AMERICA’S Consumer Reports magazine is something of a legend, having been rating products since 1936. And now it’s done its first reliability study on motorcycles.

The study of 4,680 readers’ bikes, all made from 2009 to 2012, put Yamaha on top when it came to reliability, with only one bike in 10 needing repairs. Kawasaki and Honda rounded out the podium.

BMW trailed the pack with a third of the bikes in the survey needing repairs in the four-year period covered.

However, despite the number of bikes surveyed, several manufacturers weren’t sufficiently represented to feature in the results, including Triumph and Suzuki.

The full report is available online to subscribers.