Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

What is everyone using for pin stripes on their 1974 R90S restorations? Just painting them on like the 1975-76 models or? I’ve seen gold pin stripe tape for sale, but I have no desire to risk a $$$$$ new Smoke paint job to an X-ACTO knife to cut the tapers on the end of the stripes. Any ideas?

I was only interested in a decent looking 74 R90S for riding and at the time was not planning to sell it. I just had the pinstripes painted and clear coated over. 74R90S. St.

John,
You already know the answer... "Steady Hands"...
I've only done one '74 SS repaint (I should really say the guy that does my paint did it). I actually found a roll of original pin stripe tape in a BMW plastic bag from the inventory I got from Stan's BMW. Paint came from Holt. Result was excellent, but not sure he'd do another. Getting those pin stripes right is a PITA!

Hope you're doing well!
Chuck S.

Hey Chuck, thanks for the note. Good to see you at Richmond! I’ve never seen the tape that the factory offered, so I’m curious - was it just a roll of tape for you to figure out, or were the needed lengths & tapers already die-cut into it? It was the 1990s before I started thinking about restoring an R90S, and by then all these things were NLA.

John,
Good to see you in Richmond as well! As for the tape, it was a roll and you had to cut the tapers/ends yourself. I'd never seen it before and don't know if it was offered with an "official" part number available to dealers (thinking not). As I went through his inventory, I found quite a few bits that were "factory OEM" with part numbers on them but never offered as "official" dealer parts inventory. I actually asked him about a couple of them, and he said he got them on trips to the factory. Apparently the part numbers were for BMW use on their assembly lines. Examples include the pinstripe tape, a box of new, never used /2 and /5 frame parts (OEM shock towers, swingarm mount castings, a steering head tube, etc. that he had for frame repair), etc. Guessing it helped to be both German and a long time "known" entity when you went to visit your friends in Munich. LOL!

Now that makes sense… over the years I’ve seen stray /2 frame parts for sale - obviously factory parts, but new & never installed. There were bins of them at the factory - “need some at the shop? take a few”. Simpler times. It sounds like you have the makings of a great shadow box display!

Ok, I think that I’m going to have to paint on my stripes and learn to live with the shame of an unauthentic restoration!

John
Is your paint fairly recent? Is this a shop that is taking on the 90s bikes today?
Regards
Paul

Paul, more like finalizing a plan. The shop I work with just did a Daytona orange paint job for me a few months ago, and it came out amazing. They also did the pin stripes. I’m just about to give them my 1974 R90S bodywork for Silversmoke, and I’m trying to decide if they should also paint these stripes on, or if I should do it with tape as was original. Right now I’m leaning towards having them painted on.

John,
Thanks for your reply. A friend was asking about painters because his 74 Silver Smoke was not quite smoky enough. : )
He has another to restore and was going to use Holt but obviously that wont work. He also did apply his own gold stripe with the stick-on kind and he said it wasn't that tough. also if you mess up you can peal it back and start again, not with paint. If you cut the taper end and start from that end the paint should be in no danger of scratching from a knife or scissor.
P.S. The 50s I bought from you is still in the que. I've strayed over to the brit bikes for a bit. ; )

That's the part that scares me - cutting through the paint. Back in the 1990s a fellow I know bought a brand new BMW 3 series convertible. BMW didn’t offer the tan canvas top he liked, so he had the top changed before he took delivery. Well a year later he had a 7 foot long line of rust along the bottom edge of the top, where they trimmed the new canvas. Ouch!

Brit bikes are fun. The world is a buffet, so why eat just one thing? If interested, I’m going to part with my 1970 Norton Commando “S” & 1966 BSA Spitfire with original GP carbs and super rare factory aluminum large tank. Both like the R50S - ready for restoration, but I know you’re not afraid of that. After ten+ years of ownership it’s clear that I’m not getting to either one real soon.