More Than A ” R” Or “SP”: 1993 Yamaha FZR400RR SP
Ah, some UK eye candy. I’ve seen “R’s”, I’ve seen double “R’s” and I’ve seen “SP’s”. Yamaha takes the cake though with the ” RR SP”. Ah to be a fly on the wall in the meeting when they came up with all that. The reality is though, these were bad ass little bikes. Yamaha really packed them with the most wiz bang tech of the time. I’ve read more than one review that said pound for pound the little FZR400RR SP packed more punch than the OWO1.
As with the 250 two strokes of the time, there was an all out war between the manufactures to produce a bike with the most technical innovations. Looks like it might have a ram air/pressurized air box from the looks of the brochure.
As the brochure says, “Have a nice ride!” I was making light of the SP’s name but it does make sense. There is a FZR400RR. It is a more road friendly version of this bike.
It sure makes the FZR400 look pedestrian. Yamaha wasn’t messing around with this one. She comes complete with a close ratio gearbox, flat side carbs and multi adjustable suspension. I’m sure there were some tasty race kit items to be had as well. As with most 250s and 400’s, comfort isn’t one of the included features.
Striking from the front. Can any of our UK readers confirm these were UK market bikes and not grey market imports? I’ve never seen a sales brochure not in Japanese. Once Japan relaxed their licensing laws the 400’s days were numbered. I believe 1994 was the last year they were produced. I can’t confirm these numbers but after an initial run of almost 7,000 units in 1990, only 500 a year were produced until being discontinued.
You are going solo my friend. Yamaha didn’t even waste time with a wafer thin passenger seat or pegs like the other manufacturers. If you’d like to take home some of Yamaha’s 90’s tech click here.
Ian
Hey Ian, I didn’t work at a Yamaha dealership back home but at a Suzuki, Kawasaki dealer. I know we got the ZXR400 but not the RR model we didn’t get the GSXR400.. sucks.
I’m pretty sure that Yamaha dealers got the stock FZR400 as we did in the states but this model I’m sure is a gray. The funny thing about it is the MPH speedo and the big sticky out turn signals. So I could be wrong…
I am in no way a motorcycle expert of any kind and never claim to be. ( that’s my legal statement ). 🙂
I was not aware Yam even made a Hi-Po version of this bike, sweet!
The mirrors are not orginal the bike in the brochure would fit into what would of been sold in japan. The mirrors are japanese spec mirrors for UK models and possibly other countries got those big funky dorky stick up style. This is also the case with RGV’s TZR’s.
Ok so I called a mate back home who is in the know.. He says that the UK got 100 of these RR SP’s. So there you go it’s UK spec. It’s strange that when I was there we got the regular RGV and not the SP model with the dry clutch. I’m talking about the VJ22. I have only ever seen one UK model RGV SP and that was an 89 Pepsi edition VJ21. As I believe all the 89 Pepsi RGV’s were SP’s. I remember building it from the crate! I was 18 at the time too… It was a huge deal for our dealership as we only got one. If I remember correct it went straight to the track.. It’s probably in Pepsi heaven now.
Sean,
Nice detective work. That sounds like just enough to satisfy some racers. Suzuki must have felt you guys weren’t worthy!
We weren’t worthy to get the VJ23.. But I don’t think that was Suzuki’s fault. At that time Parliament had banned new 2 strokes from road use as the US did years before.
This looks like a UK model, Mitsui (the UK Yamaha importers) imported 100 road bikes (known as FZR400RRSP, SP =sport production) in 1990 so they could race them at the Isle of Man TT 400 class, each one came with a special certificate and key fob and where numbered 1 to 100, they had a close ratio box with high first gear, better suspension with more adjustment, different ignitor (revs to 15000rpm), different cam, carbs and supposedly bigger valves, quick release rear wheel,(better for TT race). The UK models have a different rear light than the Jap imports and MPH speedo. Steve Hislop one the race at well over 100mph average speed,I have a totally original example with 19000miles (original handbook and service book in english) they are one of the best handling bikes ever made, great fun when you get past 10,000rpm, when new they cost £6500,more than a FZR1000RU, hence they had trouble selling them,a lot were bought up by a racing school so were probaly trashed,I’ve only seen 3 others in the UK, (plus a couple of fakes),mega rare bike!
Bill, awesome stuff. Thanks for the info.
Hi there
Yes there were 100 imported into the UK for racing.
This one is a FZR400RR SP 3TJ02 it has CV Carbs and all the other bits listed by Bill except the vales were the same size as the RR but lighter and had different springs, as a result they revved higher. The wing mirrors were probably changed they’re usually square.
There were two later versions of the SP they both had Flatslide carbs but were limited to 500 units worldwide.
The USA got the earlier Genesis model (86, 87) and I think the 3EN2 (89) was a California bike these years are the Japan model years and were imported a few years later.
If your interested in FZR400’s come over to 400greybike
I second the plug for 400.greybike.com The guys on there have saved my butt a couple of times on my GSXR400R rebuild.