Motorcycle of the Year
Rider reveals 2024 Motorcycle of the Year
The Staff October 30, 2024
Thousands of street-legal motorcycles have been released over the past 50 years, and Rider Magazine has ridden and evaluated many of them. The magazine touts that many of the bikes they’ve tested have been good, and some have even been great. But the Rider crew says only a few have achieved “icon status.”
With the introduction of the R 1300 GS for 2024, BMW’s R-series GS can add a third Rider MOTY title to its long list of awards and accolades. (Photos: Rider Magazine)
Two such motorcycles – Honda’s Gold Wing and BMW’s R-series GS – qualify as icons, and both have won Rider’s Motorcycle of the Year award twice. The Gold Wing won in 2001 and 2018, and the BMW R-GS won in 1995 and 2005.
With the introduction of the R 1300 GS for 2024, BMW’s R-series GS can add a third Rider MOTY title to its long list of awards and accolades.
Here’s what the magazine had to say about its MOTY:
2024 Motorcycle of the Year BMW R 1300 GS
Over the past two decades, the adventure bike segment has exploded, and nearly every manufacturer offers multiple adventure models, ranging in size from less than 400cc to well over 1,200cc. The genesis of this trend – one of the few bright spots in the motorcycle industry since the Great Recession of 2008 – can be traced back to 1980, when BMW launched the R 80 G/S. It was the first motorcycle that delivered on-road comfort and performance and genuine off-road capability in equal measure.
The R-series GS is BMW’s bestselling model, and the one-millionth boxer-powered GS was built in mid-2023.
The R-series GS evolved steadily over time, with engine displacement increasing, new features and technology being added, and market share growing. The R-series GS is BMW’s bestselling model, and the one-millionth boxer-powered GS was built in mid-2023. Last September, on the 100th anniversary of BMW Motorrad’s first production motorcycle, the new R 1300 GS was unveiled.
Development of the R 1300 GS started seven years ago – two years before the R 1250 GS was introduced. Having squeezed as much as possible out of the existing platform, which started with the R 1200 GS introduced in 2004, BMW knew that taking the R-series GS into the future and maintaining its position in the market required a clean-sheet design. Only the butterfly valves and a few bolts and connectors carry over from the R 1250 GS.