The story of the Suzuki GSX1300 B-King started way back in 2001.
It begins at the Tokyo Motor Show, which is traditionally where the Japanese manufacturers like to push the boat out and show off in front of their home crowds. Suzuki used the occasion to pull the covers off a brand new concept bike – the B-King. It drew admiring looks thanks to its butch stance, what really caught people’s attention was its motor.
Powered by a supercharged Hayabusa engine, the B-King promised to be something very exciting indeed. With the Hayabusa’s motor already well-established in the performance scene, with drag racers and top speed addicts regularly adding forced induction to them, the thought of Suzuki doing it on a production bike was tantalising. And it seemed as if Suzuki were actually serious about making the B-King. The hype was real.
So often concept bikes are just that, a pretty design idea with no hope of ever making it to production, but the B-King was different. After Tokyo, the concept bike embarked on a worldwide tour of motorcycle shows, accompanied by Suzuki employees armed with clipboards frantically gauging ‘customer interest.’ As you would imagine, the interest was overwhelmingly positive and everyone enthusiastically pushed Suzuki to make the concept bike a reality. So Suzuki announced they would build the B-King. Which is when the problems started...
After an irritatingly long and drawn out teaser campaign, the final production version of the B-King was eventually unveiled in late 2007 – six years after the concept had been doing the rounds. Sadly for Suzuki, the public’s reaction to the production bike wasn’t what they were expecting. The two-wheeled world had moved on, and the bike wasn’t entirely as promised either…
Far from the svelte and stripped-back concept bike, the production version of the B-King (which was actually delayed in its arrival due to supply issues) was fat and bulbous, with lots of ugly plastic and a ridiculously large set of underseat pipes. But that wasn’t the main issue. The biggest problem was its engine.
Despite being powered by a re-tuned ‘Busa engine, with a claimed 181bhp and 108ft.lb of torque, Suzuki had pulled their punches and the B-King was normally aspirated, not supercharged. The accountants had waded in and main reason why the B-King had caught the imagination of so many people had been omitted from the final spec.
Suzuki claimed it was down to production costs and argued the Hayabusa-derived engine delivered more than enough performance for a naked bike anyway. That was all fair enough, but it also wasn't the point. The B-King was meant to be supercharged and excessive. Superchargers were cool and having one strapped to the side of your motor carries a lot of street credibility. And then there was the riding experience…
Tipping the scales at a claimed (and probably still optimistic) 235kg, the B-King was a big old bike. It certainly delivered in terms of grunt but through bends felt heavy, hard to turn and far removed from the sports naked it was billed as. In an era of relatively lightweight naked bikes such as the Kawasaki Z1000, Aprilia Tuono, Ducati Monster or Triumph Speed Triple, the B-King felt lardy and out of place. And although it was rocketship fast, sales were regrettably slow.
Never really taking off, Suzuki dealers were quickly left with unsold stock of the B-King as it didn’t do enough to justify its £9000 price tag. Despite being teased for six years, the B-King only lasted as a production model for four short years, before being withdrawn from Suzuki’s line-up. Was it an opportunity missed?
Looking back, if Suzuki had followed through on their promise of a supercharged super naked the B-King would almost certainly have been more of a success, even with a bigger price tag. Kawasaki’s more recent H2 models have demonstrated that riders are prepared to pay extra for a cool bit of tech and as everyone knows, too much is never enough when it comes to muscle bikes. What a shame Suzuki got cold feet with the B-King. It could have been a defining bike for the brand, rather than the white elephant it turned out to be.
Specs:
Engine: 1340cc, liquid-cooled, 16v, DOHC, inline four
Power: 181bhp @ 9500rpm
Torque: 108ftlb @ 7200rpm
Seat height: 805mm
Weight: 235kg (wet)
