BMW S 1000 RR voted International Bike of the Year
BMW Motorcycles Press Release - Jan 27, 2011

The S 1000 RR has won the International Bike of the Year (IBOTY) award for 2010. The 26th edition of the prestigious annual competition awarded top honours to BMW Motorrad’s Superbike, marking yet another significant achievement in its short history in the marketplace.

The annual International Bike of the Year award is particularly special because it has been in existence since 1985 and is truly an international award, voted for by some of the most influential people in the business – motorcycle journalists themselves. The jury of the International Bike of the Year 10/11 was composed of 14 members representing leading motorcycle magazines from all over the world. The voting process is simple: each editor chooses their three favourite motorcycles, the first choice gets five points, the second gets three points and the third bike gets one point. The motorcycle with the most points wins.

In this year’s IBOTY, the RR was literally streets ahead of its rivals, winning the competition with 57 points, 24 ahead of its nearest rival (Ducati Multistrada 1200 S) on 33 points, with the Honda VFR 1200 and Yamaha XTZ1200 Super Ténéré tying for third place on 9 points each.

The jury of the IBOTY described the RR as “A bike that combines a technological breakthrough with remarkable performance and everyday usability. This bike performs as well on the racetrack as it does on the open road. With the new S 1000 RR, BMW has written a new chapter in the history of production bikes: this is the very first bike to so convincingly integrate electronics that improve riding pleasure and safety in equal measures.”

The IBOTY award crowns a tremendous year for BMW Motorrad’s RR that has included accolades from motorcycle magazines worldwide, as well as race wins and even championships secured in many race series across the globe. It has also been an extraordinary sales success story, with 10,209 units delivered to customers in its first full year of marketing. That makes it the fourth most popular BMW model, behind the two R 1200 GS variants and the R 1200 RT touring machine. Interestingly, more than 90% of RR customers opt for the innovative Race ABS and the dynamic traction control (DTC) system, showing that performance and safety are high on the list of priorities for sports bike riders.

The Belgian magazine MotorWerled, together with 14 other bike magazines chose the RR as their best bike of the year. These magazines included: Australian Motorcycle News; PS Magazin (Germany); Moto Magazine (Greece); Moto Motor Magazine (Israel); Autocar India; Superwheels (Italy); Auto Door (Japan), KicXstart (The Netherlands); Bike (Scandinavia); MotoSI (Slovenia); La Moto (Spain); Bike (UK); and Cycle World (USA).

It’s the third time BMW Motorrad has won the IBOTY award (the last time was in 2004 with the BMW R 1200 GS) and it was presented on the occasion of the press day of the European Motor Show in Brussels on 14 January, where Thierry Sarasyn, chief editor of MotorWerled handed over the award to Philipp von Sahr, President & CEO of BMW Group Belux.  

3. Honda VFR 1200F DCT / Yamaha XTZ1200 Super Ténéré - 9 pts.

IBOTY roll of honour