Penton Owners Group

General Discussion => Penton Talk => Topic started by: TGTech on November 18, 2005, 03:41:22 PM

Title: curiosity
Post by: TGTech on November 18, 2005, 03:41:22 PM
The regular Penton Owners Group memebers that I see at the meetings each month are all familar faces to me. Because of that, I pretty much know how they became linked to the organization. But there are lots of other people out there who's backgrounds I don't know. What got you interested in the Penton motorcycles or the Penton Owners Group?

Dane
Title: curiosity
Post by: Mick Milakovic on November 18, 2005, 05:03:16 PM
Hi Dane,
I was a lad of 14, watching steel tankers glide through the woods thinking, if you want to win THATS what you ride!  Then my brother bought a '74 Jackpiner and started winning immediately.  He then bought a '75 Harescrambler from Buck Whalsworth, and that is now my bike.  Both of my brother Tom's bikes were in our mother's basement for 25 years until three years ago when I saw Kip Kern's steel tanker on the back page of the AMA magazine [8D]  That's what got me interested in restoring the bikes, visiting Mid-Ohio in the summer of '02, and ultimately AHRMA racing.  I love the vintage scene.  In one way or another, i'll be involved for the rest of my life :)



Title: curiosity
Post by: Dave Withrow on November 18, 2005, 05:11:04 PM
Dane,
    In 1972 I was trail riding a Yamaha 100 with my Dad and some friends.  A guy riding a Penton 175 Jackpiner met up with us on the trail.  I just could not keep my eyes off it!  I must have asked the guy about a hundred questions and told him I'd like to try racing.  He just said, "You want the best...you want a Penton".  That guy was a MX racer named Jackie Lambert.....probably the best around my area then.  Anyway, word got out and it seemed that the serious riders went to Pentons.
    My dad knew the owner of Beckley Sport Cycles and took me to look at the 125 Six Day.  Just a look was enough for me to know I wanted one.  Newspaper delivery money, grocery bagging money, lawn mowing money all went to pay for the bike.  And then there was the first race.......
    I guess finding the Penton Owner's Group helped renew a feeling I'd thought I'd lost long ago.  Remember going to your first race?  The sounds, that unmistakable smell of premix, and all the bikes.  The tightness in your stomach as you wait at the starting line.  I remember the first time I went to the POG websight.  All those memories came back and there I was.....a 13 year old kid again(just what my wife needed, right?).  The biggest bonus is an opportunity to actually meet and talk to people who were my heroes back then.  You can't imagine what a rush it was to talk to John and thank him for all he has done for the sport.
    Anyway, there you have it.  This is a GREAT group and I look forward to seeing and riding with you all next year. And the next. And so on......you get the idea.  Thanks, hope I didn't take too long.
                                           Dave
                                           GO PENTON
Title: curiosity
Post by: DKWRACER on November 18, 2005, 05:58:24 PM
Great question Dane! While at a local track, 15 something years ago, this local guy shows up at a Vintage race, I was on a pitifull Bultaco Matador. One thing noticed right away was the leather tank strap. Intrigued, I pursued to talk to this guy......To this very day, I have found a Mentor, a KTM and Penton storehouse of knowledge, within 1 month, I had a Penton. You might know him, Gary Leiker...a quiet person. Finding the POG website? The Internet and email are something of a prized possesion in of themselves. Geeze, then I saw the Hiro, about blew me away! Tom...
Title: curiosity
Post by: cubfan1968 on November 18, 2005, 06:24:59 PM
When I was 13 I spent the summer of 71 in California. My cousins took me out to do some riding in the desert. I got stuck on a mini bike while my cousins had 250 Yamahas. I had a blast. At that time I thought the 250 Yamaha was the greatest motorcycle of all time, so when my cousin told me he was selling his Yamaha to buy a Penton 6 Day I was shocked. We went to see the Penton and got a look what this thing would do. I was blown away. This thing looked great performed great, it was the whole package. I told myself then and there when I bought a motorcycle it was going to be a Penton.

Little did I know there were no Penton dealers, selling new Pentons, in Omaha. So it took until 2004 to finally get one. It has been an absolute blast and very worth the wait.

Rod Whitman
1972 6 Day (Rider)
1972 6 Day (Project)
Title: curiosity
Post by: OUCWBOY on November 18, 2005, 06:26:15 PM
Dane,
I got started on Pentons back in early 1969 when my old Honda S-90 just wasn't quite made for off road. Although, I didn't do too bad. It was a much better flat tracker than a MX'er though. My local Honda dealer was also a Bultaco, Husqvarna, Triumph, American Eagle and maby some others as well, and he was also a GREAT enduro rider. I was best friends with his nephew and we visited shop often. One day while on skip school field trip (becuase of snow), we walked in and there sat the OUTSTANDING Green and White Penton Six Day. It was 1969 and I was a Junior in High School. I just had to have it, so I put on my best begging performance for my dad and sold all my spare time to do whatever Pop needed me to do. Worked two jobs to pay him back and did as many things around the house that he could think of for me to do. I have to say that it was all worth it. Later in the year, we wanted to get an extra edge, so Mike Lewis and Leroy Winters installed a 152 kit in my bike. It was awsome................... Then the CMF bikes hit the store and I had to have me a New Jackpiner, so I got a loan and bought my 2nd Penton. I rode that JP so much that within a year I was on my 2nd over bore. Kept the 69 until my ex-wife sold it in 1983 when we were getting divorced. Can't remember what happened to the JP. About 4 years ago, I was just browsing Ebay and saw a 70 Six Day listed and got bit bad by the Penton bug again.

Donny Smith
Title: curiosity
Post by: tmc3c on November 18, 2005, 07:22:11 PM
This is a question that is hard to get it all in.I started out racing a Honda Trail 90 then moved up to a 100cc Bultaco Lobito and my father was on a Bultaco 360"I think" and he has a friend that used to hang out at my dads service station in the 60s named Edward Stokes.Edward was a brick mason and could ride like the wind ,well Edward bought the Honda dealership in Charleston and this evolved into many other bike lines also.Husky and Penton came along and Edward told my dad to come check out the new bikes.Edward put my dad on a 400 Husky and my dad said it was a wheelie machine.He then rode the Penton 125 and was sold!It came to the station with him that day.I think I was about 12 or so and I would ride his Penton and loved it so my dad bought me a 100cc Penton and I had it for a while but the power difference had me so we sold the 100cc and bought a 125.Then when motocross was just starting out we went to flat tracking the 125s and that is where the Penton really shined!!! The power and handling was GREAT!! put a spool wheel on the front ,take off the front fender and get the gearing right and you are out front!Pentons are just a Quality racer that can't be beat.



Thomas Carmichael


1970 125 Six Day
1976 250 Hare Scrambler
Title: curiosity
Post by: BrianTaylor on November 18, 2005, 08:47:00 PM
Wow this is like opening up your  soul and divulging to everyone your inner feelings .. 1968 Northern Ontario Coururoy Intl Trial   saw my first Penton at 14 ...Leroy Winters , Tom Penton  just didnt get any better. My older brother was a Hodaka dealer and thats what we raced  to some successs but it was all our efforts not so much the bike. I new immeadiatly everything else out there was obsolete  and I wanted one . there were no Pentons or Pentons Dealers in Canada but I would go to Michigan and Ohio to race and they were everywhere .... and they were winning .. WE pressured my brother to get Penton in his dealership but the answer was no .... we begged ...but we new if we went around him we would be cut off of our parts sponsorship  which we all needed.....We saw so many mediocre riders buying Pentons and becoming class winners ... finaly in 74 we bought our first Pentons  and some of the first into Canada  and easily  began to win our classes in Canada ........ ah the good old days but I wasted to many years competing on an less competitive mount .... Brian T

Brian Taylor
Title: curiosity
Post by: behindbars on November 19, 2005, 03:08:03 PM
I never knew much about Pentons when I was a kid. We had a Hodaka dealer about a block from my house so my bike of choice at age 12 was a 72 Ace100. My folks would not even think about letting me race so that was not an option. They didn't even want me to ride, but after several summers of constant pestering they finally gave in. :D My interest in Pentons was sparked by my love for history. About 10 years ago I started collecting MX bikes and I started learning about the history of the Penton brand. The Penton brand was so influential in the early days of off road riding here in the US that it was only logical that I had to have one. It took awhile, but now I have several. I'm sitting here at the old computer looking at a ragged copy of Keeping Track that was given to me by the former owner of one of my Mints. Fortunately he saved a few Penton documents that he had over the years. Here I see a young Dane Leimback, Jack Penton, Carl Cranke, and Tom Penton pictured inside the front cover. Dane.....the beard and glasses look totally period correct..;) I wondered what you would have looked like back in the day. You were listed as one of the riders who was going to compete in the 51st ISDT. It is an honor that now around 30 years later I'm able to communicate with those who have had such a profound influence on the early racing days here in the US. Man this internet sure is a cool tool. I'm new to Pentons, so I sure have a lot to learn. Thanks so much for this site as I consider it to be a priceless source for infomation on the early years of off road racing. I think it would be really great to have a section for pics of some of the influential riders and Penton employees from back in the day. Some cool hair styles would be depicted I'm sure...... [:0] For those with a strong love of history...a Penton is a must have motorcycle. Funny how back in the day those of you who were there probably never though about the history you were making. Thanks for making the past come alive for those of us who were not there.
Title: curiosity
Post by: lksseven on November 19, 2005, 07:45:40 PM
Dane,

I rode/raced Hodaka 100 and 1970 Penton 125 Steeltanker as a teenager.  Was off dirt bikes for 30 years.  A friend of mine May '05 sent me a picture of a completely restored Hodaka.  It made me gasp.  I then thought to look for Penton pics on the Internet, and when I pulled up a restored
Steeltanker, I started smiling from ear to ear, and couldn't stop grinning all day - literally.  I got to thinking, "I'm 49 and not much makes me smile all day long anymore, so maybe I should pursue this Penton thing a little bit."  I found POG on the Net, posted a question about how to take baby steps, Ron Carbaugh contacted me and helped me like a big brother, and here I am, 5 Pentons strong (3 breathing, 2 waiting for some time/effort).  

My wife says that, for me, riding/working on these Pentons is like taking a vitamin B12 shot.  I agree.   I'm happy to work on them, making/keeping them beautiful and functional, and I'm thrilled at the great people I've met through POG - dirt bike people are the best people you can know, and Penton owners are the best of the best.

Larry Seale
I choose to ride
Title: curiosity
Post by: flattracker23 on November 20, 2005, 12:18:44 AM
Quotequote:Originally posted by BrianTaylor

Wow this is like opening up your  soul and divulging to everyone your inner feelings .. 1968 Northern Ontario Coururoy Intl Trial   saw my first Penton at 14 ...Leroy Winters , Tom Penton  just didnt get any better. My older brother was a Hodaka dealer and thats what we raced  to some successs but it was all our efforts not so much the bike. I new immeadiatly everything else out there was obsolete  and I wanted one . there were no Pentons or Pentons Dealers in Canada but I would go to Michigan and Ohio to race and they were everywhere .... and they were winning .. WE pressured my brother to get Penton in his dealership but the answer was no .... we begged ...but we new if we went around him we would be cut off of our parts sponsorship  which we all needed.....We saw so many mediocre riders buying Pentons and becoming class winners ... finaly in 74 we bought our first Pentons  and some of the first into Canada  and easily  began to win our classes in Canada ........ ah the good old days but I wasted to many years competing on an less competitive mount .... Brian T

Brian Taylor

And then you got a Rokon?

Spencer Gaydon
Lubbock, TX
Title: curiosity
Post by: Paul Danik on November 20, 2005, 12:34:17 PM
Dane,
   How about telling us what it was like to know your Uncle John was building his own motorcycle?  What were your thoughts when you saw your first Penton?

Paul
Title: curiosity
Post by: BrianTaylor on November 20, 2005, 10:32:31 PM
Spencer you are correct ......  Rode ROKON 75 ISLE OF MANN  and still have it :) Brian T

Brian Taylor
Title: curiosity
Post by: desmond197 on November 20, 2005, 11:10:35 PM
I saw my first Penton in 1972. My friend Greg Smerz had one and I remember hanging out in the garge playing pool and checking out his 125 Six Day. I just thought it was the greatest bike. I think Gregg was a AMA road race champ one year. He does motor cycle stunts for a living.

My dad bought me a 125 AT3 Yamaha and I had several sets ups for the bike and road it in trials,MX and some enduros. I alway wanted a Penton but did just fine on the Yamaha. My friends would tease me about the Yamaha but I beat them sevearl times with that bike. I also remember at the time realy wanting a Mudlark trial bike.

My other friend Mike Barrett got a friends old Steel Tanker that was painted flat black. No silencer and that bike was the loudest bike ever. I remember a spark plug top ended up getting down the spark plug hole and that was the end of that bike.

After haveing several near misses racing vintage cars I got out of that and into bikes. About 15 years ago I got into vintage biikes again by buying a Hercules 175 for $50. I then started buying every thing I could get my hands on. I saw a Penton 1972 Penton 125 for $125 at the Will Stoner York Swap meet and bought it. I then got several more via Ebay in the early days of that and a Penton Woodsman at Mid Ohio a couple of years ago.
Title: curiosity
Post by: Don Roth on November 21, 2005, 09:59:14 AM
Dane,
Plain and simple, hormones. Although I do not race, I have been on some sort
of bike since age 12, some 40 years ago. My cousin and I bought our first bike together,
a 1968 Bridgestone 50cc for the grand sum of $35.00. We rode the wheels of that bike,
in Northern Pa. Our neighbor was an oil man and his daughter (this is the hormone part)
rode on her Honda Trail 70 with us. The next summer, we both had our own bikes,
my cousin a Kaw F3 me, the same Bridgestone with a transplanted 90cc engine. Being
teenage boys, the competiton was full bore, and guess who shows up on Dad's six day? What a beauty, both the girl and the bike. I can still recall hearing the distictive exhaust note and beautiful greenand chrome machine. . We all recall reading the reviews and looking through the shop window at these bikes, I grew up in Pittsburgh and rode past Ron Bohn's Cycle weekly, looking at the 'winner's' machines.
Well, fast forward several years and several bikes (honda,kaw,yam,suz, hodaka, even a few Rokons) and I have the pleasure of riding my very own Penton(s). Reliving my youth?
Yep, for sure! Couldn't afford as a kid, can't afford not to as an adult!
This group has allowed me to smile like a 13 year old covered in mud and chasing that
female rider through the woods. To her credit, she did stop once in a while and allow
us to catch up.
-don
Title: curiosity
Post by: VICTOR MONZ on November 21, 2005, 10:49:16 AM
Great question, Dane.

I was born and raised in Lorain, Ohio, my mom grew up in Amherst, Ohio.  After building mini-bikes and go-carts out of Briggs and Stratton lawn mower motors, I got my first bike, a Kawasaki 100 and began riding the local trails.  I met, was to be my life long friend, Rick Belsole who bought a brand new Berkshire 100 from Penton Bros., soon I traded the Kawasaki for a 71 steel tanker Berkshire and was hooked.  Rick began to work at Penton R & D on Elyria Avenue and I went there with him many times.  I began to race with Jack Horinek Jr and his Dad, some of the fastest riders around.
I rode at Meadowlarks and all the surrounding courses for 15 years or so.

I enjoyed many of the winter harescrambles at Meadowlarks sipping hot chocolate and eating those hotdogs from the counter.  It was great to see all Pentons (as I remember) on the starting line....

I am now in California and have been reunited with the Penton bikes...once I got one, then two...now they reproduce like rabbits.

I have met some great guys out here and a couple of Penton experts,  vintage racing is quite popular out here year-long.  My Pentons always get lots of looks and conversation of "back in the day".

I wish I could tell all my Penton stories from around the Lorain area, it was the best times in my life.

However, I know more are on the way! As long as I stay connected to the POGERS.

Victor Monz

Title: curiosity
Post by: socalmx on November 21, 2005, 12:06:00 PM
My first bike was a '69 step-thru Honda 90 (we took the skirts off) and my first race bike was a '71 Honda SL100 which I started racing in the desert. I soon found out that the Honda did not have much going for it so I started looking for a replacement. At that time, I had a friend who just bought a Mettco 125 and another who got one of the first Jackpiners that came into California. My problem was that on a bus-boys salary, I could not afford the Penton. I ened up on a DKW 100cc bike which served me well until the next generation of suspension made it opsolete. From that point on it was a couple of Suzukis, a Husqvarna (500XC beast!), a Yamaha YZ, and finally a Honda XR 400. My first Penton was purchased in '84 for $50 from a women who was selling it for her brother. I restored it to race condition and about once a year race it. It's most recent outing was at the Elsinore Grand Prix.
Title: curiosity
Post by: Chakka on November 21, 2005, 06:00:57 PM
Dane,
Way back in 3rd grade I got the bug for a mini bike. After looking at a bunch of Rupp's my dad took me to the local Honda dealer and bought a brand new Z-50. That was the start of my riding. When he got home from work we would ride double on that Z-50! Off to a local sandpit where I could blast around.

A few years later along came an XR-75. By that time I was riding with kids from the neighborhood and poor dad had to stay home. We rode everywhere on those bikes, mostly XR’s but a few older kids had Can Am’s, Bultaco’s and a Puch. That’s what probably got me interested in real enduro bikes.

A friend had gotten his hands on a Hi-Point catalog and when I saw the Penton’s photos in those pages I knew that was the direction to take. I must have circled 20 adds for Penton’s in my copies of NE Trail Rider magazine before I finally convinced my dad to take me to look at a used 76’ 125GS. We were set to buy and I couldn’t wait, but when we got there I was stunned at how tall the bike was, I was a small kid and there was no way I could touch with even one foot on the ground. Extremely let down we left that bike and I ended up with a Bultaco Sherpa. So much for my career as an enduro star. But I still wanted a Penton and must have willed myself to grow….a year later I traded that bike for a 73’ Jackpiner, the first of many Penton’s I have owned since. It wasn’t till my senior year of high school that I was big enough for the first long travel bikes of the day and I managed to trade a kid a telescope and some Mercury Head Dimes for his Orange Hercules 175 7 speed. Man I had arrived, it was fast, looked great, had all the cool accessories from the Hi-Point catalog. I loved that bike. The Jackpiner went to my buddies house where it still sits in his barn. By that time we all had some pretty serious European enduro bikes, Hercules, Ossa’s, Husky’s, Penton’s & KTM’s... its funny when I think about it now that none of us ever rode an enduro. We were happy riding trails and every day after school a large group of us kids would meet up in a sandpit near my house and hit the trails riding for miles & often ending up town away, getting home just before dark. My last bike from the past was an 81’ Husky Enduro, a graduation gift. With pressures of work and other activities it got used less and less…..

Fast forward 20 years, my best friend and old time riding buddy from back in the day started telling me how he had picked up a TL125 and was riding in vintage trails events. He said you’d better move quick because this thing could catch on. Never one to need much prodding I soon owned 2 Six Days from Ebay one is now fully restored and has been given to my nephew so he can get the thrill of riding a dirt bike through the woods like so many of us kids used to. The bike I was too short to ride way back in 77’ now sits restored in my basement and will be running in weeks. Soon to be restored a 73’ Berkshire, 75’ Jackpiner, and a 77 GS 250. I’ve gone full circle.

The sandpit where we spend so many enjoyable hours is now a housing development and most of the trails we rode as kids have neighborhoods planted in the middle of them but the memories will be with me forever of that golden time in my youth when my biggest worry was getting money for a tank of fuel, and meeting my buddies by 3.
Title: curiosity
Post by: Rain Man on November 23, 2005, 04:29:12 AM
It all started for me in 1973 when I went to Dalton Mass..to see Malcom Smith race in the ISDT there.  Id never heard of a Penton up to that point, just Malcom !!!   And the Pentons  we're doing a helluva number on the competition too.
  2 of the 3 guys I went with ended up buying 6 days after that Weekend.  I bought a 73 Piner the day after I graduated from High School in 1974.   This fella named "Woodchuck" on this site had a Penton dealership called "New England Sports Cycle". They also sold numerous other European ISDT bikes there too.
   Thanks for the memories Chuck !!


Raymond
 Down East Pentons
Title: curiosity
Post by: bkinnon on November 25, 2005, 10:07:42 PM
I began riding in 1968 in Maine. A friend had a Bridgestone 175 that was an attempt at a trail bike. My brother and I had to ride it where our mother couldn't see us, as we were not allowed to ride motorcycles. I begged and whined for a year to get a mini bike, and she finally broke down. I had two Rupp's that I destroyed by jumping and riding too hard. I bought my first real bike, a '71 Honda SL 125. I put 2100 miles on it that first year. All trail miles as I had no license yet. Back then we could ride from the ocean, through town, to the boonies and back. We actually had a trail that went right through the yard of the owners of LL Bean. I moved to European bikes in '72 with a Montesa King Scorpian 250. That was a really good woods bike although a bit heavy. My first Penton came in '73, an early Jackpiner with metal fenders. We had no Penton dealer in Maine then, so I got an Ossa dealer to pick one up in New York for me. Unfortunately, it was something of a lemon and took a whole season to get it reliable. Tranny locked up with 8 miles on it, then it blew head gaskets regularly. I still have it and intend to have it ready to ride next spring. I have never raced, just always been a dedicated woods rider. It is now in company with 12 other Pentons, a couple of old Kawasaki's, a Bultaco, and Honda, and my current bike, a '97 KTM Jackpiner LE 200.
Bill
Minot, Maine
Title: curiosity
Post by: Frosty on November 25, 2005, 11:57:31 PM
Dane,It all began for me back in 1973 at the age of 13 when my father came home from work at the steel mills with a Suzuki TS 50 in the trunk of his car.I still remember the excitement of having my first bike.My first ride took me straight through my back yard into a fence.Mom sure was mad.Over the next couple of years I rode the wheels off this bike and learned quite a bit about repairing it.Ended up selling it around 1976 when I got my car license.In 1980 I purchased a 76 Honda Elsnore 125R and caught the M/C bug again.Mostly did trail riding and had a blast.From there I got involved with street bikes, and I still am.I enjoy collecting and riding motorcycles.I own 3 HD's,5 60's Triumphs,a 72 BMW,and now a barnfresh Penton 250 Harescrambler that has given me the dirt bug again.As I find out more about the brand and checking the Penton Owners Group website everyday, I'm becoming excited for the day that I can throw my 46 year old leg over the seat and enjoy all the good things that I read about on this site.I would like to thank all the Poggers that are helping me through the process of getting this bike up and running again.Although I know it will take me awhile, I applaud your group for the quick answers that I have received to my questions.Frosty Hammond,IN
Title: curiosity
Post by: CharlieT on November 30, 2005, 06:43:06 PM
INteresting stories!

We got our first bike, actually, my brother, in 1965...a Honda S65 (still got it, too). Immediately, of couse, had to have my own bike. Got a S90. Bored it to 98cc, cam, high pipe, alloy rims. Ran it in the 100cc class in the old Cetnral Michigan Scrambles Assoc. Followed that with a 160 honda, again bored it to 198, cam, etc, etc. Ran that in the 200cc class. Also played around and dropped a 200 tiger cub motor into an old 1953 Harley 165 Hummer frame, was going to run some short track with that. Went from that to a BSA 441VS. The 2-strokes kept getting faster and faster, so sold that and got a Kaw 250 Greenstreak, F81M. Also by this time I had had a Kaw 250 Samuari A1SS for the street and then a Kaw F11 enduro.

I was always fasinated with the ISDT races and bikes I'd see in the magazines. Came across a '71 PentonISDT 125 in '72 that a guy had bought, put 400 miles on it and decided he wanted something bigger. Got it for $400. Rode one closed course enduro with it. Spent a lot of time at our camp in the UP and mostly rode it on the trails and fire/logging two-tracks north of Marquette. It didn't get ridden very much at all. It was always my 2nd, 3rd, 4th bike.

Still have it, though. Its got 1700 miles on the VDO now. It is curently on display at the new KTM dealer in Cadillac MI. I've got about 14 other bikes , so it wouldn't get ridden much anymore anyway. Besides it is all original and in excellent condition. I'd be scared to dump it and scratch the tank or rip the seat!!! That and it gets a lot of attention in that showroom, so let others enjoy it and get a sight of the predecesor of all those new KTMs in the showroom. ( it does have the kTm logo on the back of the seat)
Title: curiosity
Post by: swamp fox on December 05, 2005, 10:25:28 AM
Let me see.....
My first motorized purchase was a lime green "Cat" minibike with a 2.5 Briggs. No suspension whatsoever and the plate against the rear tire for a brake. Talk about the Flintstones! My brother then bought an old Honda 70 that we tore to pieces. When I turned 15, I got my drivers license and talked my parents into letting me buy a Honda SL 175 from another friend. My brother had a SL 350, so it was just like his, just smaller.:(This was my transportation to and from school, but also any trail that I could find in-between. Well, this one was wrecked when someone pulled out in front of me, and I got a used 72 XL250 Motosport with the insurance money. Needing the occaisonal part due to the forays into the woods, we would go to the same Stokes Honda that Thomas (tmc3c) spoke of. And yes, I would drool over the Pentons, Huskys, and Bultacos. Then came the add in the paper for the 72 Berkshire."For sale or trade"[:p] I went over there and looked at it and traded my bike without even looking back. That little bike could go around corners like nothing else I had ever ridden. I didn't have any transportation for the highway, but when I would get home from school, it was off to the woods from one end of town to the other. I never raced it, but enjoyed every second on it. Charleston, being a peninsula city, was bordered by the Cooper River on the north, and the Ashley River on the southwest. I lived East of the Cooper, and Thomas lived West of the Ashley. I never knew Thomas back then, and I now regret not finding ways to get over to his side of the river sooner with my bike and friends. Well, my Berkie broke[xx(],and I ended up buying a truck. I got a new crankshaft and cylinder/piston, but needed a layshaft for the tranny. I kept telling myself I'd get it, but never did. Well, fast forward to 2001, I've kept my bike and all the parts. Then I find POG:D, and all the parts I needed back then. Dr Doug has put my motor all back together, and I purchased a 125 6day that was once owned by a friend of Thomas from the only other person I knew in Charleston that had one. I feel really blessed to have been able to make friends with many of you that have had much more accomplishment than I, and look forward to every chance I get to visit the website and remember "back in the day";)

Robert Manucy
72 Berkshire
72 Six Day
Title: curiosity
Post by: AndyL on December 05, 2005, 03:37:19 PM
Started with a Bridgestone 90 and a Kawasaki Bushmaster in 6th grade.  Went through various 70's street bikes(KZ650, CB750, FLH) and decided to get back to the trail/dirt bikes.

Spent some time in college getting an Mechanical Engineering degree in an area of Missouri where the riding is great (Rolla, Missouri).  So I got to keep my interest in bikes going.

Did alot of searching on opinions of the best overall handling dirt/trail bikes and kept hearing about Penton.

Got an 85 KTM, it was in rough condition but I liked it.  Found a 75 Piner from a Trash Hauler (the bike was put out at the curb for trash). Rebuilt it and loved it.  

Got the 92 KTM 300 because it was a deal and really liked the way it would handle in the tight trees, still have enough torque low in the revs and still get up and run in the open.

Still have plenty of other bikes in my work space (9 total) and like the last of the PV Yamaha YZ's (83-84's) for grass track practice in Missouri but still keep the Penton/KTMs ready to ride.


Andy
#14u MOVMX and AHRMA
75 Jackpiner
92 KTM 300