The 1960s all-action film star took one in every four of the 2,254 votes registered.
McQueen, who died of lung cancer in 1980, saw off a list of motorcycle racing legends, actors and stunt riders in the poll.
In second place was double grand prix world champion and 70s sex symbol, Barry Sheene, closely followed by seven-time MotoGP champion, Valentino Rossi. Daredevil, Evel Knieval, famous for his spectacular bone-breaking crashes was ranked fourth, while Marlon Brando, star of one of the quintessential biking films, The Wild Ones, managed seventh.
Languishing at the back of the table, scoring only two per cent of the votes each, were Mission Impossible actor Tom Cruise and Long Way Round star Ewan McGregor. Both are well known for their love of riding motorcycles, on and off screen.
McQueen preferred to do many of his own film stunts. His most famous motorcycle moment came from a sequence in the film The Great Escape where, as a prisoner of war, his character's escape was foiled by one last jump over a barbed wire fence.
The BBC mimicked the stunt as part of its Christmas schedule. Tweet
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Why would you ever show a picture of Steve McQeen holding a shotgun, when the story is about motorcycles.
Could you not have come up with a picture of him riding a motorcycle in the movie "The Great Escap" There is enough violence portrait in the world. I thought the picture showed bad form.