This 1976 BMW R90S is said to wear original paint following its extraction from storage in a long-time collection. This example wears awesome two-tone paintwork and its OEM bikini fairing, two cosmetic details that helped BMW spice up its bike lineup. A bit of a rocketship in its day, the R90S could hit 60 m.p.h. in under five seconds and stretch its legs to a max speed of 124. The seller notes it is a numbers matching example, including the frame and engine numbers, but it doesn’t currently run. Find it here on eBay with 20 bids to $4,000 and just over two days left in the auction.
This example wears factory colors of Daytona Orange with red pinstriping, and what a combo it is. The originality on display here is almost enough to forgive the fact that the seller cannot confirm running condition. He says: “The bike’s trans and clutch seem to work , and I did try to rock the bike in gear but had no luck, so I do not know the nature of the engine.” Speaking of the engine, the R90S featured a 900cc “airhead” mill that could run the 1/4 mile in just over 13 seconds with a lofty redline of 7,200 RPM. The bike’s cosmetics and lenses look excellent in this rear-facing shot.
1976 was the shortest production run of R90S bikes, with just under 5,000 made. This one shows all the signs of wear that you’d expect, but also looks quite original. The bike is a bit grimy around the handlebars and controls, but that’s not surprising if it’s been left standing for a few years. The R90s featured an adjustable hydraulic steering damper using a knob on the steering head, and other features were typical BMW: a full tool kit, a BMW embroidered cloth for cleaning your hands after using said tools, and an OEM first aid kit. No word if those accessories are still with the bike.
The seller’s other listings on eBay make me wonder if he scooped up an entire collection of motorcycles. There’s listings for a few others that I like, including this gold 1971 BMW R50 and awesome Moto Guzzi Eldorado. Vintage motorcycles can sell pretty cheaply, and still turn out some decent speed as the R90S proves, making them a compelling alternative to four-wheeled vehicles of the same vintage from BMW (or at least perfect garage mate for those of us with the four-wheeled siblings in the garage!) Is this one worth a gamble at the current price with the unknown running condition?
Nice bike. In the late ’70’s, I have a friend that had this bike,( and for all I know, still might) only black and silver while I had my ’75 GoldWing. Personally, I didn’t care for this bike. Perhaps it was in comparison to the GW, but I didn’t like the riding position, it’s low end uneven engine vibes ( which did smooth out nicely at higher revs) had terrible driveshaft wrapup, very uncomfotable to ride, at least compared to the GW. The pluses, well engineered, excellent brakes, handled 10 times better than the GW, and everything worked, even the clock. BMW’s are kind of a tough sell, like any bike, it’s a lot easier buying them, than selling them, but if you like Beemer’s, can’t go wrong here.
What do this bike, the Ford Sierra ( a.k.a. Merkur in the US) Dodge Ram, and Viper have in common?
Um,,,limited, yet loyal, following?
(and my thumbwheel on my mouse doesn’t work, only here, anybody else, or new laptop time)
Bob Lutz, probably.
Booya is correct.
BMW motorcycles prior to this were like the Gold Wings of their day, very competent, but appealing to a rather boring and older demographic. Lutz wanted to make them more appealing to younger buyers, and that lead to this sporting variation on their traditional bike.
Lutz is pretty well known for insisting that the styling of a vehicle should be to some extent polarizing, some love it some hate it. That thinking gave us the Dodge Ram Grille of the early 90’s. The rest as they say is history.
My thumbwheel works here Rube, nothing else though. Nice bike, not for me anymore. The Jag they have for sale was here late last month.
Thanks, Mike, it’s off to Wallymart. Sorry to hear about the weather, I know it gets kind of old around this time. Sure don’t miss it. This has me motivated, 60’s here in central Colorado, I might fire up the GW! :)
Wait, now it works, probably better to blame Charter,,,
I had a buddy who owned one of these, I think he paid four grand for it in the mid 80s. Always would have liked to had one of the R90S but I wound up owning four mid 70s BMWs, just picked another up last summer a 75 R75/6 . I have its big brother the 1977 R100RS with the first full fairing designed by Pinnefara. thanks for posting motorcycles, I find them far more interesting than crappy 80s and 90s vintage cars.
Designed by Hans Muth, actually.
by the way, started taking a good look at this bike, front brake lines have been cut, which indicates that the brakes were frozen up, these had dual disc brakes, the rest of the BMWs had a single disc. It looks like it has been exposed to a lot of salt air, pretty crusty. Already up to 4600 bucks.
to say nothing of a dented, rusty gas tank, rusted out mufflers and a “rich patina” on the engine cases. At least the seller is not hiding some of the bad stuff.
there is a better one, with more mileage also on Ebay right now and is going for 5100 bucks currently. Running, in good shape, with all tools etc.
Y’alls aint lived until you’ve been into a Boomer’s gearbox. The shop manual cautions on every repair procedure; ” failure to follow these procedures will result in the replacement of a very expensive BMW part.” Ya’ think? Stevie Wonder riding a fast horse could see that… And he’s a musician. The best gearbox man I ever worked with was legally blind. Too bad he is no longer with us. He still rode dirt tracks for fun until he quit riding in his 90s.
What a great bike. BMW really hit the mark with the R/90. When I was banging my Ducati SS in the 70’s, these R/90’s were always on my tail in the twisties.
Love the color of this one…I remember how striking they were on the showroom floor
Very nice bikes…someone had great taste. The Eldorado almost makes me want to learn to ride…bad a$$ cruiser.
Decent bike but why all the corrosion with nice original paint? Look close at the pictures. BMWs had high quality chrome and aluminum parts. Something seems amiss. I’ve kept my 1973 BMW R75/5 as my main rider but I just don’t ride that much anymore, be 67 next week! Time flies. My favorite bike of all time was a 1976 GW. just did everything right and had nice balance. Sold it to a friend so I can still ride it anytime. The BMW is a couple hundred pounds lighter though. The Moto-Guzzi Eldorado really looks sweet, a Guzzi is on my bucket list. Maybe a rocking chair should be on the list too! No waaaaay!
Gotta say, this featured one is in pretty rough shape looking through the auction’s pictures. It sat outside for a VERY long time…aluminum corrosion on everything, rust on the Contis and the shock springs, sun faded paint…
I think this one is a better value even though it’s a 90/6 and not an S
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1976-BMW-R-Series/263581828550?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D44040%26meid%3D483ccd32a0dd426c9fad79bba7f07aee%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D263578659056%26itm%3D263581828550&_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109
There is an interesting design change that came with this new model in 1968 when it superceded the older (post war) design of the /2.
All the engines use pushrods. On the older model the camshaft is above the crankshaft and the pushrods go over the top of the cylinders. On this newer engine design, the cam is below the crank and the pushrods are below the cylinders. Whilst the new engine has a higher centre of gravity the cylinders are also higher which allows riders to bank over further in corners.
Corrosion on the front fork tubes….
Great bike, worth the effort.
I miss my R90/6. Could ride it all day long. (could not do that on my old CB650)
I should have bought head guards but didn’t. My cylinder heads were filed down from cornering briskly.
Did anyone remember this model won the Daytona 200 in 1976? The BMW Motorcycle Owners Association is raffling off a black and silver R90S, too. On my 9th Beemer, a 1995 R1100RS. Larry J
Clearly al three bike have been left out in the rain. These bikes are all in pretty rough shape for the asking prices to bad too, they can still be saved but they look more like parts bikes now.
This seller has been wheeling and dealing old BMW bikes for some time. I remembered the background from a couple years ago…and same sketchy ads.
The Goose, brings back great memories, this is the civilian model. You can tell by the 2 pod gauge pack, speedo and tach. The police bike had one large speedometer with red orange and green warning lamps, floorboards. forward controls and a sidestand. My 73 civilian bike won me best European bike in Red River N.M. one yr. and I didn’t even enter the contest.Judges did a walk-around,when I got back to the bike, there was the 1st place trophy on the Harley solo seat,I also fabricated brackets to accommodate Harley boards, I also machined and had chromed a set of “dog bones” for the handlebars a homemade “p-pad” and a Harley kickstand,with a few other nice individual mods. Had 5 of these bikes, and a couple police. The first one I bought from a buddy for 300. bucks. Fun was a lot cheaper back then.
Ended: Apr 06, 2018 , 9:01PM
Winning bid:US $7,100.00
[ 37 bids ]
7100 bucks! by the way, no telling if that odometer was working or not. I have had to replace them before, the odometer can start flipping over a thousand or ten, and so your cherry R90/6 with 8500 miles, can flip over to 18 thousand, because the odometer is not working properly, had it happen to my 75 R90/6 that my brother left in a barn for 18 years, Had to replace electrics, exhaust system, brakes, you name it on a 8,500 mile bike, Somebody is in for a lot of work, on that one. I had to bead blast the wheels, rims, covers on the engine, get wasp nests out of the fairing and headlight assembly, out of the aircleaner, you name it.