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R90 /6 Gas Tank

Jon

Wave to motorcycle cops
I recently found myself bringing home a 1974 R90 /6. I have a 75 R90s and enjoy having a spare Airhead. It has the 4.3 gallon gas tank with a dent, motorcycle is running and riding very nice but I'm considering having the dent repaired over the winter. Do you think I should hunt down the 5.8 gallon tank? Not a big fan of the rubber knee pads...but I could get use to them. Anyway the Manza Blue is kinda nice.
 
I restored a big tank for my /5 toaster; it's long legs come in handy on road trips when you don't know where your next drink is coming from.

You can always sell one ... which is a segue into what they're selling for. In good to very good condition I've seen $650 (with out gas cap, petcocks or knee pads). Lesser condition isn't that much less (people know what they have, and they're becoming fewer and farther between) $475. That isn't to say there aren't "deals" out there.

There are a couple oneBay tonight in "less than" good condition - asking prices hover between $160 -250. All have what I would consider inoperable dents.

Buy It Now > $259

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Best of the lot @ $499, and it isn't perfect > http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-AIRHEAD...Parts_Accessories&hash=item35c6f43c48&vxp=mtr
 
That does look very nice, I think I will try to find a larger tank. Thank you
 
You need a /6 tank. The pretty black tank for $499 was a /5 tank. It won't work on a /6 unless it's an R60/6 with front drum brakes. All the other /6's with disk brakes have a master cylinder under the tank and /6 tanks have a space for the MC. /5 tanks do not have the space for the MC.

You can use a /7 tank if you also use a /7 seat.

/6 tanks seem to be the hardest to find good deals on. They also hold their value.

Back to the pretty /5 tank, it has decal stripes and not painted stripes. Paint also looks too shiny for most 40 year old bikes.
 
I'd say there are better deals to be found on sites other than ebay. I got a decent large /6 tank off the advrider flea market for like $120 a couple years back.

But, speaking of interchangeability, I saw an R60/6 with a /5 toaster tank in Pleasanton, CA that was quite lovely. No master cylinder, so no problemo.
 
It's interesting that the width of the tank saddle would decrease over time, or change depending upon the model. Back in the late 70s, I added a disk brake to a 1964 R69S, operated by a cable-operated /6 master cylinder. The MC fit underneath the tank without any clearance issues. I think the tank originally came off a 1960 R50...I kept trading bikes and moving parts around.
 
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