These Are The Best Motorcycles With A Roof

Motorcycles don't often come with a roof, but when they do, it's a rare sight.

Every motorcyclist has ridden in every weather possible. Whether it's in pouring rain or scorching heat, motorcyclists brave the elements to get their kicks. That is one of the biggest reasons why no matter how hard motorcycle manufacturers try, motorcycles with roofs simply do not take off. For starters, roofed motorcycles could never look half as cool or stylish as fiery sports bikes or thumping cruiser motorcycles. However, that doesn't keep them from trying.

A motorcycle with a roof is called a cabin motorcycle, and there have been many cabin cycles over the years that have tried to taste success. While hardcore motorcycling enthusiasts who love badass bikes wouldn't possibly pay them heed, covered motorcycles do end up finding a market. Whether it is because they do protect their riders against the elements or add an extra element of safety and shelter, roofed motorcycles are still here and kicking. In that vein, here are the ten best motorcycles that have a roof over them, including rare roofed motorcycles from Honda, BMW, and Toyota.

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Over recent years, we've seen a rise in electric vehicles specifically tailored to an urban lifestyle. These EVs are the most efficient and nimble, offering great mobility in an urban landscape. While e-scooters have soared in popularity, Michigan-based EV startup Nimbus launched their three-wheeled electric motorcycle, dubbed the Nimbus One.

Not only does the Nimbus One offer a roof over the rider's head and keep them safe from the elements, but it also delivers a whopping 370 MPGe. Nimbus claims that the creation of the EV motorbike itself uses fewer materials and batteries than the traditional EV. This results in the Nimbus One being three times greener than your average electric car. The Nimbus One is available to either rent at $200 a month or purchase for $9,980.

It's not always just hardcore bikers, but even the common commuters who don't like the eye-sore that roofed scooters or motorcycles are. The Honda Elysium prototype, however, tried to fix that problem all the way back in 2001 by being a convertible roofed motorcycle. The Elysium wasn't your average commuter scooter, either.

An all-weather 'mega-scooter', the Honda Elysium rode on a massive 750cc flat-four liquid-cooled engine mated to a CVT transmission. Not only did motorcycles with roofs ever take off, but large-capacity scooters took a while to get going, too. The early 2000s were simply not the right time for the Honda Elysium.

Toyota's conceptual i-Road motorcycle-with-a-roof actually sported a steering wheel inside instead of handlebars. However, it does come with plenty of bike-like characteristics, so it does deserve a place on this list, among other great futuristic Toyota concepts from the past.

Unsurprisingly, the i-Road never made it to production, and Toyota only ever made a few of them. However, with 31 miles of range on one full charge, we don't really understand what Toyota was going for, as it is simply not enough to sometimes cover even a single day's commute.

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Perhaps the most popular motorcycle out there that had a roof, the BMW C1 actually did what plenty of other entries on this list couldn't, which was to reach production. With a car-like safety cage around it, the BMW C1 motorcycle even allowed riders in some countries to ride without helmets!

The Bavarian manufacturer gave this BMW motorcycle a 125cc version as well as a 200cc version. It was the latter that fared better, owing to the motorcycle's weight and bulk. This cabin motorcycle never reached the United States. But it is still available on the used motorcycle market in countries like Canada and the UK.

Now we've seen plenty of three-wheeled motorcycles, but what set the Peugeot HYmotion 3 apart upon its unveiling in 2008 was its three-wheel-drive powertrain. The HYmotion 3 could seat two people. Although, from the brand's official images of a rider and a pillion, neither of them looked comfy!

This hybrid motorcycle boasted twin electric motors powering its front tires, with a supercharged 125cc single single-cylinder engine sending 20 horses to the rear wheel. Not only did the electric motors up front help extend the bike's range, but the range anxiety itself was quelled by the petrol engine at the rear. A good idea in theory, but the Peugeot HYmotion 3 hybrid motorcycle, being another cabin motorcycle, didn't take off.

BMW really does make some newsworthy concepts, don't they? Unveiled in 2008 as a concept, the BMW SIMPLE was a motorcycle-esque vehicle that had two wheels at the rear and one at the front. The brand itself refused to categorize the SIMPLE as either a car or a bike, as the SIMPLE stood for "a Sustainable and Innovative Mobility Product for Low Energy consumption."

While this BMW motorcycle was truly an eyesore (there's no sugarcoating it), BMW did claim a fantastic 117 MPG efficiency for the motorcycle, or 'Mobility Product'. Be that as it may, we can safely say that no hearts were broken over the SIMPLE not reaching production ever.

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If the Peraves EcoMobile looks familiar to you, you might recall seeing Jeremy Clarkson trying it out on Top Speed. This roofed two-wheeler boasts a lower center of gravity than the average motorcycle, according to creator Arnold Wagner.

When the EcoMobile evolved into the Peraves MonoTracer in 2006, it boasted a fantastic top speed of 196 mph, thanks to its 190-hp four-cylinder engine. Out of the 58 MonoTracers built, 12 have an electric drive, and those electric Monotracer MTE models boasted a mind-blowing efficiency of over 200 MPG.

Benelli's answer to BMW's C1, the Adiva, was a convertible cabin motorcycle. However, the Adiva still managed to reach production and sold for half a decade between 2001 and 2006. This cabin cycle's top speed was approximately 60 mph, and Benelli offered it in both 125cc and 150cc variants.

The Benelli Adiva was the first vehicle to come out of a joint venture between Adiva and Benelli, and truth be told, it wasn't ever all that remarkable. Eventually, Adiva branched off to become its own company.

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This peculiar cabin motorcycle came out of the United Kingdom in the 1970s. The Quasar, as far as bikes go, was a pretty powerful vehicle, riding on an 850cc inline-four engine taken from the Reliant Robin. This is undeniably one of the most famous three-wheelers of all time. Creator Malcolm Newell actually had a motorcycle shop called 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', where his failed idea of a 'Revolution' trike forced him to close shop. Soon, Newell met Ken Leamen, and the two men created the Quasar cabin motorcycle together.

Many riders actually faced trouble riding it upright with a helmet on, especially taller ones. The Quasar's three makers only ever managed to build 21 units of this motorcycle from '76 to '82, and this motorcycle certainly remains famous, although we can't say it's for the right reasons. Interestingly, even Peugeot had an extremely interesting concept in the '80s, which they called the Quasar, too.

Yes, yes, we know that the P45 is more of a car than a motorcycle, but there is no way in hell we weren't giving this a mention. Jeremy Clarkson built it himself, and while it wasn't completely rainproof, there was a weird head cover that made Jezza look like he was wearing a hard HAZMAT suit atop a small motorbike.

The P45 truly was a car you could wear, and that's a sentence nobody ever thought would exist. Today, the P45, with its 1.75-liter fuel tank (0.4 gallons) and two-stroke 100cc engine, sits in Beaulieu in the Top Gear display. But hey, the one thing the Clarkson P45 can be proud of is having a reverse gear, which is a feature that's missing not just on the entries in this list but on most modern-day motorcycles!

If it has wheels and an engine, Samarveer Singh is going to be obsessed with it. He is a budding Indian motorcycle racer, competing at the national level in his country in his very first year, chasing his dream around every corner of the racetrack. A touring enthusiast, Samarveer is forever stuck between the urge to constantly redline his bike, or save its clutch plates for longer.