1975 R90S

[Tom]

I remember only 2 color schemes for the R90S.  Burnt orange and the Smoke grey.  Repaint oem or not??  I'm thinking yes it was a stock color but not 100% sure.  I liked the Burnt orange.  Came close to a Smoked Grey at a reasonable price.  What do you guys think

https://honolulu.craigslist.org/big/mcy/d/pahoa-1975-bmw-r90s/7429675051.html

[Dirk_S]

My friend is a big BMW guy (literally, and he just loves BMWs). He's owned probably at least 20-30 BMWs, and worked in the warranty repair department for Max BMW years ago. I shared your post with him, and this is what he has to say:

...that’s a repaint, valve covers have also been repainted, they should’ve just been aluminum, and that’s not the original seat, it is the original seat cowl, but not the seat.

[blu guzz]

Not a show bike, but looks like a really nice clean daily rider.

[Tom]

Yeah, I agree on being a daily rider but I'd like to have it in it's oem paint whatever it was.  Thanks.

[PeteS]

The R90S had Delortos. It may or may not have started out as an R90s. Nice bike otherwise. It was the smoothest airhead I ever rode.

Pete

[Tom]

Can the emblems on the engine case be subbed in?  It looks like it could be. 

[PeteS]

Knowing the VIN would likely verify if its an R90S.

Pete

[Scout63]

I had the orange ‘75 Tom. It was stressful to own since the paint is really one-off and I was afraid to ding it.  For a rider that bike is nicely set up.  The painted cylinders and heads look dorky.  I’d rather have dell ‘ortos.  Price isn’t bad these days.

[JJ]

Maybe just buy it and ride it....as is....

A genuine, high-quality, OEM paint job in either Sunburst Orange or Smoke Grey will cost you several thousand, I believe....

[jas67]

The official name for the orange is "Daytona Orange".


Yes, it should have Dellorto carbs.
The monza-style flip-up fuel cap indicates that at least the fuel tank came from an R90S.  The same styled tank
on the 1977 and later airheads had a flush screw cap.   My R90S (pictured above) has a later style tank on it that was likely
 a replacement somewhere along the way.   I've read that some of the latest 1976 R90S came with the later style tank with the flush
filler, but, my VIN indicates it is an early 1975 (though it is titled as a 76).   My bike was also originally sold somewhere in Europe, likely Germany, and still has a metric speedo.

AFAIK, the cylinder fins are painted a flat black on the R90S from the factory, but, definitely not the valve covers, or the cylinder head fins, those should be natural aluminum. 

[Turin]

If you read it says

all welds on frame were ground down and contoured with bondo before Imron paint,

This looks like a nice hotrod/daily driver. (my kind of bike) I wouldn't bother with an expensive paint job.

[lucky phil]

Wrong tank, wrong colour, wrong seat, wrong carbs. Things aren't looking that special are they.

Ciao

[JJ]

Wrong tank, wrong colour, wrong seat, wrong carbs. Things aren't looking that special are they.

Ciao

As they say....."Oh Well...."   Just buy it on the cheap, if possible, and ride it as is....

[jas67]

Wrong tank, wrong colour, wrong seat, wrong carbs. Things aren't looking that special are they.

Ciao

Just to be clear, the tank IS correct.  That was the point of my mentioning the fuel cap.
But yeah, color, seat and carbs, all wrong.

[Tom]

If I was to a purchase.  I'd rather go for an stock/oem one.  Survivor.  Looks like a pass for me.  Thanks for the confirmation on the paint.  Sure sign of things not being correct. 

Came close to getting an Orange but the owner wanted too much at the time.  The Smoke was available but I had just got 3 bikes from Chef Hardy.
'75 Eldo/hack, '72 Eldo & 2001 V11 Sport.  I got distracted with the hack.   

The guy that had the Smoke passed and all of his estate stuff got dispersed. 

[PeteS]

The value of this bike is based on the price. If its low enough you can return it to stock. Some of the estimates for new paint are way out of line. Smoke paint like this is not that hard. I did it myself on my EV with an airbrush and 50 bucks worth of catalyst paint. Where are all the do it yourselfers??

Pete

[Tom]

I'm a DIYer but would prefer as near as oem as possible but you're right on doing the smoke grey.  I'd rather work on the other projects.

[lucky phil]

Considering the other non R90s parts I'd be checking the engine and frame numbers to make sure it was a genuine R90s. I mean why would you replace the carbs and intake system? Preference seems like a lot of trouble to me. How about it's been re engined at some point with a std engine? I don't know but when a bike is presented like this with significant deviations from std AND it's a sort after model with higher value I'm going to look pretty hard at it.

Ciao

[Moparnut72]

Weren't the Del Ortos problematic for some folks. Back in the day I had heard that they were sometimes changed out for Bings. I would definitely check the VIN before purchase.
kk

[LesP]

I can't imagine why someone would even think to grind the frames welds and 'Bondo them.
Maybe the seller is a 1970's chopper dude.

I rode an original (Orange) R90S for a few hundred kms (on a 5000+ km trip)  back in the 1990's, it was a nice enough bike but a bit like waiting to get there but can see why they were useful for long distance in a clinical sort of way.
The owner had no problem getting along at a fair clip as long as momentum was maintained.

[Scout63]

Good call on waiting Tom. The marquis bikes have to be just right or you will be cussing yourself over the details and spending way too much to make it right. An R100 rider for short money will never mess with your head.

[Tom]