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SPRINGFIELD, MA – His father, Fritzie Baer, ran the factory dealership at the original Indian Motorcycle plant and Butch Baer got his first ride as a newborn on a 1923 Indian with sidecar. He’s been riding ever since, but after a couple of driveway drops last year, it looked like Baer’s riding days might be coming to an end.
That is, until the Indian Motorcycle of Springfield dealership in nearby Westfield used the annual Indian Day rally at the Springfield Museums on Sunday to deliver a new 2017 Indian Scout Sixty trike to the 90-year-old Baer. “Love it,” said Baer after taking his place in the saddle.
Baer has been restoring and collecting old Indians for decades, is both a historian and Indian expert, and has the family-run “Motorcyclist’s Post.”
Dealership owner Dennis Bolduc did the presentation honors, having used a prototype Champion trike kit to quickly adapt the Scout Sixty. “It should have been a reality TV show,” said Bolduc of the build process. “We worked late a couple of nights. We worked to midnight.”
After getting a quick run-through on the bike’s operation, Baer took it for a short spin around the rally’s show ground. “Now he can ride again. He wanted to ride and two wheels wouldn’t work,” said Baer’s son, Tim Baer.
Baer was told to bring the Scout Sixty trike back to the dealership within a few hundred miles to make sure everything was ship-shape. Given his evident pleasure in receiving it, that visit will likely come very soon.
– By Bud Wilkinson
