B-King? B-Here!

B-KING? B-HERE!

Batman, your naked muscle-bike is almost ready. Rolled out at the recent Paris Show, the Suzuki B-King has made it from concept status to the production line. We first saw the ballsy stunner at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2001, wearing a supercharger and a big black beach ball of a rear tire. Well, the 240mm rubber is still there, but the blower got lost in translation, probably at the behest of some hand-wringing product-liability pencil neck worried about peeling riders off the back of the thing at speeds above a buck-fifty. B-King buckaroos will just have to content themselves with an ordinary unboosted Hayabusa 1300 motor and its 150 or so normally aspirated ponies. Styling has been toned down slightly but remains faithful to the Tokyo showstopper, including a pair of finned oversized tailpipes exiting under the seat cowl. Look for the B-King to be here in the U.S. sometime in 2007 as an early-release ’08 model. Unanswered at presstime: What will Robin the Boy Wonder ride?

David Edwards