Marco's 1966 BMW R69S

There were 11,417 R69S motorcycles built between the years 1960 and 1969. Mine is serial number 660858. According to the BMW historical archives it was produced on December 17, 1965 and delivered on Dec. 21, 1965 to the US importer, Butler & Smith. After some spring cleaning in 2008 it looked like this:

Post cleaning

Post cleaning

Post cleaning
ISO 200   f/8.0   1/250   0 ev   24.0mm
Spring cleaning

Spring cleaning

Spring cleaning
ISO 200   f/5.6   1/1250   0 ev   35.0mm

Post Restoration

Marc and bike

Marc and bike

Marc and bike
ISO 0   f/4.4   1/91   0 ev   7.2mm
Bike on stand

Bike on stand

Bike on stand
ISO 0   f/4.4   1/52   0 ev   7.2mm

In February of 2000 the last bit of restoration work was completed and the bike was made ready to run. That’s why I’m smiling.


The next group of pictures more or less duplicate the pictures I took shortly after buying the bike (seen below) just after the post restoration inaugural ride. Too bad it was starting to rain with a dreary sky. The sun should have been shining!

let front

let front

let front
ISO 0   f/7.6   1/121   0 ev   7.9mm
right side

right side

right side
ISO 0   f/7.5   1/105   0 ev   7.5mm
right rear

right rear

right rear
ISO 0   f/8.0   1/109   0 ev   9.3mm
riders view

riders view

riders view
ISO 0   f/7.4   1/292   0 ev   7.2mm
left front

left front

left front
ISO 0   f/7.4   1/176   0 ev   7.2mm
right front

right front

right front
ISO 0   f/7.7   1/151   0 ev   8.3mm

R69S as purchased in December, 1997

The bike looked like this when I purchased it. I rode it almost a year before tearing in down for restoration.

let front

let front

let front
right side

right side

right side
right rear

right rear

right rear
riders view

riders view

riders view
left front

left front

left front
right front

right front

right front

validate