jrandom rides the B-King

**jrandom** · 3rd February 2008, 08:57

I can't be arsed writing up a fancy review, so I'll just throw some impressions down here as they come to mind.

Friday morning, I was happily wasting time at work chatting on MSN to kiwifruit about his old man's new B-King, which I was having a wee drool over at MotoTT the previous weekend.

A few minutes of general shit-talking, and I've had enough, so I called Colemans and booked in a test ride for lunchtime.

Rolled on up, and, oh my, the demo unit has Yoshi cans. Nice.

No, wait, that's not the demo unit. The demo unit's this fully stock one, over here.

Oh well. Dan the salesman (there are three Dans working at Colemans; very confusing) runs it up to the gas station for fuel. Why do shops always wait until you turn up for a test ride to check the fuel in their demo bikes, no matter how far ahead you call?

It sounds really boring. Almost indistinguishable from Betty's chrome trumpet. Suzuki managed such a lovely exhaust note on the K7 GSX-R600 and 750; why do all their other bikes sound like arse? Is it a conspiracy with the aftermarket exhaust suppliers?

Cool moment: turning out onto K Rd beside an Audi R8 (the one that lives around the corner from me in Devonport, actually). Followed him up the motorway to the Esmond Rd turnoff, but he wasn't keen for a play. Pity. It's always nice to give expensive European supercars the learn with cheap two-wheeled Japanese machinery.

I gave the B-King the first decent whack of throttle in third gear up the Albany hill. Yup, it hit 160kph at about the same place the K2 GSX-R1000 did, no surprises there. Maybe a bit sooner, if anything.

Took it along the usual route; Coatesville, Riverhead, Old North Road, Peak Road, back down SH16.

The B-King is the easiest bike to ride very, very fast on the road that I've ever been on. Turns in like a sportbike. Checking the speedo at various points on my ride, it was reading 20-30kph above what I normally do on those sections of road.

The power just comes in linearly all the way from whoa to redline. Unlike my GSX1400, the B-King pulls smoothly from below 2,000rpm. Unlike my GSX1400, if you shift your body weight significantly for a corner, you'd better be going at a helluva rate of knots, otherwise the B-King's going to flop straight into the inside ditch.

A very, very fast bike.

I guarantee that if I bought one, I'd be walking home with no licence within the month. Guarantee it. The bike is wildly frustrating to ride on the open road at anything less than a hundred miles an hour. It pulls from 200kph like a 600cc sportbike pulls from 100.

It makes going stupidly fast stupidly easy. I was easily riding at the kind of pace your average litrebike squid would punt along at, and it was completely uninvolving. Far less fun than doing it on an R1, GSX-R1000 or ZX-10R. Just point and twist, ho hum. The gobloads of smooth, linear power and the very good chassis and suspension just sort things out for you. No hard work or worry required.

Ergonomics? An hour in the saddle, and my knees were starting to twinge. The handlebars are close in, aggressive and flat, motocross style. The B-King is not a relaxing motorcycle.

Somehow, the B-King's whole deal of being enormously, quietly competent just doesn't light my fire. I want a bike to demand attention and involve me when riding at speed, to make me work for it. I'm not trying to break records getting from A to B; I'm trying to have fun.

I also want a bike to be pleasant to just sit on at legal-ish pace while I survey the scenery and generally zone out.

The B-King is neither. It's the ultimate evolution of the sterile Japanese motorcycle that's faster than everything else on the road, and that's all it is.

Thumbs down.

**YellowDog** · 3rd February 2008, 09:15

Great review thanks. 20-30kph faster than usual! Wow. Seems to be a moving the boundaries, but not necessarily the right ones.

**jrandom** · 3rd February 2008, 09:17

Oh, by the way, according to the fuel gauge, I used two-thirds of a tank in an hour's riding.

There was a lot of almost-WOT thrashing in the lower gears going on, of course, but come on. Either the fuel gauge is well off, or the B-King drinks dinosaur juice at, well... about the pace you'd expect from a 180hp-at-the-crank machine, I guess.

And it only has a 16L tank! What's up with that?

**jrandom** · 3rd February 2008, 09:21

Originally Posted by YellowDog

20-30kph faster than usual! Wow. Seems to be a moving the boundaries, but not necessarily the right ones.

Mmm, yup. Of course, bear in mind that my usual ride is a tubby ol' GSX1400.

The extra speed came from the hilariously fast rate that the B-King picks up velocity off apexes with - a bit of extra throttle on a B-King, and you'll immediately leap several bike lengths ahead of anything else that went into the corner at the same pace.

If I had one, I'd accept running sticky sport tyres as a necessary cost of the torque and geometry. Sport touring tyres, even really good ones like the Pilot Road 2s, I could just imagine running out of traction the moment that the rider screwed up and fed in a little too much throttle at the wrong time.

**Unit:Me** · 3rd February 2008, 09:26

First comment Chris and I made was about the 16L tank, not cool. Took the Busa for a blast yesterday (could have taken the B-King afterwards but ran out of time) and the Busa also seemed to suck the gas. The 14 will too if I work it, but can cruise at a pretty relaxed and economical rate if rider desires. I see the B-King as an oversized xtra fun bike one would have in the garage, wouldnt sell what Ive got and only have one of these. Cool to hear your thoughts, good write up Mr Random

**NZsarge** · 3rd February 2008, 09:44

So it's just a big GSR 600 then?

**Macktheknife** · 3rd February 2008, 09:46

Good report mate, well done. Sounds like fun to do once, but not enough to own.

**kiwifruit** · 3rd February 2008, 14:22

Originally Posted by Jay Randon

I can't be arsed writing up a fancy review, so................

Thumbs down.

an interesting read sir

i recon i'll own one one day soonish

**Mr Skid** · 3rd February 2008, 14:37

Originally Posted by kiwifruit

i recon i'll own one one day soonish

*jrandom wishes he hadn't edited out the comment about the B-King being a bike for guys who don't feel secure unless they're riding faster than everyone else*

**kiwifruit** · 3rd February 2008, 14:40

Originally Posted by Mr Skid

*jrandom wishes he hadn't edited out the comment about the B-King being a bike for guys who don't feel secure unless they're riding faster than everyone else*

no wonder im so insecure!

i need to find some people to ride with who are slower than me

**Mr Skid** · 3rd February 2008, 14:50

Originally Posted by kiwifruit

i need to find some people to ride with who are slower than me

**Hitcher** · 3rd February 2008, 16:36

Originally Posted by jrandom

And it only has a 16L tank! What's up with that?

To ride it further would presume that one was going on some sort of journey and would require luggage. And there is no way luggage can be fitted to a B-King. If you can't get it in your pockets, you aren't taking it.

**Pussy** · 3rd February 2008, 16:48

Originally Posted by kiwifruit

no wonder im so insecure!

i need to find some people to ride with who are slower than me

Look no further!! Slower than a slow thing, I am

**more_fasterer** · 5th February 2008, 13:29

Originally Posted by jrandom

The B-King is the easiest bike to ride very, very fast on the road that I've ever been on. Turns in like a sportbike. Checking the speedo at various points on my ride, it was reading 20-30kph above what I normally do on those sections of road.

Originally Posted by jrandom

I guarantee that if I bought one, I'd be walking home with no licence within the month. Guarantee it. The bike is wildly frustrating to ride on the open road at anything less than a hundred miles an hour. It pulls from 200kph like a 600cc sportbike pulls from 100.

It makes going stupidly fast stupidly easy. I was easily riding at the kind of pace your average litrebike squid would punt along at, and it was completely uninvolving. Far less fun than doing it on an R1, GSX-R1000 or ZX-10R. Just point and twist, ho hum. The gobloads of smooth, linear power and the very good chassis and suspension just sort things out for you. No hard work or worry required.

Sounds like the ideal vehicle for the ATNR then

Originally Posted by jrandom

Somehow, the B-King's whole deal of being enormously, quietly competent just doesn't light my fire. I want a bike to demand attention and involve me when riding at speed, to make me work for it. I'm not trying to break records getting from A to B; I'm trying to have fun.

You want a nice little Beeza then, you do