Flame Runner

The Flame Runner (known as the Bowser Bike in PAL regions) is a large-sized bike which appears in the game Mario Kart Wii. As the PAL region name suggests, the bike resembles Bowser; the coloring of the bike even mirrors Bowser himself. No other vehicles in Mario Kart Wii bear physical resemblances to its playable characters.

The kart counterpart for this bike is the Flame Flyer.

Bowser's Flame Runner makes a cameo appearance as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Stats
The Flame Runner has great speed with good weight, drifting and mini-turbo: it is the second fastest bike in the game. Its speed is tied with the Blue Falcon. However, the bike suffers from the worst acceleration among all bikes in the game, and its handling and off-road are also rather low, and it is the lightest large bike in the game. Also due to the lowest acceleration, the spiny shell can be really costly to the player's win if this bike is used.

Color schemes
On the Flame Runner, the color changes on the front wheel well and back wheel, the bike's body, and the exhaust pipe.


 * Wario: Magenta well, yellow body, gold exhaust pipe
 * Waluigi: Purple well and body, silver exhaust pipe
 * Donkey Kong: Maroon well and body, gold exhaust pipe
 * Bowser: Red well, yellow body, gold exhaust pipe
 * King Boo: Black well and body, silver exhaust pipe
 * Rosalina: Blue well, grey body, silver exhaust pipe
 * Funky Kong: Maroon well, gold exhaust pipe
 * Dry Bowser: Brown well, grey body, silver exhaust pipe
 * Male Mii: Golden well, silver exhaust pipe
 * Female Mii: Pink well, gold exhaust pipe

Trivia

 * The Flame Runner is one of seven vehicles in Mario Kart Wii to go through a design change other than a palette-swap; the others being the Booster Seat, Bit Bike, Wario Bike, Shooting Star, Spear, and Phantom. In this case, Bowser's and Dry Bowser's Flame Runner have their exhaust pipes positioned lower than the other bikes. Also, Rosalina's Flame Runner features shorter handles than the other Flame Runners.
 * The Japanese name of the bike, Super Bowser, is one of the few references to Bowser's Western name in official Japanese media. This was later used with the DLC Bone Rattler from Mario Kart 8.