Final Assembly Workers Initials

[charles.walmsley]

Fellow R90S owners.
Does anyone have any information on what the initials on the inside of the cockpit fairing actually mean? For those of you who may not know, each R90S model had the final assembly workers initials painted on the inside of the motorcycles cockpit fairing. I have read in some books that the initials where also painted under the seat aswell but I can’t confirm if this is true.

My bike with original daytona orange paint has what appears to be the initials ‘4’ and ‘r’ but its difficult to tell (see photo attached) so it would be interesting to compare with others who have original paint and if anyone has more information on who the person or people might have been.

[schrader7032]

I can't say anything about the R90S but my R69S has initials on the underside of the tank...it's a letter and a dot, presumably the initial of the pin striper.

[skychs]

I can't say anything about the R90S but my R69S has initials on the underside of the tank...it's a letter and a dot, presumably the initial of the pin striper.


I agree. From everything I have read and heard the pinstriper initialed all his work. When I had my R60/2 pinstriped I asked him to do the same thing. He smiled and said absolutely.

[schrader7032]

Another "tale" I've heard is that the pin stripers at BMW were mostly women. Maybe that was in earlier times, but it seems they had steadier hands...or maybe it was more of a male-female thing in that the men worked the mechanical part of the line while the women worked with the paint/striping, etc.

[charles.walmsley]

Appreciate the information on the pre 1970 models guys but I’m curious to see what other R90S owners have initialed. With the initials on my bike Im thinking the ‘4’ is the month is was built (April 1975) and what looks like an ‘r’ must be the initials of the assembly worker of pinstriper but like I said id like to compare others who have original paint on this forum.

[kirkpatrick3890]

I've been to the BMW factory and seen the pin striping being done, and most pin stripers are women. Their brushes are mad using Russian squirrel hair bristles.