Honda have decided they don?t want to import the new CBR600RR to the UK, and Yamaha won?t sell us a road registered YZF-R6 anymore – thanks chiefly to Euro emissions rules – and that?s just the start of a long list of bikes that we can?t officially get hold of over here in Blighty. But this isn?t a new phenomenon. For decades, the Japanese have been keeping some of the best bikes for themselves, meaning if we wanted to get hold of them, it wasn?t just a case of ricking up at the local dealers. The grey import scene was pretty lively back in the 90s, so you could usually get your hands on most things but you quite often had to pay a pretty penny, thanks to them making their way here outside of the manufacturers? normal distribution channels. But for a handful of bikes, it was definitely worth it ? here are five that were…
Yamaha FZR250R 

A four-stroke, inline-four two-fiddy is never going to make shit loads of power, so you?ve got to give Yamaha its due for squeezing 45bhp out of the FZR250R. It won?t rip your arms out, but it might make you laugh, as you rev the thing all the way to its 18,500rpm red-line in an effort to eek every last one of them ponies out of it. The low gearing meant setting off without stalling was just about possible and the EXUP valve in the exhaust helped to keep try and things sensible in the mid-range, but really you needed to be beyond 10,000rpm at all times&nbs...