I wish more of the smaller shops would return. When I bought my R50 in 1967, it was from an audio-visual store that didn't even have a poster of a motorcycle on its walls—nothing but pictures of Nikons, Leicas, Hasselblads, Wollensaks, and so on. My bike was first they'd ever ordered on the agreement with BMW, and they ordered a second one at the same time. The store went on to open a big BMW dealership. A friend at the same time bought his R50 from a man who lived in the country. He had an agreement with BMW and sold them out of his garage. This was near where my friend and I went to college, and we went out there to look at those beautiful machines numerous times. He had only one R60 and one R50 on display in a tiny, but neat garage, where he also worked on the bikes of his own and others. Another friend (the 3 of us would travel together) bought an R69 with telescopics from an oldtimer outside of Pittsburgh who sold and repaired out of his small garage. My friend bought that the bike in its crate and did the finally assemblies himself.
