It’s no surprise that BMW scored a host of awards in the 17th annual Motorrad magazine awards.
The German magazine whose title means motorcycle in German attracted 48,118 votes of the people’s choice awards and unsurprisingly the German manufacturer scored 11 places in the top three of each category and won five which is up from the three they won last year.
What is surprising is that their new S 1000 XR placed second in the new category of crossover behind the Italian Ducati Multistrada 1200 S.
Ducati Multistrada 1200 S TouringSecond most successful brand was KTM from nearby Austria with two wins and five top-three rankings, followed by Ducati with two wins and four placings, Yamaha with three top threes, and Harley, Honda , Indian and Vespa scoring podiums.
Despite the patriotism displayed by German riders, the awards make interesting reading, specially the fact that they included two new categories, modern classic and crossover, reflecting the changing niches in the showroom.
2015 Motorrad Readers’ Choice awards
- Tourer/Sport Tourer: BMW R 1200 RS (1), Kawasaki Z 1000 SX (2) and BMW’s R 1200 RT and K 1300 S equal third.
- Athlete: BMW S 1000 RR (1), Ducati Panigale 1299 (2), Yamaha YZF-R1 (3).
- Chopper/Cruiser: Ducati Diavel Carbon (1), Harley-Davidson Breakout (2), Indian Scout (3).
- Enduro/Supermoto: BMW R 1200 GS (1), 1290 KTM Super Adventure (2), KTM 1050/1190 R Adventure (3).
- Crossover: Ducati Multistrada 1200 S (1), BMW S 1000 XR (2), Yamaha MT-09 tracer (3).
- Naked: 1290 KTM Super Duke R (1), BMW R 1200 R (2), BMW S 1000 R (3).
- Modern Classics: BMW R nineT (1), Ducati Scrambler Icon/Classic (2), Honda CB1100 (3).
- 125cc: KTM 125 Duke (1), KTM RC 125 (2), Yamaha YZF-R125 (3)
- Scooter: Vespa GTS Super 300 i.e. (1), BMW C 600 Sport / GT 650 (2).
There were plenty of other lesser awards which we haven’t included such as best motorcycle exhaust, incidentally won by Akrapovic for the 10th time in a row!