Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

Hello there, new member here but have been an owner of my '74 R90s since 1980. The bike has 136k on it and I've ridden it in 40 states, CA and MX.

I have a question. On '74 gauges, there's a white ring surrounding the tach/speedo.

What was the material used?
How was it applied? (Paint? Decal?
Was it applied under the glass?
Was there a particular designated color?
If it's a decal, are they still available?

thanks,

Don't know that I can answer all the questions you have there Rick, but my experience with the white rings comes from attempting to fix some that had become badly damaged from, I suspect, UV and old age. I tried first of all to remove the rings, and while some of the damaged stuff flaked off pretty easily, the majority was stuck fast to the lenses. Not sure what it was originally, but I suspect paint. I tried removal after soaking the stuff with a couple of solvents but that didn't work either. Finally I sought the advice of an expert repairer in Germany (Michael Manzke - a genius with this generation of BMW instruments) and he pretty much said to forget about it as the lenses were not removable, and attempting it would likely break the housing.

I ended up buying a new, repro, housing which does not feature the white rings, but is otherwise a perfect match for this series instrument: http://www.bmwbayer.de/Instrumentengeha ... -bis-09/77

HI Dan,

Thanks for the reply. I have a couple of solutions in the works I think.

1. I picked up some white acrylic paint from a local craft shop and practiced on some glass after making a circular template.
Using a 1/4" wide brush and thinning the paint a bit (white satin), it looks promising after a couple of coats.

As you said, removing the glass isn't an option so I'll be applying to the outside of the existing installed lenses.

2. This option would be to apply the properly colored self adhesive vinyl. I have a friend in the graphics business so we're trying to come up with dimensions, etc.

I'll post results here when completed.

On a further note, I much prefer the clean, 'no rings' look too, but winters are long here in Michigan, the Lions aren't worth rooting for, and I like a challenge.

thanks,

RickR90s

Hello chaps

Re the white rings.
Are they only fitted to /5 switchgear R90s as my one I purchased in 75 does not have them. Neither did a second 76 year I had.
Perhaps they are American mkt.
Russ.uk

hey Russ,

They were only fitted to '74 model year bikes with the /5 (early) switch gear.

Rick

Rick is right about white rings being 74 only. Also the speedo and tach faces for 74 models are different. The hash marks at the numbers are small squares, later ones have narrow lines. See the picture in the original post above.

The only person I have ever come across that successfully repaired the white R90S speedo and tach rings is
Dutch (John) Lammers
in Canada.