in the biggest show of Sturgis, the Rat’s Hole show in city park. You can imagine the announcer as he called out Mr. Cheeseman as the winner of the Rat’s Hole. He thought this young kid made that name up; regardless Iris had once again wowed them with her simple timeless design and deep purple House of Kolor paint.
In 2010 Brian, Dan and the crew at Klock Werks built another FXR that was slated to wear a single color that will highlight the kustom tricks and simplicity in detail they have become known for. They were paired with Donnie Smith during Michael Lichter’s exhibit called Eternal Combustion. The exhibit was located at the entrance to the Buffalo Chip Campground. 30 builders were building 30 bikes for the museum-type setting that paired teachers with their students as a tribute to Lichter’s 30 years of famous bike photography.
In 2023 Iris came home to Klock Werks. Check out the video below and hear the story of Iris directly from Brian Klock.
