Is a new Suzuki GSX-R300 en route?

You're nothing without a slick 300cc-class sportsbike (and probably a naked option too) these days. And to be a real cool cat, you need a saucy DOHC parallel-twin motor to go in it. Honda's CBR300 single won't cut it, and neither will Suzuki's old-tech GSX250R with its two-valve heads and leisurely output.

So the Hamamatsu firm has been down the old patent offices, paid its fee, and registered these drawings of a new much sharper 300-class sportster. There's a proper-looking engine with a DOHC head and presumably eight valves, downdraft throttle bodies, all the good stuff (the exhaust piping still looks a bit skinny though...) It's bolted into a twin-spar frame with trellis-style arms, proper rising-rate monoshock, upside-down forks and a GSX-R-styled tail unit hung out back.

Suzuki's been paying a lot of attention to its small bike range of late, and a cracking little GSX-R300 would be a hit both in Asian markets and the European novice sector. If it could get on the pace in World SSP300 racing as well, then it would all be gravy for the Gixxer boys.

We'd expect the new 300 to come in both GSX-R sporty form, and a GSX-S naked roadster too. 2019 might be a bit soon, but if it's not here by 2020, we'll be surprised and not a little disappointed...