The FZR400 was a limited production bike and only a few made it to the US. This one had a race-ready, rebuilt engine done by Blackman's in Emmaus.

I wanted it for road riding. Unfortunately, it was buzzy and only happy in upper revs. I learned you could put the more streetable FZR600 engine in it without really modifying the bike too much. Since this was at the beginning of my learning motorcycle mechanics, I asked my friend Derek to do the swap.

Yes, the flames are backwards. I paid a guy to paint my Interceptor body work and he frogged off without doing it. He later found me and said he would paint the FZR400 to make up for it. When I went to pick it up, I saw the flames were backwards. He swore he would make it right but flaked again. He wouldn't do the work and stopped returning my calls. I eventually broke into his shop and stole the pieces back.

By the time all the work and paint drama was over, I had hurt my back and there was no hope of me riding in that position. The few times I rode it, the handling blew me away. I sold it and the race-prepped engine to someone down south who planned to swap the engine back and race it.

A Cycle World article on the FZR400