BMW r 90 s Restoration

[byron]

Thought I would try and document the restoration process of my 1975 90s. Bought the bike back in February from a guy in Blackburn and used it for part of the summer and then decided due to its unreliability I decided that it needed to be at least partly restored. So the end of October I decided to start stripping it down and that process has really taken me until the beginning of this month to be completed. Here's a photo prior to stripping down it looks almost a great bike until you look closer. I've bought the bike as a retirement project as I am about to finish teaching in July of this so I thought I made a little start prior to really get cracking on it during all those relaxing days after July. Hopefully during the coming weeks I will start to document the strip down process the slow recovery.

 

[jonnie comet]

Byron.....I'm in (if only for another look at your avatar.. )... get cracking !!!........

 

[Devon]

Nice one Byron, the R90S is a cracking bike and it will nice to follow your restoration

 

[Kenny]

Byron.....I'm in (if only for another look at your avatar.. )... get cracking !!!........

Agreed ( especially avatar )...had a R90S 28 years ago great bikes and a genuine regret at selling

 

[david a hall]

Yep I'm looking forward to this. Thank god for some bike stuff on the forum...

 

[Roberto]

Gorgeous bikes.. looking forward to seeing the job

 

[byron]

First stages of stripping down back in November

After removing the tank I decided to take all the plastic off. In the summer I'm made the foolish mistake buying a new fairing and screen from
Motobworks , Sadly the quality was poor. With the laminating varying between 2mm and 4 mm and quite crude laying up. The back mudguard was fine with one small crack and a little bit of crazing. The front been cracked right across the bottom and was hidden with the home done spraying . After stripping back I decided it was better to buy a new secondhand one off eBay. Pictures to follow

 

[byron]

Pictures

I realise the text is not too good but is from my iPhone and Siri.

 

[byron]

Some photos

Here are some photos of the front mudguard , rear mudguard and fairing in various stages of repair

 

[byron]

The top and bottom photos show the repair inside and out to the fairing ,it is now ready to go to the sprayers and get the other bits sorted. As you can see the front mudguard has lost some of the central ridge and it would take a long time to define it, so discretion is the better part of valour and a replacement secondhand one should arrive tomorrow .

 

[byron]

Shocks

About three weeks ago the rear shock absorbers were removed from the rear swinging arm. They came away really easily and looked in good condition, however I wanted to split them and didn't have any special tools. Eventually came up with the idea of a wooden former with a couple of tapered strips glued to the face and a metal pin to remove the collets. Worked a dream with a couple of sash cramps. The springs been sent to the powder coaters and the dampers work fine so I'll probably paint those gloss black.

Really easy solution stumbled upon by a dimwit like me without the need for any special tools

 

[(RIP) Tunneruk]

Subscribed!!!

 

[markjackson]

Excellent stuff! A minimum of 5 new photos a day should keep us all engaged

The shocks look like KONIs, but with the R90S top cover things (or SS aftermarket versions). I have new IKONs (which I guess share all dimensions with the KONIs), and stainless R90s tops from my damping less Boge shocks, so if I act quick, before you patent the "Byron Shock-Botherer" I can hopefully put the shiny bits onto the IKOns, Yay!

 

[markjackson]

My German language is very limited (ordering beer and sausages basically), but this appears like a genuine NOS Ginger fairing?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cockpit-V...pt=Motorrad_Kraftradteile&hash=item27f7585dfa

 

[Owen Snell]

That is what it says.

 

[byron]

Replacement mudguard

The replacement mudguard arrived yesterday and I put two coats of paint stripper on it to try and remove the years of grime muck and repainting. As you can see from the photographs it is in pretty good condition for a £16 eBay purchase with only a slight crack on the leading frontage and some crazy. I'm going to put some fine matting and resin on the inside edge around the mudguard mounting holes and also build up the front edge of the mudguard.

That bikini fairing looks great another hundred pounds cheaper and I might consider buying it. Hopefully I'll be in a situation by the end of next month where I can send off all the bits to be sprayed ginger . The tank is being sent off to Lincolnshire to be realigned to stop any corrosion and in the carburettors.

 

[markjackson]

The NOS fairing is certainly expensive (but very nice). I think mine was £150; in original paint with just a couple of chips done back in the day, so removed and then sat in an attic for years.

My ginger paintwork remains 'nearly done', so I'll be calling in to hope it's all a bit more nearly done this week. I'm excited. Fingers crossed

 

[Canuck]

Looking good my friend!

 

[byron]

Front mudguard

Just thought I'd show you the progress I've made on the front mudguard. I put some fine matting and polyester resin on it to build up to mounting positions and also support the leading edge where there are two tiny cracks. This should cure out overnight and then I can drill out the 4 mounting holes another job done ready for the sprayer.

 

[LastEdition]

Congratulations on your project!
It looks you're getting on very well with the paint, the silver smoke is so classy, and should you need reproduction stickers exactly like OEM (E1 homologation, colour code, dot3, cockpit, etc) please get in touch I have a full kit for the R90S