BMW R60 /5 Gets Attention

LAGRANGEVILLE, NY – Some motorcycles resemble over-the-top Christmas displays. They’re excessively adorned with chrome parts and littered with doodads that are as tacky as a blowup Santa Claus or some other inflatable holiday figure. Just as outdoor displays that stress simplicity and elegance are more tasteful, bikes that employ understatement to convey an owner’s personal taste are classier.

Tom Adams of Southbury. CT owns such a striking yet basic classic bike. It’s a restored 1971 BMW R60 /5 that utilizes softer-hued nickel-plating instead of chrome to accent its bone structure and a British racing green paint scheme to show off its tins. “I wanted something different. I wanted to personalize it. I never plan on selling the bike,” said Adams when we met recently at the Tail Winds Café in Union Vale, N.Y.

The meeting was by happenstance. I was out riding with friends on an unseasonably warm Sunday in mid-December when we got tipped to the café atop a hill at Sky Acres Airport. It’s off of Route 82 and southwest of Millbrook, N.Y.

To our surprise, the airport’s parking lot was filled with motorcycles when we arrived. Inside the Tail Winds Café, which is adjacent to the airport’s ramp and runway, tables had been shoved together to form one long span to accommodate more than a dozen members of the CitiBeemers Motorcycle Club of New York. Other riders occupied other tables.

After finding a table for ourselves, it didn’t take long to determine who owned the vintage BMW, a 599cc, 46-horsepower model that was produced between 1970 and 1973. The MSRP for the R60 /5 (pronounced “slash-five”) when introduced was $1,548. Buying one today costs a lot more than that.

Tom Adams and his 1971 BMW R60 /5

Adams has owned his /5 since 1992. “It came out of a garage in Colorado. It had been sitting for five years – all dented up, corroded and oxidized, all seized up. It took me two years to get it like it is now,” he recalled.

While the /5 has a traditional flat-twin boxer engine, most every technical element on the bike was new at the time. The designer of the model was Hans-Günther von der Marwitz, who had been lured away from Porsche by BMW with the task of reviving the brand, according to a report several years ago in “Motorcycle Classics” magazine.

In refurbishing the BMW, Adams sent the wheels to California to be re-laced and powder coated. The frame got nickel-plated. Corbin redid the seat. The bike was originally painted black, but Adams decide that the gas tank and fenders should be British racing green “because I wanted something different. They never made it in that color,” he said.

BMW did use a lighter green with a yellowish tint on police models at the time.

Adams’ /5 looks more show piece than rider, but a rider it is. The odometer showed 63,190 miles. He estimated that it had 23,000-24,000 on it when he acquired it. “I ride it a lot. A good day is 300, 400 miles,” said Adams, who is a native of New Canaan, CT. He has lived in Southbury since 1976.

One standout “add-on” to the /5 is an antique license plate. “That plate I’ve had since 1965. I had it on a Honda back then,” he said.

(A version of this column originally appeared in the “Republican-American” on Jan. 2, 2016.)