New member intro

Evening everyone. Thought it would be polite to say hello. Recent convert to Catkind having bought a '97 model a few weeks ago for my wife to compliment her Ninja 650. Having just celebrated my 25th birthday for the 2nd time (it sounds better that way) I had resigned myself to never again being able to fold my aged bones around a sports bike frame, hence my Versys thou. I rode the Cat the 2 hours home from where we purchased it and despite the 4 degree temperature outside, I absolutely loved it and no aches or pains either like I got from my previous Ninja. I enjoyed it so much, in true Remington shaver style (definitely showing my age now) I bought the company....sorry, I mean, I've bought a 2nd one. Not picked it up yet but hopefully the vendor will get their finger out and I could be getting wet on it this weekend (rain is forecast for Manchester...nothing unusual). I'll let you know how I get on (sorry for the life story). Steve

Hi Steve, welcome.

Nothing like jumping straight in and getting two, however you aren't alone in dual ownership - so in good company.

Many years ago I briefly had two 'cats, but couldn't ride either at the time as I had successfully managed to do damage to my shoulder

Lets hope there is a bit of a dry spell for you at the weekend.

You may have noticed we have weekend away riding events which may be of interest t you and your wife.

Thanks SteveCat, I'll keep my eye on it. Is there a collective noun for owning more than one? Is it a Pride of 'cats? A Flock? Any ideas?

Hi & welcome, they are a great bike. Hope you get some reasonable weather to pick it up.

Thanks yamahamad. I badgered the seller today and I'm collecting it on Saturday. I think we are only due a month's worth of rain that day so it shouldn't be too bad

Hi Steve

Welcome aboard to you and your missus.

Great choice of bikes.

The collective term is definitely “a bag”

I’ve been told I’ve got a “bag of cats” or something like that.

Hopefully see you both on a ride out sometime soon.

Cheers
Rosco

Cheers Rosco. I hope so, we're looking forward to stretching their legs together.
Not sure about the bag of cats analogy though. As much as I found it amusing it conjures up an entirely different image from owning 2 similar bikes ha ha. Thanks again for the welcome from yourself and the other guys.
Hopefully see everyone in the near future and I'll try and get some pics on here soon of our 'bag'.
Steve

Well I picked up the 'new' 'Cat yesterday. It was only about 12 miles so I'd planned to ride it home. As soon as I set off back, hurricane Gilbert blew in, bringing hail, sleet, rain, a flooded road and whatever else it could find to chuck at me. Approx 1 mile from home, I passed a 'biker' who decided to ride his machine at about 20mph up the pavement complete with a flat rear tyre that was trying to escape the rim. Hmmm I thought, not a good day to have a breakdown on a bike. At that precise moment, the 'Cat decided it had had enough and spat its dummy out, cutting the engine. I guess that was karma for ignoring the bloke with the puncture. 1 uphill mile of pushing, 3 coronaries and 1 very understanding and heroic wife later, said 'cat and rider wheezed up to our garage. Jumped the bike off a spare static battery and it fired instantly. Battery now fully charged and purring like an angry kitten again. Just need to get the alternator checked (along with the battery) to make sure there's charge going in and being accepted. Thank you to my amazing wife Louise for coming to the rescue, initially by blocking traffic and keeping me safe and then for taking over the pushing once my back had shown me the proverbial finger

Ooft. Great team effort.

Hope it’s a simple fix - good luck.
You should get a discount from the seller.

Cheers
Rosco

Spikey689 wrote:. Just need to get the alternator checked (along with the battery) to make sure there's charge going in and being accepted.

Not a good 'start' to your ownership, good on your recovery service too.

The rule of thumb with Thundercat troubleshooting is look at the 'simple' things first before the more complex/expensive routes.
If you have a battery charger capable of doing a battery check, try that first (I'm sure if you have, you'll already be trying that option). One issue with the bike was the battery terminal bolts would work loose, that along with a bit of corrosion caused havoc with charging/running and most obvious, starting.
From memory there are some howto's, or at least owner anecdotes in the workshop section.

If you have a voltmeter put that across the battery, see what it reads. Start the bike and measure again, rev and see if the voltage goes up -if so your alternator/rectifier are OK.

Thanks SteveCat. I borrowed a multimeter from work today and did a quick couple of basic checks before the cold, complete lack of lighting in my garage at the moment and shortage of space got the better of me. Battery reading 12.82 with bike switched off and 14.5 at 2000rpm. So on the surface, looks ok. Clicked the seat back on before remembering that I should check for overcharging. At that point I realised that I'd managed to lock the seat without locating the front end properly. The seat is now refusing to release! I walked away before the bike found itself embedded in the car by the side of it with my size 9 attached. Like I said, cold and dark....and I'm an idiot. But not so much that I'd resort to feline cruelty.

You probably tried it, but if you push down on the back of the seat while turning the key this can sometimes help.

Thanks Weasley, I'll give it a go. I think I turned the key and tugged if I'm honest. Until such time as I rearrange the garage and reconnect the electricity, the cat is having to be wedged between my Versys and a 35 year old mini. None of which I'm looking forward to damaging. I may have to be patient and wait until I can pull it out during daylight hours. Thanks for the tip though.

the results you got on the mulimeter check out as good, the only thing i could add is have as many power consumers on as possible lights high beam, indicator & brake light & see if its still charging at 14v plus. Best of luck getting the seat off.

Thanks yamahamad. Pulled the bike out yesterday so that I had a bit more room to work on it, turned the key on the seat lock and hey presto, it released instantly! I've wrestled with it for days. Go figure. Not that I'm complaining. Tested the battery again - all seemed ok with ignition off, started the bike and it fired up straight away. Let it warm up and flicked the lights on. Holding the revs around 2500, the battery was counting down in small increments. I'm going to try it again today and I'll take your advice by adding more load. I'll try alternating the loads too just to attempt to identify if it's an isolated electrical issue, say headlamp circuit etc or whether it's simply not putting charge back in. It's a little odd that my results yesterday were different from my previous test. Unfortunately I'm an electrical novice but hopefully I will figure it out. Thank you for your help and advice

Here are the results of my amateurish test:
Ignition off: 12.55v
Ignition on, engine off: 12.41v
Engine on (choke): Briefly jumped to 12.71 then settled to 12.25 before steadying at 12.22v @ 2000rpm
Engine warm at idle (1100rpm ish): 12.22v
Engine @ 2000rpm, indicators on: 12.05 to 12.10v
Engine @ 2000rpm, indicators off: 12.22v
Engine @ 4000rpm, dropped to 12.17 before recovering to 12.20v
Engine @ 2000rpm, brakelight on: 12.08 to 12.10v
Engine @ 2000rpm, brakelight off: steadied 12.22v
Engine @ 2000rpm, sidelights on: 12.11v holding
Engine @ 2000rpm, headlamp on: 11.89v holding
Engine @ 2000rpm, main beam on: 11.84v before dropping to 11.74, 73, 72, 71 etc
Main beam + brakelight on: dropped to 11.61v before recovering to 11.74v
Engine @ 2000rpm, all lights back off: 12.11v
Engine @ 2000rpm, cooling fan on: 11.91v
Cooling fan, all lights & brakelight on: 11.66v
Engine @ 2000rpm, everything off: 12.06v holding
Cooling fan re-activated: 11.86v holding
Cooling fan off: 12.06v
Ignition off: 12.26v rising to 12.33 after 5 mins
Ignition on, engine off: 12.23v rising to 12.33v as soon as ignition switched back off.
The above is as methodical as I could make it. If someone with more experience in bike electrics than me is able to recognise an obvious cause from those figures, it would help put my mind at rest. Over the whole test, the voltage was lower at the end but not by a huge amount and the voltages did seem to recover after each load was removed, however, there was never any huge uplift to suggest any replenishment of charge which, in my ignorance, I was expecting

Hello and Welcome to the Yamaha Thundercats forum

Look forward to perhaps meeting you and the missus on a ride out sometime

Cheers
Tel