Kawasaki Z125 and Ninja 125 incoming

LAST YEAR Kawasaki told us that it had a new Z125 naked bike and Ninja 125 sports bike coming in late 2018. Now the time for their unveiling is nearly upon us and the firm has started dropping more hints.

The first comes from a teaser video, published on YouTube by Kawasaki Italia. It’s titled “Kawasaki Ninja o Z? La scelta più difficile” (that’s “Kawasaki Ninja or Z? The most difficult choice”) – and along with it there’s a dedicated website at www.lasceltapiudifficile.itwhere potential buyers can register their interest with the promise of more details soon.

The video shows the usual snippets of bikes, close-ups and brief glimpses associated with such teasers. However, on close inspection, every element that we see – apart from the ‘125’ badges – is identical to the equivalent part of the Ninja 250SL (below) and Z250SL singles that Kawasaki already offers. Is the firm simply sleeving down those existing machines to create a range of 125cc models? If the video is anything to go by, that’s exactly what it’s doing.