Bike

Bikes are vehicles used mainly in the Mario Kart series, alongside Karts. They are motorcycles of many different colors and have features that differ from Karts. They first appeared in Mario Kart Wii and will return in Mario Kart 8.

During the development of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Hideki Konno presented the idea of putting bikes in the game. The idea was rejected, because the concept of Mario riding a motorbike was doubtful. However, when Mario Kart Wii came around, they decided to put bikes in and call it Mario Kart X, a name that got changed because Super Smash Bros. Brawl was called Dairantō Smash Brothers X in Japan.

Mario Kart DS
Bikes never appeared in Mario Kart DS, but one of Waluigi's special karts, the Zipper, consists of a three-wheeled bike-like vehicle.

Mario Kart Wii
Bikes make a major appearance in Mario Kart Wii. The game is the first Mario racing game in which the characters could race in a non-kart vehicle.

The basic model of the bike for all characters is the Standard Bike, a motocross motorcycle showing the emblem of the character over the plate of the front and the sides of the rear. The color of a standard bike also changes, matching the character's custom color. These bikes are the only available to use in Battle modes along with the Standard Karts. These bikes appear to be based on the bikes in Excitebike.

Additionally, standard bikes come in three types regarding to certain character's size:


 * Standard Bike S: A bike for small characters. This bike features good drifting, handling, mini-turbo and acceleration, but low weight and can be hard to drift around some corners.
 * Standard Bike M: A bike for medium-sized characters. It shows well-rounded traits.
 * Standard Bike L: A bike for large characters. This bike has a higher weight than other standard bikes, as well as a decent top speed. Its other stats are average.

Only the large bikes are given design differences. Except for the Standard Bike L, each large bike has three design differences.
 * The default designs are used by Wario, Waluigi, Donkey Kong, King Boo, and Funky Kong.
 * The second designs, which are depicted having lower positioned exhaust pipes and/or repositioned handles, are used by Bowser and Dry Bowser.
 * The third designs, which are depicted having shorter handles, repositioned foot pedestals, and/or a thinner body, are used by Rosalina.

All bikes differ from karts in many ways. Driving a bike, characters are able to perform wheelies, which boost the player's speed temporarily. If a bike is rammed into while doing a wheelie, the player will lose speed and have to accelerate again. Also, bikes only emit blue sparks when drifting and release a small mini-turbo. Unlike karts, bikes cannot emit yellow sparks for powerful mini-turbos. Some bikes can drift in instead of drifting out.

Mario Kart 8
Bikes are confirmed to return in Mario Kart 8 with the ability to go underwater, use gliders, and use the anti-gravity. Also this time just like the karts, bikes are able to perform a Super Mini-Turbo, and bikes cannot perform wheelies unlike in Mario Kart Wii.

Standard Bike Stats
Standard Bike S

Standard Bike M

Standard Bike L

Other Bikes
Names in parenthesis are European variants.