Klock Werks Indian Scout WW2 Tribute Bike

When Indian Motorcycle and USO reps approached Brian Klock, founder of Klock Werks Kustom Cycles, about building a one-off showbike for their Scout Inspired Custom Series, Klock knew exactly the direction he wanted to take.

“I’ve done wild custom builds,” Klock said. “But with this project I wanted to reach back to the old, great iron horses of the day. That didn’t mean we’d necessarily revert to old-school controls such as a hand-shift setup and so on. I’d be starting with a new Scout, and that alone would give this bike a ‘today’ kind of look. Also, I wanted this to be an ‘everyman’ bike and make it easy for the average owner to build one for himself. ”

To kick things off, Klock and his team covered the shop walls with all the images they could find of WWII military bikes so they could soak in the look and feel of these period machines. Common components soon emerged. Elements that would go on the project bike: windshield, floorboards, wire wheels, leather saddlebags, rugged-duty tires. And Klock purposely chose standard-stock Indian/Polaris parts for all these needs, albeit sometimes with a little helping hand. The Indian Chieftain floorboards, for example, were fit up with adapters Klock Werks now offers for sale as a kit. A race-style tire groover gave the stock Indian tires a more rugged, industrial-style countenance, and the standard Indian Scout windscreen was swathed in leather shielding as per common wartime fitment.

Other eye-catching items developed for the build have become Klock Werks accessories, such as the curvaceous, old-school-look Klassic front fender and the period solo seat. And as with all custom jobs, other items were secured from existing aftermarket sources, such as the hot-rod-shop taillights that are of a design common to the era. But high-tech aids also lend a hand in the form of the shock covers and a few other tidbits created as rapid prototype printed parts, which were then painted matte green along with the other major parts by Brad Smith and The Factory Match shop.

And, yes, that is a genuine Thompson “Tommy gun” resting in the heavy saddle-leather scabbard. This rifle, however, is a legal, semi-auto only rifle from Auto-Ordnance, not fully automatic. But it’s adorned with a very special walnut wood stock laser-engraved by Boyds Gunstocks—a nearby neighbor also located in Klock Werks’ hometown of Mitchell, South Dakota. With the Indian Motorcycles logo on the left side and the USO emblem on the right, it’s a fitting way to cap off this splendid build.

“With this bike I wanted to pay tribute to our brothers and sisters in the military, who put their lives on the line for our country,” Klock said. “Hopefully I’ve done that. It’s certainly been an honor for me to be a part of this project. And when you’re at a show, and an old veteran comes up to you and says, ‘I rode a bike like this in the war,’ I tell you what—that’s pretty humbling.”