Curse These Dark Winter Evenings.

This is one of those wacky (but interesting!) new BMW motorcycles, one which still sticks to the original formula (boxer twin) but with lots of new twists, such as the rotated cylinders and the fascinating front suspension-actually a leading-arm system where a yoke connects a totally floppy set of inverted forks to a frame-mounted spring-damper.

Just doesn't show up on this night photo.

Of course, as far as engines were concerned, it was all swings and roundabouts; the horizontal cylinder would probably lead to faster-wearing bores and asymmetric wear too, compared to the British 'Vertical Twin'.
But the boxer would be dynamically balanced (first order) due to the opposed motion of the pistons, the only forcing vibration coming from the con-rods.
The Vertical Twin on the other hand was nuts; both pistons travelled up and down in sync, so apart from the crankshaft there was nothing to balance them-and they vibrated like hell!
In the final analysis, BMW never went bust or gave up on motorcycles, but both engines are still in use.
Thing is, the modern Triumph Bonneville twin uses balancing shafts to produce a counter-oscillation and so the engine doesn't vibrate, but there are losses in acceleration due to inertia.
Still, the modern Triumphs are sweet and I'll keep an eye out for one.
I can probably get a better picture of the BM tomorrow.