Thinking of buying thundercat - need advice

First topic message reminder :

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

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

Congratulations Davie - both on the test and the bike, enjoy and ride safe.

Thanks guys, still waiting for e-mail from insurance, thinking of just cancelling and buying online from somewhere else, so I can get out on road.ebikeinsurance are online only, so they can be quite slow to respond to their emails.Might go with swinton or some other broker that have a call centre in future.
I am thinking of going 3rd party, fire and theft, as bike is not worth much really (£1500 maybe) and either the excess, or premium is quite high. What do you guys think?

Depending on the price difference between fully comp & TPFT otherwise not worth it! The insurance company will only pay out book value of the bike (if they don't find a way to dodge paying out) If you spent 2-3K or more on a bike then def worth having. Down to personal preference... And how big your back pocket is

Fully Comp - £122 from Swinton (through Royal and Sunalliance), with £350 compulsory excess £0 voluntary
T P F T - £ 74.60 ( Royal & Sunalliance ) Swinton again £350 compulsory excess £0 voluntary
£50 more seems quite reasonable does it

Mine has always been TPF&T - I can afford to cover any damage if I am at fault and the bike is only worth £1,500, as you say.

Gotta say you got some good quotes considering you have only just got your licence!

weasley wrote:Mine has always been TPF&T - I can afford to cover any damage if I am at fault and the bike is only worth £1,500, as you say.

Gotta say you got some good quotes considering you have only just got your licence!

I do have 1 year no claims and bike is in garage at side of house, if that makes a big difference

I see what you mean though, I also could afford to pay for repairs, and if it was substantially over the £350 excess it might be close to being written off anyway

Hi there, am really pleased for you . have got a result there in getting the bike sorted, passing test and those quotes are really good, myself i would take the fully comp butthats mypreferance !!

Just take it steady till you feel confident to explore the power, its really amazing when you realise you can cruise near 100 and have 45mph more to play with if you need to chase down wayward TOL riders who cant understand simple instructions on directions !!!!!! lol

Pete

WOW you have been given good quotes! but then I am only 22 so mine will be more! although £300 isn't too bad! I think it might be worth having fully comp with such little price difference!

its really amazing when you realise you can cruise near 100 and have 45mph more to play with

Only 45 more?!? 55 me thinks!!

I am away to take a photo to show you guys the difference between my cbf125 and cat

A good mechy should be able to give a service to bring her up to speed. Not normally a huge problem it sitting for a long time as far as I know.

No idea about the barrel and keys - sorry.

Thundercat is quite happy to pootle along so don't let the extra bhp scare you.

Not that I'm biased but Thundercat is where it's at!

Very worth it to shop around for insurance (and do so every year) - that way you'll not be wasting £100's.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cheap-motorbike-scooter-insurance has a list of Insurance guide for motorbikes and if you search for insurance you'll find some links here too.

Good Luck

Cheers
Rosco

Rosco wrote:A good mechy should be able to give a service to bring her up to speed. Not normally a huge problem it sitting for a long time as far as I know.

No idea about the barrel and keys - sorry.

Thundercat is quite happy to pootle along so don't let the extra bhp scare you.

Not that I'm biased but Thundercat is where it's at!

Very worth it to shop around for insurance (and do so every year) - that way you'll not be wasting £100's.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cheap-motorbike-scooter-insurance has a list of Insurance guide for motorbikes and if you search for insurance you'll find some links here too.

Good Luck

Cheers
Rosco

I already got it serviced and mot`d last week for £215.
Tomorrow I will get insurance and then road tax, ready to take to work on night shift.
I may wash and polish cbf 125 and put on gumtree. I dropped 125 last year and bought new heatshield r/h fairing that was damaged and spent last half hour replacing them.

how much roughly are you likely to be looking at for the 125???

littlecat wrote:how much roughly are you likely to be looking at for the 125???

I really dont know. I just looked on mcn
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/bikes-for-sale/searchresults/Honda/CBF125/_/N-146+1133+191
and they all seem to be looking for £1500 or thereabouts for 2 year old bikes.I bought mine brand new last April and it has done 1800 miles, and even though I dropped it at 20mph as you read above, I replaced front brake caliper, right hand end weight, heat sheild and fairing.I do not want to put you off, but I would imagine if you bought it then transportation would be quite costly from up here to yours.

yep, no worries, its a bit newer than my budget allows for anyhow, but good luck with the sale

littlecat wrote:yep, no worries, its a bit newer than my budget allows for anyhow, but good luck with the sale

I would highly reccomend this bike if you can get one for your daughter locally.£15 insurance and over 110 mpg. lightweight and easy to handle. Good luck.

Forgot to mention I am back to test centre tomorrow as my 18yr old sits car test

Changed details on my existing policy as ebikeinsurance charge a £75 cancellation fee .I changed to TPF&t and I am actually due a rebate of £19 from them.also means I only have 9.5 months left of policy and then will have 2 years no claims and can change insurer
printed cover note, got road tax and went for spin yesterday aft.
Sitting position feels different to what im used to, but in no way way uncomfortable.accelaration is brill.cruising at 60, turn throttle, rush of wind and 2 secs later i was doing 85

filleed tank to brim when I first got it, and filled up again when yellow light came on.I filled up to same spot and got 172 miles for £20 (16 Ltrs) roughly 50 mpg. Is that the average for this bike, I was thinking it was not bad considering it was town riding only

Seems about right. I mostly do a work run and get around 190 before the light flickers on. (Thats 12 miles one way with about 8 at 70+ )

Panzerbuilder wrote:Seems about right. I mostly do a work run and get around 190 before the light flickers on. (Thats 12 miles one way with about 8 at 70+ )

Bad boy . I am gettimg around 170 to 180 miles before light comes on . a lot less than my old cbf125 ( more than half the mpg), but a lot more enjoyable


Sold my 125 and was thinking of spending some of the money on bike, but am away to Spain for golfing holiday with mates tomorrow , so bike will have to wait

I am going to start a thread on aftermarket fairing sets, where would I put thread? in pitstop maybe