Suzuki first debuted its Hayabusa in 1999 and it was met with fairly instant success – so much so that the model is still produced today and has gone largely unchanged in its near two-decade production run, (although rumors suggest its time may be soon coming to an end). Nonetheless, the Busa sold remarkably well, even in the US where sportbikes have never been king, but when Kawasaki released their 2006 ZX14, it became increasingly apparent that the Busa had grown a little long in the tooth and that the ZX had noticeably more to offer. Fast forward roughly a year and Suzuki pulled the cover off of its answer to the Zed-ex in the form of the 2008 GSXR1300R and the 175hp, 1340cc B-King.
Suzuki at this point had never been too keen on producing naked bikes, which is a little weird because its lone naked model – the SV650 – is wildly popular. So between disappointing sales figures and an overall lack of interest in the naked segment, Suzuki would pull the B-King from production after just one year. The Japanese manufacturer first showed off a variant of what became the B-King with a stripped down Big Busa Gixxer concept at the 2001 Tokyo Motorshow but it would be another six years before a short window opened for members of the public to get their hands on one from dealerships.
The original concept bike from 2001
Alongside the ’08 GSXR1300R, Suzuki offered the B-King. As you’d expect the street-fighting version of the flagship Gixxer used the same 1340cc power plant but had slightly less horsepower while it boasted better torque, making it a little more street-friendly, though it still had more than enough ponies to get you into some serious trouble. The reason for the these different power figures mainly boils down to the B-King’s different ignition and fuel injection mapping. Though the B-King retains the Busa’s Suzuki Dual Throttle Valve (SDTV) throttle bodies, Suzuki Drive Mode Selector (S-DMS) albeit with only two modes instead of three, three-arm/spoke rims, and the same slipper clutch managing the same six-speed transmission, some noteworthy changes were made to the naked-spec’d Haysbusa.
Aside from the whole lack of bodywork and new aesthetic design, one very noticeable area in which the two ’08 1340cc sportbikes differed is the exhaust. The Hayabusa has always sported large exhausts mounted low on the sides of the machine, but on the B-King burnt fumes exit the engine through dual under-seat exhausts. The 4-2-1-2 exhaust looks far better exiting through the tail than having the routing on display where it normally sits beneath the bodywork of the traditional Busa where it’s a little unsightly. Surprisingly the frame of the B-King also differs slightly from that of the regular Busa as well.
While beauty is subjective and everyone has their own taste, I’ve never been fond of the Busa’s aesthetics. Having said that I’m also not particularly into street-fighters (albeit that Ducati looks damn fine) but I kinda like the appearance of the B-King. It has a much better looking front end made up of a small cowling wrapped around the (then) new 60-watt headlight while it’s turn signals were worked into mini-fairings that flared out from the tank along with bad-ass looking mesh scoops that directed airflow. The black inverted fork tubes looks awesome, although sadly there’s no DLC on the lowers. Brake rotors are the same as the normal Busa but the calipers have been tailored specially for the B-King.
This particular B-King has a few miles on it but the seller says the machine: “Runs like a Swiss Watch,” and also states this example is in “immaculate condition”, having been garage kept. This particular B-King example has been fitted with chrome wheels, DEVIL underseat carbon fiber dual exhausts, and fairly new (300 miles on them) Michelin Pilot 3’s. According to the seller, this example now makes 181 hp on A Mode, and 114 hp on B Mode via the bike’s S-DMS feature. The B-King actually sold for almost a grand more than its full-faired counterpart and MSRP’d new a decade ago for $12,899. Even when you consider the 12,000-miles on this example’s odo, its price isn’t unreasonable.
You can find this 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa B-King for sale here on Craigslist in Baltimore, Maryland with a price of $7,900.