BMW C1

[MrGrumpy]

Yes on reflection it seems to share some aspects of the C600 / C650 scoots - BMW's ability to have brilliant ideas done badly.

The C1 was so obviously a good idea - it ought to be safe and dry, quite compact lengthwise, and you could get huge storage boxes for it (or the pillion seat). But the stands and seat belts were over complex, it was far too top heavy making it difficult to ride and you got just as wet inside as you would on a normal scoot.

The Benelli Adiva, which seems to keep making reappearances, was apparently much more practical, though of course, lacked the safety aspects of the C1.

[Bluebottle]

.. all of us on the development side wanted a self-levelling electric or hydraulic system ...

You did engineering development for BMW? Sounds interesting

Were you at the FIZ? (what years?)
What did you do?
How did you get on with David Robb? Did he ever take you flying in his stunter?

How come you wound up doing a sales pitch on a C1 at a show?

[spaceprobe]

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

There is a guy with one parked on the sea front advertising it for sale, not my cup of tea

[irev]

.. all of us on the development side wanted a self-levelling electric or hydraulic system ...

You did engineering development for BMW? Sounds interesting

Were you at the FIZ? (what years?)
What did you do?
How did you get on with David Robb? Did he ever take you flying in his stunter?

How come you wound up doing a sales pitch on a C1 at a show?

I got involved late in the development phase on the suspension side (I'd also worked with Fournales on the integration for their units on BeeEmms). Never met DR but spoke to him a bit during the pre-production R&D which was based at Schwaig. Referred through Tony Jakeman, then BMW Motorrad UK Marketing Manager, with whom I had previously worked on the development and marketing of Everoak helmets (Tony became an owner after it was sold by the Vero family).

Subsequently my small part in the UK was affirming acceptance within our regulatory and training market, as BMW thought they might face difficulties with getting the C1 approved for CBT as the structure of the course was mandated through the DSA - it was already apparent that it didn't quite `fit` to the prescribed syllabus and I worked with CSM to ensure their instructors could integrate C1's into geared motorcycle and scooter training - effectively sidelining any possible objections. Ironic, when the real problem turned out to be pencil-pushing limp dicks at the DVLA.
In consequence, when the decision was taken to offer demo rides at a major show at Excel, CSM got the `gig` to provide instructors. I acted as liaison. We successfully put around a 1,000 press & punters on the scoots over the course of the show, with the only injury being to a dipshit Yank hack who wouldn't listen to instructions (story told before) and also provided demonstrations of the maneuverability and braking capability of the then-new ABS system (the first on a scooter, although we'd then argue the C1 wasn't one of those anyway...) - done by riding fast in a tight figure-of-eight circuit within the demo area (looked scary from the sidelines watching that machine go from lean-to-lean), then aiming the scooter at 40mph at a wall, then throwing out the anchors on the slippery floor to stop within inches of the concrete. As is the way with instructors, this evolved into a competition - comprehensively won by one instructor who managed to persistently get within 50mm of the wall (yes, millimetres). We also gave demos of how to pick one up if it fell over - and why you didn't want to stop it if it started to! The stands got a right hammering and we had a ready supply of spare cables...

There was other stuff I got involved with but that's another story. The reason I mentioned Dave the instructor is he, I and John Keogh spent a very interesting day on the floor of my living room designing a 400cc Feet-forward-scooter precisely to overcome the difficulties he and I had encountered doing those demos. John sent me a design drawing by fax which would be very interesting to show here - but of course being on fax paper and before the onset of digital scanning it faded to oblivion down through the years. Bugger!

[Bluebottle]

Thanks

That answers something that has been bothering me for a while
It all comes down to timing

[irev]

Thanks

That answers something that has been bothering me for a while
It all comes down to timing

...and who you know, don't you know.... that led to work with Suzuki, and a number of other companies.

[Bluebottle]

Excellent, what Suzuki models did you work on?