Shortlist Announced for the Auto Trader Best Bike Award 2015

• Shortlist announced for second annual Auto Trader Best Bike Award 2015
• Winner selected by panel of motorcycle experts next month
• Auto Trader Editor-in-chief, Jon Quirk will visit winners to present award
• Auto Trader is the UK's biggest motorcycle marketplace

Auto Trader – the largest online marketplace for new and used cars and motorcycles – has published a shortlist for its Best Bike Awards for 2015. The winner will be selected by a panel of motorcycle experts next month, and presented with their award during a visit by Auto Trader Editor-in-chief - Jon Quirk.

Launched last year, the awards are already established as a signature of excellence from the UK's biggest marketplace for motorcycles. Experts from Auto Trader Bikes have ridden hundreds of miles, testing every new bike on sale in the UK to shortlist category winners, carefully whittling down the entrants to find the winning bike; worthy of the prestigious title of Best Bike of 2015.

Commenting on the shortlist, Editor-in-chief - and keen biker - Jon Quirk, said: “It has been a vintage year for new motorcycles and that's reflected by the rise in new bike registrations across multiple categories. As of October, there are already 10,000 more new bikes on our roads compared to last year, which is great news for an industry we are passionate about supporting. We hope the Best Bike Awards continue to help Britain's bike-buying public, as well as convince more people to the benefits of two wheels."

The judging panel has now been confirmed:

• Jon Quirk: Editor-in-Chief of Auto Trader, road rider, customiser and committed to helping everybody find their dream bike.
• Rob Morphet: Launched Auto Trader Bikes in 1996, a key protagonist in its successful shift to digital, and a passionate supermoto rider.
• David Burton: Founding editor of independent motorcycle magazine Esses, road rider, prolific designer, tea drinker.
• Phil West: One of the UK's most authoritative, respected and long established motorcycling journalists. Now a senior road tester for Auto Trader Bikes.

Bikes shortlisted for the awards are as follows. More information will be available on the forthcoming Best Bikes 2015 website:

Categories and shortlisted bikes:

Best AM

Aprilia SR 50 R
Boation Falcon R
Peugeot Django 50cc

Best A1

Honda CB125F
KTM RC 125
Yamaha MT-125

Best A2

BMW G 650 GS
Honda CBR500R
Yamaha MT-07

Best Scooter

GTS 300 Super
Peugeot Django 150cc
Vespa Primavera 125cc

Best Commuter

BMW C-Evolution
Honda NC750X
Triumph Bonneville

Best Enduro

Honda CRF250L
KTM Freeride 350
KTM 350 EXC-F

Best Naked

BMW R 1200 R
Triumph Street Triple Rx
Yamaha MT-07

Best Retro

BMW R nineT
Ducati Scrambler
Indian Scout

Best Sports

BMW S 1000 RR
Kawasaki Ninja H2
Yamaha R1

Best Adventure

BMW R 1200 GS
KTM 1290 Super Adventure
Yamaha MT-07 Tracer

Best Tourer

BMW S 1000 XR
Ducati Multistrada S
Kawasaki Z1000 SX

Best Cruiser

Harley-Davidson Street Glide
Indian Chief Dark Horse
Yamaha V-MAX

For media enquiries, please contact:

Laura Biss, JJ Marketing: laura.biss@jjmarketing.co.uk

About Auto Trader:

Auto Trader Group plc is a 100% digital business having successfully completed the transition from a print title in 2013. Auto Trader sits at the heart of the UK's vehicle buying process and operates the UK's largest digital automotive marketplace.

Auto Trader's primary activity is to help vehicle retailers compete effectively on the Marketplace in order to sell more vehicles, faster. The Marketplace brings together the largest and most engaged consumer audience. Autotrader.co.uk attracts around 44.5 million monthly cross-platform visits on its sites, with around 68% of visits coming through mobile devices, with the largest pool

of vehicle sellers (listing more than 400,000 cars each day). In fact, over 80% of all time spent on classified sites is spent on Auto Trader. The Group does not buy or sell any vehicles itself.

Auto Trader has around 92% prompted brand awareness in the UK, with 80% of UK retailer forecourts advertising via the website and around 65% of UK used car transactions involving cars listed on autotrader.co.uk.

Auto Trader's market-leading position enables it to generate and collect large amounts of data on the UK's automotive marketplace and leverage it to create a suite of services that allow retailers to:

• BUY – buy the right vehicles, at the right price
• MARKET - market their brands and businesses effectively in the digital world
• SELL- sell more vehicles through advertising on the UK's largest digital automotive marketplace
• MANAGE – optimise their stock turn and vehicle margin.

For more information please visit http://about-us.autotrader.co.uk/