R I P - Bill Fleming

[Sue]

This morning I received a call that Bill Fleming, owner of the former C & D BMW, passed away in his sleep at his fishing cabin "up north" sometime during the night time hours.

C & D was located in Freeport, Illinois and closed about 10 years ago, but friends still stop by every Saturday morning for coffee, conversation, kicking tires, & telling lies.

Many of us in the upper midwest will attest to Bill's incredible knowledge about the old twins, and his down-to-earth attitudes.

Sympathies to his son Doug, wife Norma, and ex-wife-but-still-friend, Jan.

[swall]

Truly a shame. I had many good dealings with Bill, even though Freeport was a 4 hour ride from South Bend, In. Once he got to know me, I would just call up and order parts and he would just tell me to send a check when I got the stuff. Too bad BMW had to choose between C&D and Kegel as the northwestern Illinois dealer. Now they're both gone.

[jdiaz]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The most pleasant man I've ever met......everyone was a friend, even a dopey kid from Chicago who always wanted to watch work being done on his bike. I learned a ton about BMWs from Bill.

[Sue]

Stories about C&D and how they did business are the stuff that the MOA was built on.

One year, Brian was returning to Wisconsin following a Poverty-Ride tour. His old bike at that time - Old Reliable - was running without an alternator for the last 200 miles. He limped that bike along without lights until it finally stopped a few miles from Freeport. He called the Flemings - they came out and picked him up, after which they closed a bar in downtown Freeport. Brian is the first one to add that when he woke up in his tent, behind the shop the following morning, Bill already had half of the electrics torn out of the bike and was on the way to getting it repaired.

Another time, Brian's bike & all of his belongings burned up in a house fire. (No insurance in those days.) He called C & D to talk about what he could do to get another bike. Bill and Jan said "We've got one here for you - an R100S --- it's EXACTLY perfect for you. Come and get it, and pay us when you can."

Brian still rides that bike ... he calls it "Old Resentful"

[jdiaz]

Great story Sue! I know everyone has at least one.

One of my favorites: Bill was an engineer at Honeywell before moving to the motorcycle shop full-time, and during our occasional conversations about electronics, I still recall him unboxing and unrolling massive sheets of vellum with tape strips all over them.....the precursor to modern printed circuit board design artwork. The engineers used to layout the circuit board at 5x scale with the vellum and tape, then shrink the finished design back down to the correct size using a xerox machine. For any of you out there doing electronics design, you probably realize the massive limitations and expense of doing it this way, but that was the way they made it work. :laugh

[Cunnea]

Bill Fleming was a great heart, an honest man, and a generous soul.

He will always be a part of me.



I got nailed by a truck some years ago. R90S was totalled. I couldn't use my left arm.

Bill showed up and proceded to dismantle it for parts, for sale (much needed at the time), and after hours of labor...refused to take anything for his 100mi round trip and time. (You haven't seen anything until you've seen Bill Fleming take apart a motorcycle. It was as if the parts knew the Master was at hand and was taking no prisoners. :) )
and...there are other stories.


My heart goes out to Norma and Jan, and Doug, and all of those people who have lost a great friend from their lives.

I'm going to go feel sorry for my loss now.


Bill

[pcsof8]

Hurrah! What a great man, and what a wonderful way to go. I say Hurrah! Why? Because this. He wasn't in a nursing home, he wasn't on a breathing machine, he didn't even have to eat hospital food! He left this earth in his special place. Now that is the way to go my friends. Let us celebrate his life.
Here's to you Sir:thumb

[20715]

Oh, man. That's a shame. I used to alternate taking my bike to C&D and Underwoods, trying to support them both. Bill was a very nice man, as well as a great wrench. I think I might still have a C&D t-shirt in the back of my closet that was always a favorite.

The first time I ever called them, I decided just a couple days before a trip that I couldn't stand the thought of wearing my Bell Tour Star, and needed a new helmet. They didn't know me from Adam, and sent me a System 1 helmet. "If you like it, send a check, if not, send it back."

Rest in peace indeed.

[jdiaz]

Hey Cunnea! Glad to see you over here.

[Paper]

:cry

Bill was a person whom I've judged all other bike shops against, and none have come close to the knowledge, skill, and customer service that Bill and Jan had a C+D BMW.

I purchased a R100S (along with LOTS of bikes) from them and proceded to restore it. One day the bike wouldn't run right at anything over 3500 rpm. I limped it down to C and D, and Bill knew right away that one of the carb diaphrams had given up the ghost. He showed me how to replace the one side, and then told me I had to replace the other side before I left, since the other was sure to fail soon, too..

He watched over my shoulder, in the showroom as I replaced it as he had shown me, and I was then charged only for the 2 diaphrams. I left with bike free bike knowledge and the start of not being afraid to work on my own equipment, which continued from there.

I made countless stops in the shop over the years, and even more so when I was working only 1 mile away at Freeport Machine Works. I always felt welcome..

The smell of Bill lighting up a cigar, him crossing his legs and his voice saying "Well, Daniel, it's like this." will always be in my head..

Rest in Peace, Bill..

[jdiaz]

:
The smell of Bill lighting up a cigar, him crossing his legs and his voice saying "Well, Daniel, it's like this." will always be in my head..


Oh man, I completely forgot how he used to do that. :clap

[Paper]

Oh man, I completely forgot how he used to do that. :clap

I'm glad I got to spend a recent saturday morning at the old shop, drinking coffee, and BS'ing with Bill Fleming, Bill Jutz, and several other of the old farts. :coffee

Bill Fleming had a way with bringing people together for a fun BS session.. I think it was just an overall comfort factor around the man. He'll be missed.. :nod