I lucked out today and arrived at my local Suzuki dealer who was doing their last demo ride of the day. I had the wife with me and convinced her that we should do a demo ride. So we signed up. Me as the rider, her as the passenger and walked outside to see what was available to ride.
As we walked out there was a shiny new B-king with aftermarket Yoshi cans. There was a fellow sitting on it, but had no gear with him. (All the other really fun bikes had riders sitting on them ready to go) When I inquired, the fellow says he was just looking, so I immediately claimed the bike. After a little inspection though, I discovered the B-king had some very small passenger pegs, but no passenger seat. My dear wife saw the “But I really want to ride this bike” look on my face, and proclaims she would be happy to sit this ride out. (My wife is very cool)
So, off we go on the ride. The usual crowd…People that want to buy a GXSR but their wives forbid them. & cruiser riders who just got their license. Not many in the crowd knew how to ride, but the service manager was with us, and is probably the best demo ride guide you could ask for. (Like that uncle that supplied you beer & condoms when you were 16)
Anyway, it was the last ride of the day so they gave us all a little leeway on some seldom travelled secondary roads. We were allowed to blow through some gears.
The B-King.
This bike is an absolute torque monster. I have ridden R-1’s, GSX 1000’s, even Busa’s. Nothing can compare to this bike. It does not matter what gear it is in, this thing pulls like nothing else. Twist the throttle back in the early gears and you have the front wheel leaving the ground faster than you can say fook. It is almost scary to hang on to this thing. Whack it open at 60 km in 6th, and you find you have a tighter than normal grip on the bars. Keep in mind I was on a demo ride and trying to be well behaved. It has a very weird riding position. Very wide bars (say Super Moto) and a crouched and a slightly lean forward riding position. The B-King is very nimble and feels about 200 lbs lighter than it is. At moments I almost thought I was on a SV-650. It is a naked bike so long trips just would not work on it. The wind blast was tiring, even at legal highway speeds. This is one bike that even the most experienced rider would never be able to take to top speed. The other bad part about the Kind was the cramped position your legs sit in. I am 5’11”, and have to say I would be at the maximum height that anyone could comfortably ride this bike. My knees were in conflict with the top of the very wide tank. It’s very comfortable to sit on though. (No sore wrists or bent back on my old frame)
The B-King would best be described as a package full of shites & giggles (as the British would say) It’s a bike that would see my garage if I had loads of money and could afford a stable full of rides. It’s a hugely fun bike in the short term, but is of very limited use. A short blast across town please. I have never piloted anything with a handful of torque that the B-King has at had. It really makes a GXR 1000 feel like a girl’s bike.
Topic: Got to ride a B-King Today (Read 2627 times)