BMW C1

[Bluebottle]

Plus some are investing in rare vehicles with provenance and low mileage
Some are building museum collections

[StephenC]

Used to see a few in central London up until a year or so ago. Pretty much gone now though.

I can see it being collectable. But not by me!

[MrGrumpy]

I can see it being collectable. But not by me!

Well, anything that gets to a certain age becomes a classic - look at all the people who spend hours and hours and loads of £££s restoring real shitty cars like Ford Anglias and Vauxhall Crestas...
And the C1 is, well, distinctive and unusual, so its cult status is assured.

[JohnR93]

I don't much like the pillion seat! - and how far forward is the main stand...

[Bluebottle]

Ah! now then. The stand is very weird on a C1.

There are 2 levers.

You lift one and the stand drops down.
You lift the other and it lifts the front wheel up off the ground!

[MrGrumpy]

I don't much like the pillion seat! - and how far forward is the main stand...

There was a pillion seat option, though it was definitely a lower class of accomodation as it was mounted behind the roof! Apparently worked much better than you'd expect and obviously the ideal solution for those with nagging partners.

[Normsthename]

What's wrong with the Pillion Seat?.......



Andy

[andyscooter]

i had one for a day as a runaround when my bike was being repaired

no never again

[irev]

Ah! now then. The stand is very weird on a C1.

There are 2 levers.

You lift one and the stand drops down.
You lift the other and it lifts the front wheel up off the ground!

As BMW was in those days, complication to solve a problem, whereas simplicity is always the better solution.
Problem: Moving the machine around on its wheels given it's top-hamper and CG and for getting onboard from either side...

First lever lowers the stand so it can act as a double-sided sidestand can be lent to the left or the right to help with slope parking. You always knew a motorcyclist on one as they always climbed off the left... the idea was that you can take a break from swinging the bulk around no matter which side you were standing.

Second lever then lifts the front wheel to provide a normal centre stand three point of contact (with rear wheel).

Complicated: I should say so: Levers in the cockpit rather than direct operation, cables, and the front telelever suspension system needing to accommodating lifting and with it the the need to train the user (you cannot do anything but stretch and eventually break the cables if you try to use the centrestand while still seated in the machine).

While it worked, all of us on the development side wanted a self-levelling electric or hydraulic system with push-button operation - frankly it wouldn't have been any more complicated or heavier and would have helped greatly with the design flaw of the upright seating position - the top-heaviness at low and zero speed. Parking these on slopes had to be planned as if it started to lean even Arnie in his prime could not stop it from falling over.

I see the picture shows the belts plugged in - I guess the bike was ridden to the photo site as the belts must be connected to get the bike to do anything other than tickover. This was the cause of the only known fatality in a C1 when some prick Italian decided the belts didn't match his expectation of `cool` and connected the straps then sat on them, only to get involved in a car-from-side-road accident when he shot forward, collided with the windscreen and pillar and broke his stupid fucking neck. Thereby proving Darwin was right.

The only thing dumber was the stupidity of the DVLA in not permitting a new category to be created to indicate this single track vehicle could be ridden without a helmet. Only UK bureaucrats were that stupid to actually make things less safe, in the name of safety...

[bikerdezzie]

The new benelli adiva 300 looks nice - http://www.scooter-station.com/3-roues- ... sayer.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;