onwards . Everyone else should be happily seated very comfortably . The front brakes in particular have excellent initial bite with immediate strong stopping power and great feel . Braking power is such that it is not difficult to have the ABS chime-in under hard braking , but the tyre is squirming by then , so the ABS setting is about right . At the rear , the brake works well within the bounds of the not too intrusive ABS control . Overall stopping performance is better than most and top drawer for this style of retro machine . As always , BMW ’ s heated hand grips are superb with three levels of heat regulation for that ideal hand temperature no matter how cold it is . The dash is old school cool with two

analogue dials , one shows speed in km / h and the other rpm . There are two small LCD inserts with most other relevant information and warning lights . However , there is no fuel tank gauge . This I don ’ t understand and find truly annoying given that you can see how much fuel you ’ re burning , but not what you have left … which I consider the important bit . All in all , the R Nine T is a very tasty piece of kit . It ’ s a sharp looking retro roadster with a lot of character . On a lovely day and on a decent road it ’ s very enjoyable – enjoy the view , embrace the character and feel your worries melt away .

60 KIWI RIDER