A friend of mine is looking to get a Daytona yellow R90S. He had one for years, sold it and now regrets that decision. Anyway he sees one advertised and goes to have a look.
The seller's a genuine guy who's owned this bike since 2004. He's asking a not inconsiderable £6,950, but in the UK market this is a reasonable sum for a good bike. Then my friend checks the VIN and discovers that this bike is actually an R90/6 built in 1975. A previous owner has taken the trouble to swap tank, seat, shocks and carbs plus adding a fairing, a second disk and a paint job to turn this into a very attractive R90S replica, and a very good job he made of it.
However - it's not a genuine R90S. In real terms of course there's no great difference between the bikes anyway and this one has pretty much had all the cosmetic differences addressed so it looks the business. Also there's the view that obsessing about "originality" is not what riding an old airhead is about. Both valid points of view. However the R90S, for whatever reason, commands a price greater than its less exalted stablemate so what's this one worth?
"Never argue with a fool, onlookers might not be able to tell the difference." Samuel Clemens
If it was me looking I would be haggling somewhere between the /6 and S prices. Certainly not the full S price as that is not what it is. Especially if it was advertised as an authentic S. What might a /6 with a fairing and dual discs cost there? That's it's value to me.
How one feels about a "tarted up" R90S vs a "real" R90S is a thorny question and will obviously vary from person to person. After reading your post I couldn't help imagining what my reaction would be, both if I knew I was buying a R90/6 conversion and if I didn't.
If I bought a "counterfit" R90S presented as genuine I would become angry, both at the seller and at myself. As for the seller there would be anger. The reasons would be more or less obvious. In addition to anger toward the seller there would probably something akin to anger toward myself. There would probably have been clues since there are little things that likely weren't part of the conversion. The Dellorto carbs are obvious and I wouldn't have missed that. But there are other things, such as the raised polished buttress on the handlebar top clamps. Also things like the fairing mounting hardware might not be correct. And I might have been so besotted that I didn't check the final drive ratio. Like most people, I reckon, I would almost have a harder time forgiving myself than the person who sold me the counterfit item. The anger toward myself would be, of course, that I had allowed myself to be blinded by emotion, Emotion, in and of itself, isn't bad. What is bad is to rely on it without opening up the reality of it question.
OK, but after some time how would I feel about the bike? I think I would learn to enjoy the bike and it would become one of my prize airheads. I'm pretty sure of this because one of my projects (that I may never get to) is to tart up one of my project bikes in Daytona Orange livery. In fact, after receiving my Smoke Red bodywork for my R100S I tried to talk Justin Bowser (who used to post here) into painting up a set of bodywork in Daytona Orange. I even have an old R90S tank, with the flip top cap to be painted. But Justin didn't keep painting so that project is currently on hold until I want it so bad that I will actually be willing to spend the effort to find a good, affordable painter.
Now, about the case where I knowingly buy a R90/6 conversion, I've pretty much addressed that in the preceding paragraph I think. I would be able to enjoy the R90S-ness. There would still be a bit of a longing for the "real thing", but the perceived virtues of the "real thing" would be there. I would still like to own the "real thing" but most of my R90S itch will have been scratched.
It goes without saying, I'm sure, that my predilections, R90S wise, have no absolute basis.
Since I'm rambling all over the place, I think I'll broach the Harley Davidson "issue", a favorite topic here at Boxerworks. I'm a fan of Harley Davidsons, and have been pretty much after figuring out that there might be something more to motorcycling than the European and CZ motocrossers, and that two wheels can be enjoyed for more things than caroming off berms and perfecting the body english required to go fast on dirt.
Even as I got very involved with BMW airhead motorcycles there was still a distant, but real yearning for HD's. I didn't like for the "lifestyle" thing or the "outlaw" thing, but there was still an "essential" thing that I did like, something that my airheads couldn't give me. The essential thing surely hearkens back to a 1952 Harley 74 that my dad had at a time before and after I could get a driver's license. Dad's '52 FL was the first motorcycle I ever drove.
The "yearning" I felt was irrational in the sense that it was over the top, and at odds in many cases with the virtues I had discovered in airheads. The HD hunger was so irrational that I wanted to get rid of it, or at least get things into some kind of perspective. Then one day it happened.
I was at my sister and brother-in-law's house. Ron is a repo guy and had repo-ed a gorgeous Harley. We were in his garage, admiring the Harley, when suddenly I realized that the irritional lust was gone. I was able to emotionally see the bike as what it is, a good reliable motorcycle that doesn't do very well at doing the things that airheads do well. But what it does do will is to be a Harley, and appeal to me from a nostalgic standpoint. I don't like the word "nostalgic" but I couldn't think of a better one. If I could ever be brave enough to scratch that nostalgic itch I could do so, knowingly, and with a good sense (I think) about what the appeal was all about.
I felt much free-er vis-a-vis HD's after that.
The point of bringing up Harleys, if I have a point at all, would be to strike a parallel of sorts between them and tarted up R90/6 BMWs. An "owner created" R90S could indeed scratch my particular R90S itch just as a Softail Heritage or similar Harley could scratch another, different, itch.
Ken
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There's no such thing as too many airheads
Ken, your thoughts will strike deep to the core of an issue
that is beyond the ability of any mortal machine to address !
Whereas perception and expectation serve to define our motorcycling needs and desires
in terms that will be both emotionally charged and rationally indefensible –
Any manifestation of that dream, any motorcycle,
can only be an assemblage of bits, parts, and fasteners.
Fortunately, Danielmc (or his friend) was savvy enough to discover the /6 vs S discrepancy
and the misrepresentation of the machine does not seem to be the focus of his query.
Casting aside the games of "collect-ability", "investment & return", and "ego"
we are left with a need to estimate a fair market value of this particular assemblage.
Certainly the paint (if done well), the cock-pit fairing pieces, Dells, and 2nd brake
add value to this machine in comparison to a stock /6 – at least, BMW marketing certainly thought so !
So, what then will be the value of "factory-originality" ? Of a correct #s R90S VIN ?
I will say that the answer to these questions fall into the pit of, "whatever the market will bear".
To my way of thinking, establishing this particular mc's value might begin with an objective evaluation:
[(the going rate of a stock /6 with similar mileage) + (50% new-cost of the extra bits)]
If the bike looks like an "S", is built like an "S", and runs like an "S" ...
by all means, buy the machine – but do not pay anything extra for the hype !
note: I once had a 1953 FL, later, built a repro-R100S ... and loved owning and riding them both !
(A foot-clutch and hand-shift are forces to be reckoned !)
My feeling is that there is no problem with a "created" R90S IF it was done-well and IF it is not represented as real, genuine R90S prices are silly-high and honestly this MIGHT be a better bike.
I have no idea what the bike would be worth there.
In the U.S., because S prices have zoomed so high, I would figure that nice condition replica is probably worth no more than about 50% - 60% what a nice condition R90S is worth. So, if the S was worth $10k, the replica would be worth $5k - $6k.
A perfect original S is probably worth more like 3 times what a replica would be in the same condition.
I think you should buy it. Money should be no object. You can simply replace those silly back breaking bars with a more upright set of USA bars, take that tiny semi-faring off it and put a real one that you can ride behind and you could probably turn that ageing sex-symbol-wannabe into the true touring machine the R90/6 was meant to be. That extra disk up front would be nice though.
The cost of counterfeiting/ authenticity goes up! Just spotted on IBMWR website:
One set of NOS R90S handle bar clamps, never installed.
These are 90S only and have not been available from BMW for years.Top clamps only in black with the polished highlighted contoured rib. Ask for photos.No out of USA sales.
Price: $399 for the set including shipping. Location: Irvine, CA
moonbeamerll wrote:The cost of counterfeiting/ authenticity goes up! Just spotted on IBMWR website:
One set of NOS R90S handle bar clamps, never installed.
These are 90S only and have not been available from BMW for years.Top clamps only in black with the polished highlighted contoured rib. Ask for photos.No out of USA sales.
Price: $399 for the set including shipping. Location: Irvine, CA
Yeah, it may seem steep, but he's including shipping!
