What’s the Worst Name for a Motorcycle? – Question of the Day
From goofy to downright awful
A little while ago, I wrote about my admiration for the Gladius, but conceded that its name didn’t really connect with people the way Suzuki probably wanted it to. If you knew that a gladius was a type of sword used by ancient Roman soldiers, you could see how it might make sense for a company that also gave us the Katana. If you didn’t, then it just sounded too much like “Gladys”, and the only vehicle that name would make sense for, is a midnight train to Georgia.
Naturally, this got me thinking about other poorly named motorcycles. Everyone knows the joke about the Honda DN-01 standing for “Do Not Own 1”, and whoever thought of Deauville should never be allowed to name their own children.
BMW typically plays it safe, giving most of its bikes a combination of letters and numbers for their names. Sure, it may come across as a bit robotic, but once you’re familiar with the nomenclature, you can easily identify the engine type, displacement, and motorcycle category. When it strays from this path with names like the R 18 Roctane, or the confusing R 12 nineT, you can see why BMW may be better off sticking to a simple alphanumeric name.
But even that formula can be a bit cumbersome. Suzuki’s GSX-S1000GX+ is a tongue-twister, and that’s before you realize the name’s got both a plus and a minus sign in it. Speaking of which, the trend of having a plus sign be part of the name (see Ducati Monster+ and Yamaha Tracer 9 GT+) really does need to go away.
These are just some examples, and I’m sure others can think of some more poorly named motorcycles. So, for our Question of the Day, I ask: what’s the worst name for a motorcycle?
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Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.
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The BMW F650 Funduro still stands as the dumbest name for me. My buddy owned one for years.
KTM - Keeps Taking Money. No, that's the most appropriate name for unreliable motorcycles.
Fireblade is stupid. What exactly is a fireblade? It certainly wouldn't have wheels.