There is a joke in motorcycling about the two things you don’t want your friends to catch you riding, with the second part of that punch line involving scooters; and while we like to stay open-minded about our two-wheeled vehicles, there’s a reason you don’t see them covered that often here on A&R. All that goes out the window though if the scooters of the future look like this BMW Concept C Maxiscooter, which was released at EICMA this week.
Proof that the Bavarians can make a good looking two-wheeler (although they usually muck-up the end result after showing an attractive concept), the Concept C is the German company’s exploration of what will likely be the growing segment in the motorcycle industry. As gas prices continue to increase, people are going to have to become more practical about their forms of transportation (this statement goes two-fold for us Americans), not needing/wanting a full-sized motorcycle, the maxiscooter segment could be the answer on how to travel practically while not compromising on performance and image.
Centered around a inline twin-cylinder motor (BMW doesn’t give us a displacement size) with a CVT transmission, the Concept C (“C” stands for commuter) shows that riding a scooter can include elements we see in full-blown motorcycles. Clearly over-the-top, the BMW Concept C has twin disc brakes up-front with six-pot radially mounted calipers (a single six-pot for the rear), a rear-view camera, single-sided swingarm, and a comprehensive dash that would make the HUD of an F/A-18 Super Hornet fell abashed. All of this isn’t necessarily practical on a scooter, but it gives the idea that we can, and should, expect more refinement from the segment.
BMW hopes to produce two scooter designs based off the Concept C’s idea path, with an electric version also likely to debut at some point in the next few years. If this is the scooter of the future, we might have to start dating more women from the mid-west.
Source: BMW
Scooter snobs ay! Nothing’s more fun than a bunch of riders on 250 scooters hammering on each other…..come to the party when you clear 50 : )
At least it isn’t another C-1 50cc thing… Lots of plastic, bmw details and blue tires for the show. But anyway, it’s a scooter.
I think this is as good as a scooter could look so far. Would I buy one? no. If I was looking for a scooter? most probably yes.
I like the cameras replacing the mirrors, no more seeing your elbows, just a good wide angle view of whats going behind. I think this is an idea worth considering for motorcycles too.
If it had bigger wheels, it’d look more like Akira’s bike, and therefore cooler. Everything’s meaner looking with bigger wheels.
I think the days of scooters are upon us. With bigger ones out there (like the Suzuki Begman), these things are going to be like Economy Cars are to sports cars. Enthusiasts like us will always be on real motorcycles, but there will be more and more people on scooters. I can only hope people who start riding them are smarter than the typical motorist.
As for this BMW scooter, yeah it has cool stuff. I hope some of it trickles up to bikes. I’m sure it will in time.
It’ll never work. How will people text and eat McDonald’s while operating them?
…and where are the CUPHOLDERS?!?