Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

I refreshing my 77 R100RS (6180287) which I bought used in the 1980's. Previous owner had put Lester mags on it. I know these OEM blue stripped wheel rim combinations are hard to find and then they are in rather poor condition.

I'm returning it to the blue stripped spoke wheel. I know the rims had a satin look finish to them, but haven't seen an actual rim up close for many years Does anyone know what technique BMW used to obtain that satin finish. Were they annodized, glass beed blasted, etc. I have some nice condition 76-77 rims, hubs, rotors, NOS spokes so trying to replicate the rim finish as accurately as possible

Anyone have any previous restoration techniques to replicate the finish?

I have no first hand experience with this, but there was an article on soda blasting in the club magazine last summer. You might look that up in the on line library.

Craig

Thanks for the response Craig. I'm familiar with multiple types of blasting; vapor, soda, glass beed, walnut, etc. But I'm hoping that someone has done a concours restoration and has the knowledge of the exact methodology BMW used on the Blue Stripped spoke wheels in 1977.

I am not an expert on BMW's method but I have polished parts in the past. I believe the finish obtained is by various degrees of polishing starting with course to fine compounds. As for the blue stripes, a pinstripe person would be able to paint them on, I don't believe they were any special "paint or finish".

I got rid of my big buffing wheel as well as my smaller unit. The smaller unit and supplies came from Caswell,https://caswellplating.com

Looking at the website, I don't see the small unit I had listed anymore. Good luck. St.

The 77 R100RS spoke wheels had a silver/aluminum satin finish. I’ve done a bit of polishing in my years, but I’ve never been able to obtain a satin finish using that technique.

I haven’t seen any of these wheels live in person for many years. But the ad brochure/photos are certainly a satin not polished luster.

Still searching for an answer.

In my experience the finish I got with polishing was due to the degree if abrasiveness of the final compound I used.

Give a local metal polish shop a call or visit and see what they say. The satin finish on the BMW wheels was not due to a satin chrome or any special trick as far as I know, just a bit of work.

Sadly the guy I knew who has done a lot of polish on BMW bikes is gone. He loved to polish engine, transmission, and other parts on the bike to shiny smooth. Not quite what you want but almost.

I guess that is about all I can say, good luck. St.

My 77 wheels are in very good condition so I could send you some close up pictures of them if you want.

Jim. I sent you a PM about your wheels. Thanks

Pics

Jim - Thanks for the great photos of the R100RS spoke wheels. Now to determine how BMW got that finish.