Greetings,
In the " Penton, I used to ride one of those"..... thread I noticed that several folks referred to riding their Penton on the street, and apparently doing so legally :) We discussed this quite awhile back, but it appears that this just might be a growing area of use for our Pentons.
Would any of you care to tell us a little more about getting your Penton street worthy, and possibly expand upon the reaction you get from folks riding more customary street machines?
I was curious to know what you folks were using for tires? Also, do any of you have any idea as to what sort of miles per gallon you might be getting?
Thanks,
Paul
Earlier this year I purchased a '73 125 and needed to make it street legal to ride on the fire roads in the nearby state forest land. Since the rear tire was a brand new knobby I chose to leave that one in place. The front tire suffered from age cracking so I installed a mild knobby tire--like the old trials tire. That combo works OK, but ya gotta be careful applying the rear brakes on pavement or it loses traction very quickly. I will eventually go with a milder knobby for the rear. This combo works fine on the dirt/gravel fire roads but leaves a bit to be desired on paved roads. Ride is also a bit choppy on pavement.
The other problem making it street legal was the lighting. I tried running the lights & horn off the magneto wiring, but it wasn't up to snuff at all. The solution was to place a small, sealed 5AH 12VDC battery in the tool bag at the rear of the bike and that powers all lights. Since I don't generally ride when lights are needed, the battery charge lasts quite long with just the stop light being the only significant drain. Occasionally I recharge the battery with a trickle/maintenance charger.
As far as fuel mileage goes, I could provide an estimate if I had a working odometer, but the one I have is for show only.:) Still working on that.
Now getting the bike titled and registered in PA without a title is for another post, but suffice to say it was a hassle. If anyone is interested in knowing how I finally did that--legally--I will post a separate message. Fortunately, in PA a vintage vehicle can be registered as an Antique which does not requre inspection. Of course, it still has to be "street legal".:D
Larry Roberts, Mont Alto, PA
1973 Penton 125 Six-day
1991 Mazda RX-7 Turbo track car
Paul,
My 1975 Penton Six Days was purchased as a graduation gift in 1976. I assumed my dad sent the paperwork in and received a title for the Penton shortly after it was purchased. In 2002 I got the idea to license my bike and discovered it had never been titled! After a couple of enquiries to the state I made the decision to utilize a titling company to aid me in my quest. In a short time, the titling company provided me with the necessary paperwork to apply for a title in my home state of Missouri. I received a Missouri title a few days later.
In order to pass the motor vehicle inspection I had to work around a failed lighting coil in my motoplat ignition in order to get my headlight, tail and brake lights to work. This was done by utilizing a 6 volt battery from an Honda MT 125 street/trail motorcycle I owned, and wiring it into the lighting circuit. I attached a bicycle mirror and squeeze bulb horn to the bars and passed the motor vehicle inspection. Then it was an easy matter to insure the bike and get a license plate issued for my Penton!
My trips were never more than a few miles in length and I never bothered to calculate mileage Paul. Sorry. Currently the Penton wears knobbies, Cheng Shin brand, as the bike will most likely be raced in a hare scramble in November. If I ever decide to put several road miles on her, I will look into the Kenda line of dual purpose tires. Pentons handle very well on the street and turn a lot of heads!!! Great topic Paul.
Craig Wilson