European bike-maker BMW has left the motorcycle industry jaw-dropped after its first ever superbike effort, the S1000RR was recently awarded the Bike of the Year award in the island country of Japan, which has given us some of the best superbikes till date

The German bike-maker has broken all records with its flagship superbike, the S1000RR since its launch in 2009 but certainly winning the Supertest World Association’s Bike of the Year award in Japan has to be a momentous achievement on the S1000RR’s resume. This is the first time in the history of motorcycling that a BMW motorcycle was awarded in the land of the rising sun where the ‘big four’ Japanese bike-makers – Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki have reigned supreme all these years in the superbike category.

The BMW S1000RR made it to the Japanese market only by April 2010 but it was quick to take over its rivals from the big four to take the top honours. The Supertest World Association includes recognized and renowned motorcycle journalists from around the globe as well as senior media representatives from well-known local Japanese publications. The award for the S1000RR was presented to BMW Motorrad Japan Director Ekrem Sak by Kohei Ichimoto, Editor-in-Chief of the Japanese motorcycle magazine, Young Machine, which is a member of Supertest World Association.

The S1000RR has been the first ever true-blue superbike to roll out of the BMW factory, which has been largely known for its adventure motorcycles but in its debut year itself the S1000RR has notched up race victories and outdone iconic Japanese litre-class motorcycles like the Honda CBR1000RR, the Suzuki GSX-R1000 and the Yamaha YZF-R1, which has been at the helm of the superbike class for over two decades.