Yamaha SR 400 35th Anniversary Edition

Yamaha celebrates 35th anniversary of the SR series with a special Limited Edition that will be available in the Japanese market.

This is the Yamaha SR400 35th Anniversary Edition, a version of the SR400 features an exclusive color 'Leaf Green Metallic' with white stripes, two-tone seat brown, logos celebration dedicated and - in a gesture least 'unusual' - a lower price than the model basis. The first incarnation of the SR since 1978, when it was introduced to the market SR500 (which was then presented as a more road-oriented use of the legendary XT500, launched just three years earlier), but at that time the model received a great success due to the advent of fractional motors, which made it look immediately 'dated' his single cylinder 499 cc.

Initially marketed in several markets, the SR in recent years has been offered almost exclusively in Japan only as SR400, with a shorter stroke so you can take advantage of the laws of the country of the Rising Sun that require a certain license for motorcycles up to 400 cc displacement. The SR400 was produced until 2008 and then reintroduced in 2010 with a fuel injection system in place of the 'old' carburetor.

Auto-By magazine in Japan has tested the new fuel-injected Yamaha SR400 for MCN – revealing it has lost none of its charm.  

To clean the SR400’s emission for 2010 up Yamaha has replaced the carburettor with a fuel injection. It’s not a simple job though – a new exhaust with a catalyser and lambda sensor is also new (it’s slightly bigger than before), and a fuel pump is required to pressurise the injector.  

This created a problem – a bulky pump would affect the tank shape, so to get around it the fuel tank feeds fuel in to a small sub-tank under the left side panel (which is 10mm wider to cover it) containing the pump. An air-injection system is the final change to clean the exhaust gases up.

Riding the bike reveals that it’s much the same as before – the chassis might be 30 years old but at 174kg with a low, narrow seat and wide bars, it handles well. You can’t rush it – smooth corner entry and throttle opening to gently load the suspension is the key to preventing wobbles, but while it isn’t nimble it’s good fun to thread through a series of corners.

Peak torque is slightly lower, but the torque curve is fatter and more linear through the rest of the rev range, so it accelerates quicker with better throttle response, especially from 4000-5000rpm. The clutch has a lighter spring too, which makes life easier.

Sadly, it’s only sold in Japan. A real shame – as a cool, easy to ride retro commuter the SR could win a few fans in the UK.