The Fat Cat THREAD! TR200 Honda FatCat

Along with the Big WHEEL thread, we Fat Cats need our own thread. While the Honda Fat Cat Yahoo Group is nice, we can open up a wide variety of issues and solutions with up-to-the-minute forum posts!

Come on, folks, let's see if we can keep this thread going. I hope it can be found with a simple search through Google: "The Fat Cat Thread!"

Meery Day-After-Xmas,
Doink (Doug)

Count me in. I have a 1987 model. I love it to pieces. MEOW!

Here's some pictures!

I don't have one, but I've always liked them. Post 'em up!

I'm fixing one up now, does anyone have one that they are parting out?

So I'm guessing you haven't looked at this thread then... http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=611833

Nope, I sure didn't. Funny how it didn't come up in any google searches...

If anyone needs the pdf of the manual for both years, I have a copy. It's 23MB and will transfer via Gmail.

http://hickory.craigslist.org/mcy/4820256134.html

This one is close to me, but $900? No side covers, ugly seat, mystery motor work and electric start is un-wired. This condition should be $400-$600 if it runs. At $900 I'd have to part it out to make it worthwhile and that just isn't what I like to do with them!

My aunt had one it was great riding it in the snow. No pics tho.


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So I went to look at it today. Missing parts were side covers, chain guard, rear lens and taillight. Headlight shroud cracked, wrong brake pedal (it was 2x too big), no sprocket cover, no air filter, torn seat. The $900 was firm but I offered $800 anyway. The redneck ass claimed the tires and rebuild cost $1,150. This obvious lie was when I decided to walk away. As I left the place, they tried to flag me back and I never even looked.

I have just listed a bunch of parts for the Fat tired bikes on eBay. Feel free to PM me if you gotta have it and I'll kill the eBay ad and sell it to you. Be quick, though, cuz it's only a 5-day auction.

I just picked up a running Fat Cat yesterday for $400! Pretty excited. The original plan was to flip it but I think I'm keeping this. It's way to fun and I don't need a 4 wheeler if I keep this thing.

Now, where do I find tires? What fits since the stock sizes seem to be non existant.

Any quirks? I'm going to ditch the hand rear brake lever (it's broken anyway). Needs a battery, choke lever (starts without it fine though) and a bath. Otherwise she's in good shape.

Cheng Shin makes a front tire if the OEM size (24.5) but a 25x8x12 works well, too. I have not seen an OEM rear tire reproduced (23.5) so you can go to a 24 or a 22. The only real concern is to get something with a round shape, so you can clear the swinger and still have some side lugs.

Thanks for that info. I appreciate. Let the money flow to the lil Fat Cat.

I'm looking at 23" tires for the rear and a lot of fronts show up in this size range. Anyone use tires designed for fronts to go on the back of your Fat Cat?

The last time I needed to put new tires front and rear, I went with ITP Mud Lites. 25" front and 24" rear. Both were considered front tires for a 4-wheeler. The tread was very aggressive and gave excellent purchase on turf and mud, but got a little sketchy in dry hard pack and sand. I had modified the shock with a yzf600 upgrade, so I had no clearance problems.

Thanks for the tire info! That's what I needed to know.

Now please tell me more of this yzf600 shock upgrade? What's involved/needed. I am very interested in this mod.

The rear shock is almost always perished after almost 30 years, evidenced by the squeak and the ease to put it in full compression. The rear travel was also too small for aggressive riding. It was an easy swap - a lot of larger, stouter shocks will work. I had to beef up both shock mounts, making them thicker and adding small gussets on both sides. Most upgrade shocks are adjustable, and if you get one with a remote reservoir it needs to mount opposite the exhaust under the frame. I prefer a simpler adjustable shock from small displacement road bikes or 2-stroke motocross wrecks. You can go about 3" longer than stock, but the stance will look weird. Try to keep as close to stock length as possible.

Great info. Seems a simple swap will do. I appreciate it.