’ ve gotta say , it ’ s rare these days for me to love the looks of a bike . Most are too angular , or too low at the back , or ... whatever . That said , from the moment I first laid eyes on BMW ’ s metal tribute to the history of its Boxer engines ... I liked it ! Vege , our fearless leader , was barely halfway down the ramp from his van unloading the bright blue BMW R nine T 50th anniversary edition and I was already sold on its looks . Even our “ seen it all before ”, grizzled and somewhat fractious leader was taken by its lines . And that ’ s not a common occurrence . Mind you , Vege is a “ Boxer ” man through and through . He ’ s owned and loved his BMW R100GS “ Red Baron ”, or “ Adolf ” as I prefer to call it , since it finished its days as a press bike in the early 90s . With the blue and white machine ( to match the BMW logo ) parked on the driveway , and having taken a proper look around , I could see it really is a lovely looking motorcycle , despite the fact vintage-looking stuff isn ’ t normally my ‘ thing ’. The BMW Motorrad anniversary model R nineT / 5 not only marks the 50th anniversary of the / 5 series , but also 50 years of BMW Motorrad production in its

44 KIWI RIDER