BMW C1

Phew. What a week it’s been around here at the REVolution offices. Still, can’t stop thinking about cars and more importantly, the relationship between cars and people.

June is a friend but she’s not a car enthusiast. She’s owned a first generation Scion xB for the past several years and just loves it. It’s perfect for her and makes a great dog hauler, with a low step in height. She’s worked at a prominent university in the Northeast for a lifetime but she gotten so sick of paying exorbitant parking fees (about $200 a month) that she leaves the Scion at home and rides the thirteen miles each way on her mountain bike. That’s right; in the snow, ice and rain…and she doesn’t even work for the United States Post Office, either.

She’s perfectly happy with the situation but it got me thinking about which vehicles could work for her that she could park in the same space as a bicycle or a motorcycle and would provide a little protection from the elements. While several vehicles came to mind, one kept popping to the forefront.  Unfortunately, it was never sold here in the United States, which is a real bummer because it’s an interesting little city motorized transport pod.

The Italian-built BMW C1 was a partially enclosed motor scooter that was powered by two optional engines built by Rotax, one with 124cc pumping out 15bhp and the other featuring 176cc and 18bhp. Top speed was 64 and 70 miles per hour, respectively, and returned a mpg in the mid-80s. The transmission was a CVT and while it was designed by BMW, the scooter was built by Bertone in Italy. It had seatbelts, a windshield wiper, ABS, heated grips and seat, a novel kickstand and you could purchase a variety of interesting options, including a “sunroof”.

Weight hovered around 400 pounds, with less on the front tire. Handling was reportedly a bit tricky at low speeds but the learning curve was said to be fairly easy, once the rider learned how to maintain balance properly. Potentially the safest scooter ever produced, the rider was completely enclosed by a roll-over cage

Production began in 2001 and after selling less than 13,000 in two years, the end of the line arrived at the close of 2002. To me, that sounds like a sales success. I guess it wasn’t enough for BMW; the company blamed complications with helmet laws but that sounds suspicious at best. My guess is that they thought there would be hosannas showered down for the perfect inner-city scooter for hipsters and when that didn’t happen they just jumped ship…or laid it down, in motorcycle-speak.

While a few snuck into the States over the past several years, they’re so rare that sellers are sure to ask a premium, making them more of a novelty collectible and less a reasonable runabout. That’s too bad because this would have been an interesting alternative for our friend June. She’d have had a little more protection from the weather, had some fun zipping about (and not dreading the hills on her daily route) and had a unique, fun vehicle that stands out from the crowd.