Suzuki's new GSXR125 sportsbike for 2010 - first official pics ... Scroll down for the full story
Suzuki\'s 2010 GSX-R125

Here's Suzuki's riposte to the Yamaha YZF-R125 and Honda CBR125R; a miniaturised GSX-R carrying an all-new engine and aimed squarely at the young rider market.

These new images, taken by Suzuki and leaked onto the internet, reveal that the bike is virtually complete – with its chassis, engine and styling all in a production-ready state, and only lacks the final headlight and windscreen, replaced on the photographic bike with mirrored plastic. And while there are no specs available yet to go with the pictures, there's plenty to indicate this could be the most high-spec road-going 125cc machine on the market.

The chassis, for instance, appears to be an extruded and cast aluminium beam frame, although there remains a chance it could be made from steel. Yamaha's R125 shows that a pressed-steel chassis can be made to look convincingly like an alloy frame, but if Suzuki is pulling the same trick, it's done so in a breathtakingly convincing manner. The swingarm, with its pronounced curve in the right hand side to clear the exhaust, again mimics the fashion of far larger bikes.

Although mainly hidden, the engine doesn't seem to share anything with Suzuki's other motors, pointing at it being an all-new unit. Certainly, it's water-cooled, which immediately distances it from Suzuki's only other 125cc bikes, the DR125 and VanVan 125, since they both use a much older air-cooled motor. Water-cooling also suggests it should have no problem matching the power output of its rivals, which all easily hit the European 15bhp limit for learner riders, and should be easy to tune for more grunt.

The rest of the running gear follows the 125cc recipe used by all its rivals; simple, non-adjustable suspension at both ends and a single disc and 2-pot sliding brake caliper both front and rear. But while its styling is nearly as aggressive as a “full-size” GSX-R, Suzuki has managed to incorporate a level of practicality that should make it an easier machine to live with that the more radical R125, and closer in spirit to the big-selling CBR125R. The pegs are relatively low, giving space for long legs, while the highish bars aren't going to bang your wrists against the tank every time you make a U-turn. There's even a decent-sized pillion seat, complete with grab rail and comfortably low pegs.

Despite its practical nature, the bike doesn't lose the GSX-R look, and if you can ignore the pencil-thin 130-section rear tyre could easily pass as a much bigger machine. Information from inside Suzuki says it was designed by Satoshi Miyake, who is also responsible for the forthcoming GSR250.

On-board, you're greeted by a conventional, part-analogue, part-digital display, with a large rev counter and smaller LCD speedo, just as you'd find on a GSX-R1000 or virtually any other sports bike, but don't expect the lap timers and other gizmos that come as standard on many bigger bikes – this machine's price has to be kept down to near the £3000 mark if it's to compete with the CBR125R and R125, which are currently fighting it out to be the best-selling machines in the 125cc sports bike market. And since that's one area of bike sales that recent figures show to be bucking the recession trend, Suzuki is sure to be keen to get in on the action as soon as possi