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Need help verifying numbers on a vintage bike I'm interested in-

W

wowtrout

New member
This 1966 On my way! 60/2 was fully off the frame restored. The numbers match but much discussion around the numbers not being accurrate. The owner/restorer is very reputable and assures me the bike is matching.

But i need some help here as the peanut gallery on this auction is vicious.

bringatrailer.com

1966 BMW R60/2

Bid for the chance to own a 1966 BMW R60/2 at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #143,899.
bringatrailer.com bringatrailer.com

Thank you

David Trautenberg
 

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I will add some to the title for clarity and so nobody will think you are stranded somewhere.
Welcome to the forum!
Good luck.
OM
 
Welcome to the forum! Sad to say, that is not a valid serial number for an R60/2. If bikes in the "/2" era, the number should only be 6 digits, except for the later production R60/2 bikes which started with "181xxxx". BMW goofed and didn't project how many bikes were being produced and had to get creative with the serial numbers. The numbers might match, but they aren't the right number. I forget when they stopped putting a badge on the steering stem, but I would have thought this bike would have one...this is the third matching number. In the ad they show an image of what the badge looks like, but it's not part of the bike.

I tried putting that number into RealOEM and it comes back as belonging to a BMW car 525 European produced in October 1976. I'm not sure that's totally correct, but that's what came back.

I haven't seen much wrong with the bike except that those rubber bands that connect the air filter to the intake of the carbs should have hose clamps around them.

Seems like someone is trying to pull a fast one. Plus, a fully restored bike like this is going to be much more that the current $5,500!
 
Well, if the serial number went from 4842225 to 1812225, that would make it a 1966/1967 R60/2 maybe built in Dec 1966. Look at this thread which has some PDF files I've compiled to try and identify build dates and model years for the /2 period. My tables are not gospel, but they give a sense of where things fall.

/2 VIN Numbers, Model Years, and Build Dates

In the following posts are PDF files containing a running list of VIN numbers for the /2 era bikes from 1955 to 1969. BMW didn't publish infomation as to the break between model years as they started to do with the /5 models. One reason that might explain this is that there was really little...
forums.bmwmoa.org forums.bmwmoa.org

I can't see the stampings on the bring-a-trailer bike well enough but they don't look like the 1s were turned into 4s. But just makes me wonder what the agenda is for the people who are selling. Maybe they got the bike from someone else and the numbers were changed then. Still makes me suspicious.
 
The font, spacing and alignment on the engine block looks like a re-stamp of the block. The numbers should be much smaller, spaced further apart and the the alignment is much to perfect. It is very poorly done in my opinion.
 
I looked at another s/n list over on the VBMWMOA site 87-95 R bikes did have a few 48 s/n's but they end at 48251.
 
Bottom line is it is not a legitimate Serial Number or engine block stamp as far as I can tell. If the potential buyer "WOWTROUT" is good with that then he or she or whatever they want to be today should have at it and bid away, maybe even buy a "bitsa-bike" for some eye popping amount. It seems "Bring a Trailer" has been flooded with these re-stamped bikes represented as legitimate original numbers matching and cool antique and vintage BMW twins. It doesn't take a trained eye or a /2 guru to spot a poorly re-stamped engine block or items on the frame and drive components that don't match the claimed year of the bike. Fortunately I had a mentor with these old BMW's who was harsh, opinionated, a bit of an egotist, but never steered me wrong on what was correct and what was BS, thank you Norman.
 
The Vincent Owners Club has 2 people who have the factory records and can authenticate motorcycles as having the original engine and frame numbers..or not. A “Matching Numbers” bike means that the motor, frame are the same components that the bike left the factory with…or it can reveal if the bike was stolen, or a frame was replaced due to an accident.
Obviously a “matching numbers” bike is worth more than a “non- numbers matching bike”..
 
20774 said:
Always bugs me on these type of things. I don't think that's a 1969 model bike...other serial numbers around this one have the bike built in Feb/Mar 1967. Oh well!!!
Click to expand...
Back in the 60s, in some states it was not unusual for new carryover vehicles to be titled as the year in which they were sold, so there’s that possibility. And once the MSO is gone and the title issued changing/correcting would have been difficult.

Best,
DeVern
 
gtrider said:
Back in the 60s, in some states it was not unusual for new carryover vehicles to be titled as the year in which they were sold, so there’s that possibility. And once the MSO is gone and the title issued changing/correcting would have been difficult.

Best,
DeVern
Click to expand...
Honda decided one year- back in the’70s, to just sell last year’s model as the next year’s model. I had purchased one of the affected bikes, I think it was one of the enduro style bikes I was riding at the time. I was aware and it wasn’t a big deal to me at the time.
Later, I received notification and invitation to join a “class action suit” which I skipped.
OM
 
gtrider said:
Back in the 60s, in some states it was not unusual for new carryover vehicles to be titled as the year in which they were sold, so there’s that possibility. And once the MSO is gone and the title issued changing/correcting would have been difficult.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is likely what is going on. We know that from the /5 on (just talking Airheads), model years changed typically in September of each year after the summer vacation for the factory. Plus BMW actually made distinct changes to the bikes in terms of engines and suspension, etc., that it was important to keep up with a given model year when considering buying parts, etc.

My R69S sort of falls into this category. BMW informed me that it was built in Apr/May 1968 (that's the best they could tell me from the records) but it was titled a 1969 model when a US serviceman bought it in Germany in December 1969. Apparently motorcycles weren't such a hot item at the time and the bike sat at the factory maybe even unstamped. Finally BMW received dealer requests for bikes and they final-prepped what was requested and sent them out.

During the 60s, though, there's very little difference - on the outside - of an R69S from 1961 to 1969. But there were running changes that have been documented. Fortunately there are websites and books written which had extracted the BMW info as to when changes were made based upon the serial number. So a 1969 model bike will likely have the accumulated changes throughout the model run...except this one since IMO it's not really a 1969 model year bike.
 
Last edited:
wowtrout said:
This 1966 On my way! 60/2 was fully off the frame restored. The numbers match but much discussion around the numbers not being accurrate. The owner/restorer is very reputable and assures me the bike is matching.

But i need some help here as the peanut gallery on this auction is vicious.

bringatrailer.com

1966 BMW R60/2

Bid for the chance to own a 1966 BMW R60/2 at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #143,899.
bringatrailer.com bringatrailer.com

Thank you

David Trautenberg
Click to expand...
with a number like that it was likely some kind of fleet vehicle, the number is too long
 
wowtrout said:
This 1966 On my way! 60/2 was fully off the frame restored. The numbers match but much discussion around the numbers not being accurrate. The owner/restorer is very reputable and assures me the bike is matching.

But i need some help here as the peanut gallery on this auction is vicious.

bringatrailer.com

1966 BMW R60/2

Bid for the chance to own a 1966 BMW R60/2 at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #143,899.
bringatrailer.com bringatrailer.com

Thank you

David Trautenberg
Click to expand...
The 5 kinda does not match the font/ profile of the other numbers
 
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