Thinking of buying thundercat - need advice

I have a 125cc bike at moment, but am about to sit test for bigger bike.I have been offered a 1996 P reg thundercat, by someone at work for a good price (£500 - £600).Now that seems a great deal but unfortunately he has lost all his keys, there is damage to right side fairings, and maybe more importantly, it has sat in garage for 3 years.I sat on bike tonight and it is massive compared to tiny little 125, and it makes me wonder if it is too big a leap from 13bhp up to 90 bhp, and I am also worried about the cost of getting a new key, ignition barrel, fuel cap and seat lock (which I need to access dead battery), service and MOT.

Could I get advice from all you thndercat experts as to what problems there could be from sitting for so long. how costly new ignition and keys will be and am I better sitting test and buyig a 3 year old ER6F that I like the look of for £3500 from local dealer which should be problem free.

BTW I am in mid 40`s and my insurance will be around £200 whichever model I go for

Thanks in advance

For a bike that has been stood that long with that much work to look at I would be thinking of offering £400 - £500 max, the price of the locks would not be restrictive at all, I got a set of locks and keys for a J reg Honda 750 rc42 for £80, thats keys barrel tank and seat, you just have to hunt. It all comes down to the state of the bike and the conditions that she has been stored in, to re-commission a bike is not hard you just have to know where to start and what to look for. If your skills are not that good and you do not have a friend that can help, if you could get the bike for £400 - £500 and find a good friendly bike mechanic, you could get her back on the road for a lot less than that ER6F would cost. The jump up to 90 bhp is a bit of an eye opener, but the cat is such a forgiving bike, she is great to learn on, she will be as sane or as mental as you want, its your hand on the throttle. The fairing and other damaged parts can be sourced on ebay, but I would stay away from China, very poor quality : ( , if I was closer I would offer to help. I hope what ever you decide, you are happy, good luck with the test and stay safe . ; ) x J.P.

Thanks for reply, I will phone local breaker yard tomorrow to get a price, I might ask for a fitted price whilst i am at it. How much would a bike mechanic charge (roughly ) to re-commision?

Can't help you with the mechanical side of things I'm afraid, I struggle to recognise a spanner.


I wouldnt worry about the size of the bike though. I did by test a couple of weeks ago and before then hadnt ridden anything bigger than a 125, and that was years ago. Havent found riding the Cat a struggle at all, it feels really steady to me and I actually find it easier to ride than the 125 I did my CBT on. I am proper slow on it at the mo but it rides great, and I've got the power there for when I get more confident!

I bought a fazer with no keys and took the seat lock to a locksmith who made a key to fit for 15 pounds, sat for a long time is not a problem, drain all fluids and replace, take spark plugs out and put some fine oil down holes and turn over, batterys are not that expensive (someone on here will know), why spend that much on a first big bike??

Pete

Checked online tonight and have found a used Yoke and ignition switch with key for £30, a new ignition switch for £43 and a new fuel cap with keys for .£40 or new on ebay for £30.

I forgot to mention that I will get haynes manual with bike and my brother is a mechanic, so he could probably fix it no bother. My son has a vw transporter, so I am leaning towards just buying it , picking it up in sons van and repairing it whilst I go through test.
Guy who owns it said he put on new downpipes (or something similar) worth £200 and that it ran nicely last time he started it. I

Sorry, ever the pessimist he would say that would'nt he!

terry lees wrote:Sorry, ever the pessimist he would say that would'nt he!

Yeah, but I do know him and dont think he is lying, he is a decent bloke who unfortunately is unable to ride his bike now.I spoke to him in passing at work today and he said he would only be looking for around £500 due to loss of keys and hassle to get back on road

Pete, he said he had put in new oil and filter and brake fluid, before he stopped using it, would it still be advisable to drain and replace as you suggested?.
good tip for seat lock as that would solve dilema and save me carrying seperate keys for seat ignition and fuel cap, but seat is in closed position and not sure if easy to force off

HPI Check, good look at engine and chassis numbers ..................if all checks out £450 , , , , , a good mechanic would rip yer arm off to make it road worthy for the same price .

And there you have it .............under a grand sports tourer .................

Take said good mechy to the buying stage !

know nothing at all about the tech side but on the 'giant leap' side if its any help at all - not that i had a 125 tho as i just did my DAS and the cat was (and still is) my first bike - as my examiner said to me it'll only go as fast as you twist your throttle - not having ridden anything else since apart from a 125 for 2 days and then the bike school 500 i've not really known anything different so i wouldn't be inclined to let that worry you - they are a very forgiving bike.

0ldcat wrote:HPI Check, good look at engine and chassis numbers ..................if all checks out £450 , , , , , a good mechanic would rip yer arm off to make it road worthy for the same price .

And there you have it .............under a grand sports tourer .................

Take said good mechy to the buying stage !

he has had it for 6 years and rode it for first 3, so I doubt I would need an HPI check, but thanks for the advice.Of the top of my head I am thinking
MOT £100
Keys 100 maybe less
road tax 50
Battery 45
oil + b/fluid 25
petrol 20
service? maybe

Those are rough figures/ estimates, but you are right I could get it for under a grand when they selling for at least £1700 on MCN

well in response to the last post, yes i would still change all fluids , try the helmet lock for a key, if not will get back to you as havent had a cat for 4 years so would need to get up to speed on getting seat lock off?? as you are doing all the fluids etc a need for a service is near as damn it done (plugs and air filter out for a clean ) .If you buy a lockset for it you would still need to replace seat/tank lock anyway so easier to get it and find a way to get either the tank/seat/ helmet lock off to go to a locksmith??

100 for an mot?? if checked over before , like brakes apart and greased etc ,tyres ok etc then no reason to figure 25 for the mot?

Pete

As this image shows, the lock is held on with two bolts (item 12). I just took a look at mine and they are easily accessible but are the security Torx type (so an internal Torx drive but with a raised centre, so a conventional Torx bit won't get in there). However, I reckon if you don't mind replacing them, you could easily have them off with some mole grips on the outer edge of the head. Once off, I suspect that if you pull the whole lock unit down it will pop the seat. 2 minute job with the right tools.

ah you have reminded me,, i used a piece of wire to snag the cable and pop the seat off then undid the security torx bolts (torx bits readily available from cheap places like halfords etc) then took the lock to locksmith, had it back the next day with 2 keys for 16.50

Pete

Thank you pete and weasley for excellent tips.If i get seat off then it will negate the need for keys I dont suppose there would be a code on side of barrel for key ,as it would make it too easy for thieves


I am golfing today, but will ask my son if he will pick it up with me this evening when I get back

Just a thought, but if you get in contact with Yamaha with the chassis and engine Nos perhaps they might have records of the key numbers . . . . . . long shot I agree but worth a shot perhaps.
Or maybe if he has the original paperwork and books with the bike there may be a note of the key numbers in the docs. Again very long shot but worth the 10 minutes of searching.

Cheers

Spoke to him today and he told me that he bought an ignition barrel, fuel cap, seat lock and key to fit all 3 from a thundercat "w" reg on ebay and said he would fit them for me this weekend .

looks like you have a result there.

justin preston wrote:looks like you have a result there.

It is the same coloured fairings as the one in youre avatar.Also found out today he only lost keys recently and engine was running only a month ago

Mine did not look like that when I bought her, she looked like a piece of S**T, had to strip and repaint most of the parts back to yellow from BLACK!!!!! have just got her up on blocks and am stripping her down for a touch up and proper clean out ready for the summer (if the arm is better) Well looks like you are well on the way to owning a Cat, welcome to the club!!

Cheers, it looks an excellent bike

I sit theory on Friday, and will try to do Direct Access in a couple of weeks time when I have time off.Hopefully I will only need to do the 3 day course as I have 26 years of driving on roads, 1 year of motorbike driving, CBT already and Theory certificate.

1 month later and an update of sorts.Went to sit theory and found that I had taken photocopy of Paper counterpart instead of original and lost my time slot and money .Could not get new date until last week and passed with 49 out of 50 .
Started DAS on Sunday,rain lashed down all day persevered and passed mod1 on Monday with no faults, but do not have date for mod2 as centre is really busy just now.
I went out on my own bike for first hour on Sunday and thought I did alright but was informed that I was too rushed and was rushing around like a kamakazi rider, I was shown how to approach junctions etc slower and am amzed how much the enjoyment is improved when you have more control of bike.
I dont have "the cat" yet as workmate has aquired parts taht are needed and said that he will fix them for me.I will see him tomorrow and see what the score is

Keep up the good work! I did my CBT and DAS in the lashing rain.

Good advice to slow down and take it all in - more haste, less speed and all that.

update time,
Bought bike for........ £600.
A bike mechanic freind of a freind picked up bike, took to his workshop 25 miles away, seviced it , took it for mot and dropped at my home on Monday night for £215.
Sat mod2 today and passed even though I missed a sharp bend in country and went off the road down a lane (you couldn`t make it up really ha ha ).

Now I am waiting for email from esure for insurane on bike

Anyone want to buy a Honda cbf125

yay, good for you, you will love the Cat, she is also my first big bike, and im the size of an eleven year old , so if i can ride her , anyone can( the jump from 13bhp to 90 is exhilarating, but be aware it is a lot of power all of a sudden...personally i love it )
how much you wanting for the 125? my daughter is still nagging me for one for her 17th which is in a fortnight