Podcast 671: Suzuki's Biggest Flop, The Gladius

Is the Suzuki Gladius a good bike? Yes. Then why did it fail so big? It was the next version of an already popular bike, the SV650. Known for being great performance at a great price, the SV650 became a hit on the road and on the track. So where did Suzuki go wrong? They marketed it to women. This backfired in 2 ways. Men labeled it a 'girls' bike, and women were insulted that they substituted aesthetics over performance. Suzuki learned their lesson, and the follow up to the Gladius was the gen 3 SV650. We go into detail about what went wrong and also talk about why the SV650 was so great (and still is). With Liza, Stumpy John, Miss Emma, Naked Jim and Bagel. motorcyclesandmisfits@gmail.com womenridersworldrelay.com/ motorcyclesandmisfits.com/shop adifferentagenda.com/products/10-days-wrwr-ada2026

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Podcast 671: Suzuki's Biggest Flop, The Gladius is an episode from Motorcycles & Misfits by Motorcycles & Misfits.

This episode is 01:50:57 long.

This episode was published on Apr 13, 2026.

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