With victories in the categories “Sports Bikes”, “Touring/Sport Touring Bikes”, “Crossovers” and “Modern Classics” as well as three second and two third places, BMW Motorrad achieved another impressive result in the MOTORRAD magazine’s 19th “Motorcycle of the Year” readers’ vote in which 208 motorcycle models lined up for selection.
“Once again I am very pleased with the outstanding result our motorcycles achieved and would like to thank the MOTORRAD readers warmly for their vote. Nine podium places are a strong validation for the width of our BMW Motorrad range”, says Stephan Schaler, Director BMW Motorrad in his response to this year’s readers’ vote.
The BMW S 1000 RR took first place for the third time in a row with ease in the “Sports Bikes” category. With 17.8 percent of the readers’ vote it prevailed over the ever stronger competition from Italy and the Far East. The participating MOTORRAD readers once more honoured the outstanding combination of high performance, high active riding safety thanks to Race ABS and Dynamic Traction Control DTC as well as the optional electronically controlled suspension Dynamic Damping Control DDC.
In the “Crossover” category the BMW S 1000 XR took first place with an outstanding 19.7 per cent of the votes to defend its 2016 victory. MOTORRAD readers were won over by its fascinating mix of dynamic sports-oriented riding characteristics, excellent sports touring qualities and individual design.
When it came to vote on the best “Touring/Sports Touring Bike”, BMW Motorrad scored another victory. As in the previous year, the R 1200 RS came first thanks to its excellent allround qualities with regard to dynamic riding, sportiness and touring suitability. It received 22.5 per cent of the votes at a similarly high level as last year.
BMW Motorrad achieved victory number four with the R nineT in the “Modern Classics” category. 25.0 per cent of readers voted in favour of the the unrivalled mix of classic design, lifestyle, state-of-the-art technology and sporty dynamic riding from the new world of BMW Motorrad “Heritage”.
The BMW Motorrad top seller, the R 1200 GS/Rallye and R 1200 GS Adventure, missed class victory narrowly. Due to their classification as independent models, the R 1200 GS/Rallye still managed to take second please easily followed by the R 1200 Adventure in third place. The new R nineT Urban GS also just missed the podium. With this fourth place, BMW Motorrad has three bikes among the first four places in the hotly contested Enduro/Supermoto category.
In the “Naked Bike” category, the BMW R 1200 R flat twin was able to move up to an outstanding second place coming from third place last year. In the the “Scooter” category, BMW Motorrad achieved another admirable second place with the zero-emission C-Evolution. The third place for the C 650 Sport/C 650 GT rounds off BMW Motorrad’s successful positive overall performance in the urban segment.
The award ceremony was held on 16 March 2017 in Stuttgart. In the 19th readers’ vote on the “Motorcycle of the Year 2017”, which is considered to be the most important motorcycle and scooter readers’ choice in Europe, 49,641 readers took part. Since 1999 well above half a million readers took part in the vote.
