Germania redux.

In the 1970s BMW airhead motorcycles were still very much the gentleman’s ride. Not super fast but comfortable, long legged and superbly made, in contrast to the garbage Britain was churning out and distinct from the increasingly ubiquitous Japanese offerings. The latter, affordable and beautifully made, killed the British motorcycle industry and almost saw off BMW, who migrated to garish colors and weird looks as part of their recovery strategy. Testifying to poor taste, that strategy succeeded and BMW Motorrad is a loud success today. I wouldn’t be seen dead on any of their modern machines.

In the early 1970s you could have your new BMW with either the small 18 litre (4.7 gallon) or 22 litre (5.8 gallon) tank. The looks were quite different and the latter extended the touring range to over 250 miles on a fill up. When I bought my 1975 R90/6 from the original owner in 1990 it came with the smaller tank. I tracked down a tired larger one for touring and when my body finally cried ‘enough’, ending my long distance riding days, I reverted to the small tank. In beautiful shape with pin-stripes hand painted by the ladies in the Berlin factory, it restored pride of ownership. The large tank was trashed, the paint crazed, the inside flaking and, worst of all, the pinstripes were ghastly stick-on types. Sacrilege.

If you want to see the ladies in action jump to 6:06 in this French video of the factory, made back in the day. It loads slowly.

Anyway, the small tank never looked quite right proportionally:

18 liter tank in place.

So I took out a second mortgage, took the trashed large tank down the road to Spooky Fast Customs in Scottsdale, and eight weeks later I had a pristine tank with a new liner, paint job and exquisite hand pin-striping:

With the 22 liter tank.

The knee pads afford a proper grip over rough terrain, and the proportions are better, looking more Germanic – meaning more functional and stolid – in keeping with the character of the nation and the motorcycle. Sure, my bank balance took a blow, but after 30 years of service it was the least I could do for the machine.