interested in : motorcycles - motorsport (not F1) - snowboarding - rollerblading . Also like spendin...
interested in : motorcycles - motorsport (not F1) - snowboarding - rollerblading . Also like spending days out with my family . . NOT INTERESTED IN : Soap operas and Celebrity gossip
Member since:05.01.2007
Reviews:47
Members who trust:10
I bought a N registered Thundercat as a replacement for a Kawasaki GPZ500S for use primarily for instructing but also for decent runs out when the weather was nice.
The Thundercat replaced the "fox eye" headlight FZR600R, at the same time Yamaha brought out its bigger brother the Thunderace (to take on the Honda Fireblade). It got good reviews from the press but the main problem the media had was, that although the Thundercat was a match for its biggest rival the Honda CBR600 on the road, it couldnt match it on the track due to its softer front end.
This was rubbish really as the first thing any racers did, who were serious about the Thundercat, ditched the standard front end and put racing shocks on. It also took the world supersport chamiponship. (If I remember rightly in the hands of Fabrizio Pirovano)
But the damage was done and along with the similar targetted Suzuki RF600R the sales were affected.
As to the bike itself - In looks it was different enough from the other 600's to stand out, slightly quirky but attractive. The headlight shape always reminded me of a cyclops. The inline 4 cylinder was smoother than the CBR and was more usable in real world riding. The brakes at the time were excellent as they were a single cast unit but like most Yamaha brakes they need constant attention, or the result is seizing calipers in as little as a couple of months riding.
The handling is very good, considering the bikes age, and if you give it a decent rider you will have to push very hard to lose it on the roads, and then you would be pushing past legal speeds anyway so does that count?
The fuel tank is wide and makes the bike feel a lot bigger than it really is, added to this a wide seat makes it quite comfortable too. The handlebars don't throw too much weight on the wrists which give it that bit more endurance. For a full tank of petrol you may be looking at about 140 miles (approx 19 litres), but there was no reserve switch. Instead you had an annoying petrol warning light which would come on dimly far too early and then slowly brighten as your journey progressed. The amount of fuel left was easier to judge using the trip counter then the light.
Apart from the downpipes rusting through, the only real problem was the dip beam at night. The penetration was awful. Wether this was to do with the shape of the lens, or the bulb was designed too far back in the reflector I don't know, and neither did the local bike dealers. The main beam was fine, but the big problem was in rural areas on twisty roads with no streetlighting. Dipping the headlights due to oncoming traffic would cut down your depth of vision so much it was disconcerting especially on unfamiliar roads.
The Thundercat was superceded by the R6 but was still sold for a few more years alongside the Fazer 600. There are still decent second hand ones out there and for a decent price too, as the price never recovered from that CBR comparison.
As for this particular one, my Dad still rides it, ( he wil be 69 in February 2007).
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Jan 18th, 2007
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