I was checking out the vintagemonark website and found a lot of great info and some pretty cool stuff there. Wondering what you guys thought of Monarks and how they compared to the Six Days ? It seems they had a pretty good record in the ISDT too. They sold an expert moto-crosser that was guaranteed not to miss shifts and that had a few trick things on it. Not sure who was able to get the expert Monark though. Certainly the dealer network and support was not as good (big) as Penton. Where I grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania we had 3 Penton dealers not too far away, Hermy's in Port Clinton, Bonomo's (which sold Husky and Penton behind the pins in a bowling alley !!) and a shop in Montrose that I don't remember the name, but I can't recall a single Monark dealer anywhere. One of the things I liked that they had on the Monark website is a listing of all dealers, can we do that on the POG site ? Going into the above mentioned Penton dealers brings back great memories for me, especially Hermy's shop, which was walking distance from the start of the Reading Enduro.
I do not have a monark but I have friends that do, I spent some time with a rider that was a factory monark rider and he was saying that there was a bike that was built for Marty Smith that was so fast even the likes of the FMF bikes could not stay with and as for shifting was really good. Better than even what was suppose to be possible with the kobi shift kit. (I probably miss spelled kobi)When Marty got deal he could not refuse with Honda, the bike was given to my friend scott. can you quess who I am talking about?
Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
75' GS400 (project bike)
72'sixday (project bike)
In Canada in the day there were more Monark dealers than Penton .... they were both very expensive I could easly buy 2 Hodakas for the price of a Penton or Monark. BT
Brian Taylor
I would have to go with Scotty Walenberg on that one. He won quite a few races on his GS Pro from his fathers dealership. I think I have a pic or two on file of him in action.
Tom Benolkin
Tom,What happened to your 125 at Phoenix-did you teardown yet???I'll try and call you Monday.
Ric
P.S.-Somewhat of a huge vintage parts/bikes bonanza was located in Tucson today.A shop that had closed in the 70's-parts and bikes were found-mostly Maico,Cz,but i did end up with a few Penton and Sachs parts out of it.There may be some sachs stuff yet to be had-i'll let you know when it becomes available.Unfortunately,Dave from AMS in Phoenix got most of the good stuff.A rumor that was true!!!!Neat.......
ric emmal
Ric,
To make a long story short my bike is finally getting a new rod and a few other items that blasted. It should be ready for Diamond Don's.
By the way, D Don called me today on my entry status. He wanted to inform me that 2 more world champs will race in addition to Lackey. Danny La Porte will race a Yamaha from XYZ Racing and Billy Liles will be there also.
Shaping up to be some great berm slamming.
TB
If I am not mistaken, I believe don Emler got FMF of the ground porting Marty Smiths Monark. he knew his onions when it came to Sachs engines. A good ported b cylinder would run circles around a GS barrel. Remember, the GS had a wider exhaust port but the timing remained the same. Plus the FMF pipe was a work of art compared to the stamped fish pipe on the Monark.
From personal experince, I drag raced my FMF DKW 100 against a Penton GS Berkshire and it was faster thru the gears and top end. Uncle Donny knew his stuff!
yes it was scott wallenberg, and according to our conversations, The GS was already fast Scott was under strick orders not to let anyone see what in that engine. and that was especially true of Donny Emler. Check out Scotts story at the monark site. it will explain all of this..
. A couple of years ago scott has come to the Chehalis national he was going to ride a GS pro that belongs to a friend of mine. Saturday nite we were just hanging around and my buddy Siege was intervueing scott and I sat there and listened, then when siege left scott and I sat and talked. nice guy that scott....
Ric. I have been working on it some but it has been a very busy year for me. "It was the best of times.....
I did finish the mint 400. I picked up another motor for the sixday and another pipe, it is complete and should work very well. I am not sure what I have and what I still need. It can not be much.... If my memory serves me right I think I still need a backing plate for the rear wheel. But then I have not tried much so the fault is all mine.
Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
75' GS400 (finished project bike)
72'sixday (project bike)