If you haven't come acrosss one of these contrivances before, this is the future of inner city transport, or so BMW would like us to think. This is the BMW C1, not quite a motorcycle, not quite a scooter, but as BMW call it, "an innovative mobility concept". And if you're wondering about the colour scheme, this very bike was the personal paddock transport for Gus Scott during the 2002 Boxer Cup race series. The C1 represents a bold move by the MotorWorks, who are having a crack at the Smart car concept and pushing this scooter-with-roof as the solution to transport problems faced by dashing young city executives.

The idea of sitting upright in a bike with a roof is not a new one, of course. British designer Malcolm Newell cut a swathe through conventional motorcycle thinking with his Quasar and Phasar bikes in the mid seventies. Newell went back to the drawing board, and asked some very basic questions about motorcycle design. Conventional motorcycles are descended in a more or less straight line from primitive designs which took a bicycle and bolted an engine into the frame. Early bikes had to be pedalled when the going got tough, and as engines grew in size and performanced the riding position still plonked the rider in the ideal place to pedal, i.e. amidships, on top of the bike, in a forward leaning crouch.

In a moment of revelation, Newell realised that the then current crop of Z1s and GS1000s did not require pedal assistance from the rider, and the antiquated riding position had been carried forward by mere conservatism in design. For his new concept, perhaps the first real motorcycle design worthy of the name, Newell drew out a riding position based on the human form, and designed the bike around it. The resulting Quasar proved simply too radical for the die hard conservatism of the biking public, sold a mere 20 or so bikes, and struggled on for a year or two before bankruptcy eventually sank the idea. Or rather banished it to the fringes of the still thriving FF ("feet first") cult. One day their time will come, and Malcolm Newell will be recognised as the design genius he undoubtedly was.

Unfortunately he didn't live to see the concept picked up by BMW, who have scaled down the engine size and tailored the design to aim at the city commuter market. It's not a true FF design of course, for under that radical styling lives a more or less conventional twist and go scooter, but the little C1 must surely nod in ackowlegement to its Guardian Angel Quasar looking on from above. Maybe, just maybe, the C1 and its ilk could represent the tip of an iceberg that could yet prove Newell and his FF compadres right.

But back to the present. And as you'd expect, there's nothing experimental about a design launched on the public by a company with BMWs reputation. The C1s roof conceals a built in framework which is immensely stiff, and a seatbelt keeps the rider safe and secure in the event of a spill. It's a fully triangulated rollcage in fact, and is TuV tested to the same standards of safety applied to small cars. Full weather protection is of course a huge advantage, and BMW fondly imagine hordes of young professionals buzzing around between meetings, laptops strapped to the luggage rack and hands free mobile phone kits on full song. The C1 comes with a choice of 125 or 200cc engines, which means, of course, that the smaller version can be ridden on L plates. The retail price of £3395 means any learner riders will have to be quite well heeled, but it does mean that car owning executives can jump into one of these with the minimum of legal red tape. The 200cc version is a little more expensive at £3595, and you'll need a conventional full bike license for that one.

The weather protection doesn't extend as far as the sides of the bike, and realistically the C1 will never be able to offer the same level of comfort as a small car with proper, closing, doors. No problem to us bikers, but the hordes of young executives may undergo a little culture shock when they discover how ineffective an Armani suit is against a British February chill. Where it does score is in its ability to shrug off congestion and its associated charges, now in effect in Central London and threatening to spread rapidly to other major cities. BMW must be rubbing their hands with glee at Ken Livingstone's scheme which seems planned to push sales of the C1 through the ceiling. But a long distance motorway cruiser it certainly is not. Not only is it hideously underpowered for distance work, its also a good deal heavier than a conventional scooter. And while BMW do offer luggage equipment in the form of an optional large top box, it will never replace the Fiat Punto for the weekly trip to Tesco's either. So while your options are quite limited with a C1 it does offer a glimpse of the future as a specialised vehicle for specialised work. If I lived and worked in Central London, which thank god I don't, the C1 would be rising rapidly on my short list of must have essentials. The sting in the tale here is our wonderful governments insistance that to ride a C1 in the UK you must wear a helmet. Alone in Europe, myopic British authorities see a vehicle with two wheels on it and insist on compulsory helmet wear, safety roll cage and seat belts or no. This does make a mockery of some of the C1 refinements, like the splendid little stereo with twin active speakers mounted up behind the riders head. It is also guaranteed to discourage more elegantly coiffed female punters, who don't wish to arrive for important city meetings with squashed and sweaty hair, helmet in hand. If the British government is in any way genuinely concerned with reducing traffic congestion it must change the law and permit us to use the C1 as it was intended. Trust me, complete anarchy is unlikely to result.

Having said all this, the little BMW is quite fun to ride despite its limited size and performance, and despite the compulsory lid. Its a bit disconcerting to begin with, the roof gives the bike a top heavy feeling until you're used to it. But the hang of it comes quite soon and the initially disconcerting sight of the world tilting sideways through the tall, narrow screen soon becomes normal. Or normal-ish, anyway. The big surprise is how comfortable this thing is to ride, with a full sized back rest to lean back into and armrest style thingies holding you securely on each side. And the single wipe function on the windcreen wiper looks so cool I couldn't help playing with it even on a perfectly clear dry day. The wierdest part of riding this bike is parking up; two large levers protrude through into the passenger compartment, one of which lowers the centre stand and one of which lifts the bike up on the suspension. The two levers have to operated in the correct sequence to take the thing on and off the stand, and the whole procedure feels like it comes straight from the school of Heath Robinson.

And at 6'4" even I can comfortably fit in it. I wouldn't like to attempt a long distance journey in one but, hey, that's not what it was designed for. As a city commuter this is a brilliant traffic buster, and with congestion charging threatening to spread from London to the other big cities, one of these could be a really smart buy. Other manufacturers are beginnning to catch on too, with the similar but cheaper Benelli Adiva threatening to take some sales from BMW. You really can't knock BMW for trying out something new, and I quite like this little C1. "Innovative mobility concept" or not I can see how it makes a lot of sense and maybe in a parallel universe we'll all be using these to commute into work in few years time. It certainly makes more sense than roads clogged each morning with hordes of traffic-jammed Mondeos, and it's more fun too. Put it on the list of good ideas, and lets hope it catches on.

Dr.Rod.