Convoy of Chrome follows Click home
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About 200 motorcycles escorted the hearse carrying Click Baldwin’s body from the airport Thursday
July 31, 2008 - 7:40PM
Fran Farlow
CHARLOTTE - Police motorcycles with sirens shrieking led the black Cadillac hearse down Wilkinson Boulevard.
A chrome convoy more than 200 riders strong streamed out of the parking lot and trailed the black carriage east Thursday afternoon.
Nothing else would do for Click Baldwin's last ride home from the airport.
Friends planned an impromptu processional for the Carolina Harley-Davidson Buell owner who died Tuesday after a motorcycle wreck in Montana. Harley-Davidson USA flew Baldwin's body to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in a company jet.
"It's really hard to lose a brother like this, but it's a whole lot harder for the family," said Bill "Blastoff" Starnes, a ride organizer. "We want to not only show our support for Click but to show our support for his family. Click was a biker. This is what bikers do. This is how we support our brothers."
Riders gathered at the Ranch House Restaurant on Wilkinson Boulevard and waited for Baldwin's hearse to pass. An afternoon storm delayed the plane's 3:30 p.m. arrival, and men and women stood under awnings and shared Click Baldwin stories while rain pooled in the parking lot.
Eugene "Wolf" Barrett met Baldwin 20 years ago and said his impact on the community is immeasurable.
"He was a good man, and he did a lot of good things for this community," Barrett said. "Every time you turned around, he was doing a charity ride to help raise money for people."
Baldwin participated in the annual Kyle Petty Charity Ride to benefit seriously ill children and took part in poker runs, benefit rides and numerous other motorcycle rides and rallies.
He provided local law enforcement agencies with new Harley-Davidson police bikes at $1 per year leases, and the Gastonia and Belmont police chiefs said their motorcycle patrols might not exist without Baldwin's generosity.
Police motorcycles with blue lights flashing and sirens shrieking led the black Cadillac hearse carrying Baldwin's body past the restaurant where riders waited to join the procession. Bikes streamed out of the parking lot and trailed the hearse as it made its way east.
"He deserves it," Barrett said. "I think any of them here would deserve the same thing. We're like a brotherhood. We're a close family, and we take care of each other like a big family."
Baldwin's 2009 Harley-Davidson struck a 1999 Honda Civic Tuesday morning on U.S. 12 outside Lolo, Mont. The 54-year-old Baldwin was thrown from his bike and hit the pavement and a highway signpost. He was not wearing a helmet, according to the Montana Highway Patrol.
He was flown to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Mont. and died Tuesday night after an emergency surgery.
About 50 to 75 riders gathered at Long John's Cycles in Belmont before riding on to the Ranch House. With a lone shout of "Saddle up!" men and women straddled their bikes and rumbled off to meet their counterparts in Charlotte.
The Gastonia chapter of the Harley Owners Group turned out to salute their former president. Baldwin's generous nature earned him lifelong loyalty, said Bud White, Gastonia HOG treasurer.
"I just feel like it's something that we all want to give thanks and do a little something for everything he did for us," White said.
Many riders were Baldwin's lifelong buddies, but Charlotte resident Kim Balekomoso had known him for less than a year. Still, the new rider who bought her first Harley from Baldwin in February said he made an indelible impression on everyone he met.
"Click was a very nice guy, a very beautiful guy," said Balekomoso. "I hate that he had to go home so soon, but we're all called one day or another."
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/baldwin_23324___article.html/click_harley.html You can reach Corey Friedman at 704-869-1828.
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Topic: Click Baldwin`s body is flown home by Harley Davidson (Read 969 times)