At the turn of the century, BMW thought they could get more people on scooters by eliminating some of the weather and safety concerns. Their idea was the C1, a scooter with a roof and seat belts. With sufficient crash testing, BMW was able to convince most countries (except Sweden and the United Kingdom) that C1 riders did not have to wear helmets. Thought it had some potential, consumers did not fall in love with the C1, and it sold for just a couple of years. The bike was not officially offered in North America, but here’s one that made it to Canada.
The C1 was available with a 125cc or 200cc motor, but neither motor size made many friends. MCN called it slow, heavy (407 pounds), expensive, and weird. Still, it had plenty of luggage space, it was very comfortable, and it had lots of options – ABS, stereo, even a heated seat. For more information, check out this story on BMW Blog.
The big story here is obviously the roof, so let’s take a look at how that helped with crash safety:
This example has less than 20,000 miles and it looks to be in decent shape, though the seller has almost nothing to say about it. Find this C1 for sale in Keswick, Ontario, Canada for $4,888 here on Kijiji.
This bike-uriousity brought to you by Larry G!