Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

"He compared it to the hotrod 4 wheeler of the day, the 911S, which also had a horsepower cam and a roller crank, and was also susceptible to bearing damage from lugging."

The "old German guy"must have been referring to a 356 Porsche Carrera motor with a Hirth roller crank, the early "long hood" 911S has a shell-bearing crank (same as my 1970 911E)

Adam

Thank you for the explication re: Porsche model/engine, Adam; much appreciated.

Tboooe-
I started out on an R60, and traded up through a couple of R69s bikes, and by mid '70s had settled on the R69 as being the bike best for my own riding style.
I liked having just a bit more punch than the R50 or R60, along with the feeling that the R69 was a bit more tractable than the R69S.
Over the years I've enjoyed riding all the Earles fork models, and can easily see how each model would suit the various riding styles different folks adapt for themselves.

No doubt your inner engineer will quickly develop a feel through observation, as we all have; I doubt many here on the list shift by watching the speedo.
I think the BMW engineers only gave us parameters for break-in speeds and top speed in gears, and not specific shift points, because as Kurt suggests, it's a fairly subjective decision, given the variables of bike/road/rider/passenger/conditions/etc that may be involved.
Collective experience has shown habitual lugging can produce negative results, and the S, with a narrower power band than the other models, is therefore somewhat more susceptible.

I view all the answers I've read in this thread as valid replies and guidance to stay aware and develop good habits, and that with an S, one should "keep the kettle on the boil."
Best-
George

Thank you everyone! I guess I keep reverting to the way I think when riding my Ducatis and wanting to know where the optimal power band is. Agreed on the comments that after a while you go by feel but since I am new to these bikes I didnt want to rev it too high and blow something up. Finding out about the little blue ticks on the speedo is literally a game changer for me in this regard. At least now I know the max speed and will adjust accordingly as I figure out the best parameters for riding this lovely bike.

I read where the maximum HP of 42 for the R69S is at 7000 RPM. Clearly no one wants to ride around at those conditions! It's really seat-of-the-pants for each owner as to what feels right.