Dancing the Polka

I would not have guessed that the future would be small. Though, I’m not complaining.

More than six years ago, I noted in my review of the 2019 Moto Guzzi V85TT that I felt we had hit peak adventure bike. I was convinced that the fever manufacturers had for the genre was going to break and that we would soon move on to the next big craze. 

“A decade from now, ADV bikes will be where sport tourers are today, with only a few stalwarts remaining,” I wrote.

Looking back, I’d say I totally misunderestimated the staying power of adventure machines, but there is definitely a new and interesting shift happening in motorcycling these days. It is not a move away from any one genre, but instead a step away from large-capacity bikes. As the sales figures of Royal Enfield, Triumph, and CFMoto can attest, sub-500cc is where it’s at.

That’s good news for Honda, which already has a number of excellent sub-500s in its line-up, including the popular GB350S, but now, according to reporting from MCN, Suzuki is keen to get into the market in a big way.

“It’s a segment where the products are getting more and more popular among customers,” Akira Kyuji, Suzuki’s general manager for motorcycle marketing and planning, told the paper recently. “Of course, for manufacturers like us, we need to go for that. If there is customer demand, we should go for that.”

It would make sense. Ever since the Great Recession, Suzuki seems to have given up on being at the very cutting edge of performance. It still makes good bikes but leans heavily into the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” way of thinking. It’s carved a place for itself in the market as the brand whose bikes aren’t the absolute fastest or sexiest or techiest, but which will always start.

That’s the kind of reputation that would serve a company particularly well in the sub-500cc market. 

At present, the only such bike that Suzuki offers in the UK is the DR-Z4S/DR-Z4SM. Powered by a 398cc single-cylinder engine, the DR-Z4 models are well regarded (Although, I do wonder how they’re fairing, sales-wise, against more affordable, less-focused dual sports like the CFMoto 450MT and Royal Enfield Himalayan 450). 

In the past, before the current sub-500 craze, Suzuki has attempted to sell a number of lower-capacity models, including the V-Strom 250 and a bike I genuinely considered at one point, the GW250 Inazuma.

In the UK, the sub-500 market is booming. In the last year or two, Triumph has topped sales charts with its 400s (soon to be 350s, thanks to a change in the law in India, where the bikes are made), as has Royal Enfield with its multitude of 450 and 350 models. Meanwhile, according to data from the Motorcycle Industry Association, the BSA Bantam 350 was the best-selling modern classic of any capacity in October 2025.

(Personally, I wouldn’t have put the Bantam 350 in that category but whatever.)

“The demand for 350 to 500cc motorcycles is getting more and more popular now, but not only in Europe,” Kyuji told MCN.

It’s a good bet that Suzuki already has engine platforms ready to go in the segment, as it has long been a strong player in markets where sub-500 bikes were already popular. In India, for example, the company has built more than 9 million motorcycles over the past two decades.

The company will probably have to make some tweaks/updates to meet European emissions standards, but the biggest challenge to success in the UK and Europe will be hitting the sweet spot of styling and affordability.

“We cannot share any future model plans,” Kyuji told MCN. “But, demand is demand, and I think our job is to look to fulfil that demand.”