£1,000 off B-King, more luxury for Burgman

New deals from Suzuki include a massive reduction on the wild B-King, while the Burgman scooter goes further upmarket.
The flamboyantly-styled B-King, one of the most powerful naked bikes available thanks to its detuned Hayabusa motor, has had a £1,000 price cut to £8,116 on the road.

The B-King started life as a wild concept show bike, but it generated so much interest that Suzuki decided to put it into full production, creating a big, head-turning bike with massive performance. There are many distinctive styling cues, including the huge, high-rise twin silencers, the Thirties streamliner-style headlamp and indicators set into the broad fuel tank.

Yet, like the Hayabusa, the B-King is an easy-going bike to ride when you want it to be, and surprisingly manoeuvrable for a machine of this size. That big price cut makes it look a lot better.

Suzuki has launched a new, high-spec version of the Burgman scooter, one of only a handful of scooters on the market that has enough space beneath the seat for a briefcase – there’s a relatively cavernous 62 litres of usefully shaped space under there.

The Burgman 400ZA has the same 400cc, fuel-injected, single-cylinder engine as the standard version, but also features ABS brakes, heated grips, hand guards, passenger backrest, titanium-coloured wheels, a brown seat and a wood-finish dash. The price is £5,400 compared with £4,710 for the stock Burgman 400.

Ten green motorcycles full on fun

An average motorcycle gets about double the mileage of even the most fuel efficient cars but the downside is that they emit about 15 times more pollution than an average four-wheeler. Ecofriendly motorcycles have been in vogue for quite some time now and are a big hit among environment lovers. If you are crazy about two-wheelers but at the same time are looking for the best environmentally benign products, then hit the break for a list of the 10 best ecofriendly motorcycles.
This creation by Mission motors claims a top speed of 150 mph. The power source is a high energy lithium-iron battery pack providing a range of 150 miles per charge. Launched in April 2009, the tailpipe had been eliminated, adding the features of silence and zero carbon emissions.
This cool-looking aluminum-extruded two-wheeler weighs only 280 pounds and is an entry level ride both for experts and beginners. Its premium design is targeted toward the eco-luxury segment. It runs on lithium-phosphate power cells, which remains good for about 3 hours and provide a range of 45 miles per charge.

Weighing a mere 151 pounds, this is a new creation by Zero Motorcycles in the electric motocrosser segment. The silent bike makes riding possible in areas off-limits due to noise restrictions. The motorcycle uses the typical lithium-ion battery good for 2 hours or 40 miles and takes less than 2 hours to charge.

Bonhams'$2 Million Motorcycles Auction

On 29 June, Bonhams would be auctioning off its astonishing compilation of classic bikes valued around $2 million at the Royal Air Force Museum in London. The collection details the largest single-owner collection of motorbikes ever reached the auction block, all 300 machines coming from the Professor Fritz Ehn Motorcycle Museum in Austria. The two wickedly fast and attention-inviting models include British-made Vincents: the 1955 998cc Black Prince and a 1952 998cc Black Shadow anticipated to fetch $56,000-$64,000 and $44,000 – $56,000 respectively.

Other highlights of the motorbikes include a 1935 Brough Superior 1,096cc 11-50hp, aka. The “Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles” as driven by T. E. Lawrence ($50,000 – $60,000); a 1927 BMW 500cc R47 ($36,000-$44,000); a 1937 Ariel 995cc Square Four Model 4G ($20,000-$24,000) adjoined by popularly known models by Harley Davidson, Ducati, Triumph and more. So, all you there with passion for antique and wheels shall rush now to invest their spare amount of dough by inking this neat deal.

Ducati rentals and luxury motorcycle

Ducati rentals and luxury motorcycle holidays in the South of France
With Columbus International, every holiday is a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. Dreams come true and you can indulge yourself with the finest the South of France has to offer. Our holidays are a perfect blend of sensational bike riding and luxury experiences normally only enjoyed by the most privileged.

You will dine in gourmet restaurants. Enjoy first-class transfers to select events in your own helicopter. Or, relax on your own personal yacht with the crew pandering to your every whim. You can also experience unforgettable events such as driving a Formula 1 car or exclusive access to the paddock at a MotoGP.

If you prefer, you can rent one of our Ducati motorcycles without a package, allowing you to discover the sights and delights of the South of France at your own pace. All our rental motorbikes can be delivered within 100km of Cannes. We also provide safety gear and GPS navigation pre-loaded with our favourite routes. To round off your motorcycle rental experience, we can give you helmet cameras to film your riding and afterwards create a professionally edited holiday reminder for you.

Honda Luxury Bike

Honda’s gargantuan Gold Wing is truly the cruise ship of the motorcycle world. You don’t hop on it, you board it – and the view from the bridge, as you survey the ocean of bitumen stretched out before you, can’t help but evoke feelings of power and command.

It’s no frigate, that’s for sure, but what it lacks in manoeuvrability it more than makes up for with sheer, unadulterated luxury. It’s the Queen Mary 2 on wheels. Not convinced? Read on…
The ’08 Wing’s list of appointments reads like a luxury car brochure. To start with, the standard bike comes with an AM/FM four-speaker stereo system, electronic cruise control and electronically adjustable suspension (preload on the rear shock).

Then there are the heated handlebar grips, and the independently-operated electrically heated rider and pillion seats. There’s also a rider to pillion intercom system – provided you buy helmets to suit – and there’s even a reverse gear.

That’s right, it’s got reverse – simply engage neutral, hit the reverse button, and then press the starter button to crank the bike backwards using the starter motor. With a claimed dry weight of 369kg, or 381kg for the ABS and airbag-equipped Luxury-spec model pictured here, it’s kinda handy!
In addition to the aforementioned safety gear, the Luxury version sports a multi-disc CD stacker (with MP3 adapter), pannier bags (to unpack or pack the bike’s integrated panniers and top box in seconds), driving lights (not yet fitted to our test machine) and satellite navigation.

The sat-nav is superb, and comes with a full-colour display, a super-fast processor, optional voice commands and an incredibly intuitive menu system. For safety’s sake, you can’t use the menu system while you’re on the move, but you can adjust the volume of the voice commands or zoom in or out via handlebar controls.

$45,000 Limited Edition Super Squalo Bike

If you love to spend richly on luxury bikes and are dedicated more towards Ducati then you might just give it a thought to shift your loyalties a bit and try this $45,000 200 bhp Super Squalo that is loosely modelled on a Ducati 999. The superbike is designed by world renowned motorcycle designer John Keogh along with Vee Two’s Brook Henry and Sprintex. The unique machine will be hand-built and will be manufactured in limited edition of 99 only and each machine will be individually numbered.
Gizmag reports that, ‘The bike will feature the latest top shelf gear including a close ratio six speed gearbox, powershifter, ceramic coated dual exhaust system, Ohlins suspension front and rear, Marchesini wheels, digital race dashboard and a rear-facing camera and in-dash video screen for rearwards view.’ The frame of the luxury bike is a Ducati 999 unit with adjustable rake and trail and wheelbase. So, get ready to vroom guys!!

Honda GL 1200 Goldwing Aspencade

In the move, it is not the size of the Aspencade that is the most obvious thing. It is the smooth and fluid engine; its capability of running at well over the ton for mile after mile, never straining, always comfortable, and never, ever, feeling short of power.

Honda's Gold Wing of the mid-1970s started big and kept getting bigger. In its original form it was an un-faired machine, and the liquid-cooled flat four engine displaced 1000cc. At that time, nobody had seen anything quite so enormous.

It was not long before the luxury touring riders of the USA started fitting out their Gold Wings for the long haul down Easy Street. Their requirements gave birth to an accessory industry supplying everything from super-soft 'King and Queen' seats to gigantic fairings with matching three-piece luggage equipment, as well as air suspension to smooth the ride to the standards of a family car.



The Aspencade (named after the biggest gathering of touring riders in the USA) was Honda's answer. It was as if to say: 'Anything you can, we can do better.' They meant it. The Aspencade comes equipped with everything. With panniers and a gigantic top box, you can carry luggage enough for three. Want to take the barbecue? Load it right on.

The massive fairing not only offers complete weather protection, it is also built to the very highest standards, with plenty of lock-up storage compartments, and a ventilation system. It is possible to order a stereophonic radio and tape player as well, to add music to the passing zephyr. The engine certainly makes no noise loud enough to drown it, though you should not use the Aspencade's considerable speed potential if you want to hear the high notes.



To cope with the sort of loads an Aspencade rider might wish to carry, Honda installed their own air suspension - with an extra refinement. An on-board compressor is built into the bike, and the springing can be made harder or softer without even stopping; firming the ride up for more stability when swinging through the mountain bends, and then softening it to a lulling wallow on the long straights through the deserts. Of course, the gross tonnage of the Aspencade is not to everybody's taste. This tourer supreme is a specialist vehicle, just as much as a race-replica Ducati, but in a different way.



Honda overcame the weight by expanding the engine to 1200cc, broadening the spread of the power as well as adding to peak performance. The Aspencade retains a healthy acceleration from low to high speeds, as well as an ability to cruise relatively economically in a tall top gear. With shaft drive and that big, lazy engine, maintenance is an infrequent chore. The Aspencade was developed with long distances as well as high speeds in mind. It will keep on running as long as its pampered and cossetted rider wants it to.



It was designed for the US roads and is as American as a Japanese bike can be. Honda get round proposed or actual import restrictions by assembling the Aspencade in their US factory. Honda's new machine has spawned imitators from the Japanese rivals. But Honda did it first, and the bike is still the definitive heavyweight luxury tourer.