2013's Kawasaki ZX-6R leaked

KAWASAKI'S new 636cc ZX-6R is set to be officially revealed in a couple of days but as usual it's proved impossible to keep a lid on the bike until the unveiling. This time around it's a rather odd YouTube video that's leaked images of the machine.

The pictures and video, which show the ZX-6R and the new Z800, seem to be shot in some sort of warehouse and at one stage the bike is seen running – although the music on the video robs us of any chance of hearing the bike. Presumably the chap sitting on it is now number one on Kawasaki's hit-list...

So, what do we know about it? Well thanks to an earlier specifications leak, we know it's 636cc, has 129bhp and we can clearly see that much of the chassis is carried over from the existing model. New brakes, new forks and new styling – mirroring the design of the ZX-10R – line up alongside the uprated engine.

It looks like the old model will still be offered in some markets. In Japan it's an unchanged '2013' ZX-6R that features on Kawasaki's website. That could be to ensure there's still a race-legal 599cc model in the range alongside the new 636cc verson.