Paint Prep…

Painting body parts is one of the jobs that I do not want to take on. There’s just too much to have on hand to get started given what I have to work with and it takes a bit more skill than I am willing to risk on my first project. I also have a pretty clear idea of what I want to end up with, and am sure it will take more skill than I can develop in a reasonable amount of time.

Several months ago, I found Black Wolf Touring and Custom run by Zack Witkowski. Zack is a great guy who appreciates projects that are unique. For this project, I am opting for an interpretation of the classic BMW smoke red scheme and Zack was up to the challenge. No, there weren’t any smoke red BMWs in 1985. No, I won’t be using vintage paint brands and color codes. This project is not for a museum or to satisfy any Airhead “purist” out there. It’s my bike and I am building what I want. In this case, that will be a smoke red bike with an S fairing. I am taking a little inspiration from the Boxer2Valve project converting a 1985 R80 RT into an S, and was happy to see they had already done something close to what I had in mind when I was planning the project. It was an idea I came to on my own, but I also never expected it to be a “first”.

My RT was in pretty good condition overall. The only major problems with the body were with the RT fairing itself. The windshield had some questionable fasteners and the console had some cracks. There was also the issue of the owner-engineered installation of an aftermarket radio system.

That thing was a pain to remove and was built in a way that made it near impossible to avoid more damage. Fortunately, none of those parts were needed for the project.

I was able to get some photos of the prep work when stopping in to visit Zack on my 1991 RT.