KIWI RIDER 11 2019 VOL2 | Page 105

I like bikes, duh. But... I’m one of those riders who believes that scooters are bikes too. I enjoy the innovative design and colours, and, when coupled with good technology and excellent road-going capability a new bike is generally a winner in my view. My view however, on picking up the C400X from the distributor, was… umm… quite mixed. Yes, BMW’s exemplary finish was up to scratch and pin perfect. The BMW blue appealed, and so too did the 6.5 inch TFT display which ran through its vibrantly- coloured start screen, delivering a wealth of choices. Yes, it was comfortable to straddle and sit upon, the steering head looked smart and scooter-like, and the windscreen looked like the wind tunnel tests had been most exhaustive. All good. Except... It is long to the eye, at 1565mm only 200mm longer in the wheelbase than the Vespa 300 for example, but noticeable. And it is angular, like they’ve slavishly copied the extended fairing lines on the artist’s drawing board. Not immediately appealing, it looked ‘conglomerated’; almost like a series of town houses accommodating different bits of an awkward plot of land. And worse still, on my first rides it seemed a trifle… under-exciting. Over the next few days the weather was absolutely appalling. Bucketing rain, freezing cold and windy. The C400X sat, almost dejectedly, outside my front door pointedly accusing me of weather-exposure abuse. Eventually I managed to notch bout 100 kilometres up on the clock, but it felt tight, the tyres were still new and not scrubbed in, and the wet kept me from even contemplating pushing any limits at all. A LITTLE BIT OF MAGIC Then a gap opened in the calendar. Although the weather was still patchy, marginal at best, I layered up in decent kit and gave the thing a fair run... KIWI RIDER 105