Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

Hey all, started the process of picking through my new-to-me '65 R69S, with the goal of replacing the breadloaf seat with a solo unit, and got a bit of a rude surprise after I pulled the original seat.
It unfortunately did a bit of a number on the original paint. It's down to the metal, sadly. Does this seem like something that could be salvaged without losing the pin stripes, or would it need to be stripped? Any advice on where I could send this to have it done right? I'm in NY State.

The front fender has also seen some things, and it looks like someone tried to re-do the pin striping with a bottle of whiteout. So I wouldn't mind getting that done right, too.
Never intended this to be a concours-winner, but this is a bit more rough than I was going for. Appreciate any suggestions!

Not much to do other than attempt a "paint recovery" as it's called these days. Cut the surface with a dual oribtal sander with a light compound and see if there is anything to salvage. Finish it with polish. If the paint is too thin, it will simply come out blotchy and remove the last bit of the paint. If it has any depth to it still, you can get a nice sheen which might last a few more years. At best it's a 50/50 proposition.

Other than that, it's a repaint. Plenty of people out of work these days, might be able to find a pretty good deal. Definitely find someone with BMW experience and a decent pinstriper.

When you go to re mount the passenger seat, stand off the seat with some 1/4" neoprene rubber at the mounts. Place a rubber pad under the springs in the seat as well to prevent any rubbing.

I have always thought that BMW's method of mounting the dual saddle was quite Flintstonian. If you have freshly restored bodywork, you are absolutely stuck if you want to install the dual seat, with the option of changing to the solo in the future. There is no way to install the dual saddle without significantly marking the paint forever - and it'll all show if you want to change to a solo later on. That sealed the deal for me on my restored R50 - no way was I ever going to mark up that beautiful paint to temporarily install a dual saddle, even though it would be convenient to change back and forth occasionally.

Dave

Thanks very much. Will get out the sander and see whether there's anything left under there.

At this point I'm definitely planning on going with a solo saddle, though I'd been toying with the idea of a rack-mounted rear fender pillion saddle. Not sure what the proper term for that is, or whether it presents even more complications.

If anyone has any painter recommendations who can do pin stripes right I'd appreciate it. I'm in NY but it doesn't seem like it'd be that bad to ship the fenders somewhere.

I took my Denfeld pillow seat off a year ago and replaced it with one of those racks with the three tapped holes, so I can always add one of the bolt ons. It's really a much better way to go in general. Putting one of those direct mount seats on is a real pain.

I think Vech might sell such a setup. I did buy a rear rack for my R69S and it has the holes in the edge of the rails to mount a pillion "breadloaf" seat. Vech sells an exact reproduction breadloaf cushion.

Will check it out, thanks... after I get the paint sorted, anyway.

I think this is what TimStevens is talking about.

Yep, either that or the rack-mounted Pagusa