Who is the rider in this picture?
What two items in this picture, although not wrong, are unusual in their use?
http://www.pentonusa.org/archive/homepage/default_012708.htm
I'm guessing here, but considering the bike is set up for Motocross, the down pipe and center stand seem out of place. Mike
Michael R. Winter
I enjoy rebuilding and appreciating Pentons!
1974 250 HS Pentons-1980 KTM 175-400'S
I'm guessing also. Tom Penton, and MX set up of low pipe and non high breather air cleaner. wnm
I think you better look a little further South. And there is that neat little sticker on the aircleaner......
Ron Carbaugh
With AHRMA creating a 100cc MX class for 2008 we felt that this photo was very appropriate at this time.
There has been a lot of discussion about the rules for this class. Personally, I hope that no matter what the final rules are for 2008, that lots of 100cc machines will show up on the line and support a class that has been desired by many for a long time.
Back in the day the 100 class was a very exciting and highly contested class. Those small bore machines always put on quite a show for the fans as they flew around the track twisting unbelievable RPMs out of those engines. If you go to an event take along a stop watch and check the lap times of those little buzz bombs verses the big bores, you may be in for a surprise.
Back to the picture...
It didn't take long for the center stand to be noticed, it was used just to hold the bike for this photo. Good eyes Mike.
No the rider isn't Tom Penton, but just like Tom he did work for Penton and he is a POG member.
Keep guessing and enjoy the photo. Man, wouldn't it be great to see a couple of Steel Tank Berkshires mixing it up on the MX track this season, they may not win the event, but they would sure be winners in my book.
Paul
How about a Randy guess...from Ohio.
Ron Carbaugh
How about the fact that it still has a set of headlight ears on it, just turned inward? Mike
Michael R. Winter
I enjoy rebuilding and appreciating Pentons!
1974 250 HS Pentons-1980 KTM 175-400'S
Mike,
That is an interesting observation. From what has been determined all of the steel tanker forks came with the headlight ears on them. They were either used for the mounting of the headlight, or turned inward as shown in the home page photo, for mounting the front numberplate. Parts book 001 even lists the spacers that were put between the ears and the numberplate, and the early enduro kits are pictured with out ears in the catalogs, as they were apparently standard equipment on the forks till the CMF machines came about.
Paul
Is the numberplate mounted higher than usual, since the ears are not being used from what I can tell? Mike
Michael R. Winter
I enjoy rebuilding and appreciating Pentons!
1974 250 HS Pentons-1980 KTM 175-400'S
There were a set of long hexagonal bolts made for mounting of the enduro front number plate, that is the numberplate with the bottom cut out to allow for the top of the headlight. The standard pinch bolts would be removed from the top triple clamp and these hexagonal bolts were screwed into those holes and tightened up, the hexagon portion extended out about 2 inches and the end was drilled and tapped. The MX plate in the picture is mounted to those extended hexagonal bolts, instead of using the ears, that is why it is higher.
After you click on the picture and it enlarges, it will enlarge a second time if you click on it again, for a better closeup view.
Paul
Is it Dane in the picture ?? Thought I remember someone talking about him riding MX on ST 100 Berkshire.
Dave McC
Dave,
No that's not Dane, but you are correct about Dane racing MX. I hope he chimes in if I am incorrecct, but MX was quite a passion for Dane, which would help to explain his ability to get some awesome special test scores on his 100cc Penton.
I will always remember watching Dane and Billy leaving on their 100cc machines ahead of us big bore riders on our 125cc machiines in the qualifiers. They had to do double duty as they broke trail AND stayed on time. A number of times I would conclude that I was off course and just about then I would see the tire marks from Dane and Billy where they had spun around earlier having missed the same arrow, I would laugh as I spun around in their tire tracks. It was someting how you might only be minutes apart but you could ride all day and not see the other rider, except at check points.
There is still something amiss in the picture, but you would have had to possibly been around in the early days to recognize it.
Paul
Is the person in the picture Randy Kirkbride?
Ron Carbaugh
Okay, here's another stab at the answers. Could it be Randy Kirkbride holding those fine trophies ?? Pretty sure he told me about racing a 100 ST Berkshire. The bike looks to have chrome steel Radelli wheels on it. It was my understanding that the 100 Berkshires came with aluminum rims instead of the chrome steel.
Dave McC
Looks like brother Ron and I had the same idea on who's in the picture. Guess that just goes to prove that he's still pretty fast on the draw. :D
Dave McC
One of the things I noticed early was the tire tread. They have a mildly aggressive TRIALS style tread. When I bought my 69 DT-1, my dealer removed the Trials tires, and put on this style tread when I requested knobby dirt tires. The Matador guys I rode with had much more aggressive looking tires when I got a better look at them. I attributed this to personal preference at that time. However, the last few bikes we have located, 70 Steel tankers both, had similar style tires mounted, and were Continental, and Hi-Point. Was this the era when tire treads were beginning to change design ? The later bikes the boys were riding all had a more aggressive style tread from various makers, but still not nearly as strong as those I have seen on some modern bikes. I have been reading there is a move presently to a return of this more mild tread. From what I read, the European Riders have been the first with this change. I don't see enough of the current off road events to have witnessed this. What is the reason for this recent change in tread pattern use ? wnm
At one time in my 69 Berkshire's life, it looked somewhat like this bike, but I didn't ever use the top triple clamp bolts to hold the number plate; I used the fork ears.
And the center stand must have been put on the bike for the picture, because you can't have the stand on it with the down pipe.
I don't remember why I did this, but I made my own down pipe. It was the first pipe I every built and it worked just great.
Paul, the only "other" think I notice in the picture, is that the sweatshirt is on backwards.
I am sorry to say that our own Randy "the calendar man" Kirkbride isn't the rider in this picture.
Dane picked out the reversed sweatshirt. I just got off the phone with our mystery rider and he said he put the sweatshirt on backwards because there was only the Penton crest on the front and they liked the wording on the back better for the picture. I have urged him to register for the message board and if he does he has some interesting stories to tell.
I mentioned that our mystery rider worked for Penton, but I guess I forgot to mention that he worked at Penton Central under J.R. Horne. Actually this picture and several others were found in J.R. Horne's home by the new owner and somehow they made their way to Amherst. We didn't know who the guys were in the pictures but we figured they were from Texas, so I sent the pictures to Richard Sanders, Richard solved all of the mysteries for us and he even signed up our mystery rider in the POG.
Paul
My guess, the great Billy Uhl.
Jim
Sorry Jim, its not Billy.
Well like I said...
I think you better look a little further South. And there is that neat little sticker on the aircleaner......
He raced out of Penton Central and if you will go back and look at your early Keeping Track mail outs you will find him with a lot more trophies.
Ron Carbaugh
could it be Steve Wise from Texas ??
Mike Gallagher, Camden County, NJ. - 70 + 71, 125 Steel Tankers, 72 x 2, 73 x 2, 125-6 Day's, 73 Jackpiner, 75 - 250 H/S, 74 1/2 Mint 400
How about Mike Terry?
Thomas Carmichael
1970 125 Six Day
1976 250 Hare Scrambler
He did work with Mike Terry at Penton Central, and its not Steve Wise. We have a picture of the gang from Penton Central sitting in front of the building with JR and Jackie Horne, but our mystery rider must have moved on by the time the picture was taken as he is not included. Our rider later went into business for himself and JR Horne actually worked for him for a number of years.
Paul
How about Kurt Larson?
Thomas Carmichael
1970 125 Six Day
1976 250 Hare Scrambler
I'm lost. The Home page photo I see is the one titled "Which one is John Penton". What do I need to do to see the photo your are discussing?
Tony - Lost in Maryland
Sorry, no gold star yet.
Eddie Brasher did work at Penton Central, and he is in the picture with the other Penton Central employees that we have, but this isn't him.
Our mystery rider went on to acquire an AMA National Pro licence and competed in indoor and outdoor TT events, beating such riders as Mike Kidd, Steve Morehead and Ted Boody, he went on to win the AMA American Indoor Championship Series in the mid-late seventies. He also rode a 750cc Harley at tracks such as Santa Fe Speedway and Troy, Ohio, and he finished second at Peoria in the Expert class on the Harley, all awhile wearing his Hi-Point emblazoned leathers and using the skills that he started learning on that Steel Tank Berkshire.
That ought to get you digging in the archives Mr. Wardlow :D
Paul
Tony,
Try closing out of the POG site completely, then reopen it. I don't have any other ideas, maybe someone else does....
Paul
Quotequote:Originally posted by tofriedel
I'm lost. The Home page photo I see is the one titled "Which one is John Penton". What do I need to do to see the photo your are discussing?
Tony - Lost in Maryland
Tony,I'm having the same problem.Thought I was losing my mind.Glad to hear I'm not.Happy New Year everyone!
When is the last time that you deleted your cookies and cleared your browsing history? I do this every 2-3 days. Mike
Michael R. Winter
I enjoy rebuilding and appreciating Pentons!
1974 250 HS Pentons-1980 KTM 175-400'S
I use Mozilla's Firefox as my Internet browser, and there is a setting that when you close the browser, it cleans out all of the cookies, so I never even thought about keeping the old stuff.
Dane
HOORAY. Karen The Great Webmaster solved my problem.
Deleting cookies cured my problem. I am no longer lost and see nothing but bluse sky's and sunshine for 2008.
Tony
[:0]
http://www.speedbowlvalley.com/id11.html
:D
Bob,
You are Good...Well done!
Pat
PJM
The glasses give it away.
Ron Carbaugh
We are glad you guys enjoyed the home page photo. We still have a few more from that group, and thanks to Richard Sanders we know who the cast of characters are.
Hopefully this picture will inspire some guys to possibly get their Steel Tankers out and ride them in some events just for the thrill of it.
Thanks also to Karen for taking the time to get that picture to work. It is easier to use pictures that are wider than high on the homepage, but it seems like every picture I ask her to use is higher than wide, but she always comes through for the Group.
Paul
Quotequote:Originally posted by Paul Danik
A number of times I would conclude that I was off course and just about then I would see the tire marks from Dane and Billy where they had spun around earlier having missed the same arrow, I would laugh as I spun around in their tire tracks.
As an aside to this Photo Quiz exchange, I had to laugh when I read about Paul missing turns. Although I've only been fortunate enough to ride with him a couple of time, Paul is one of best I've even known at picking arrows out of background clutter.
On one ride I had slid to a stop at a junction where I knew there had to be an arrow, but for the life of me I couldn't FIND the durn thing. Then P.D. comes zinging up from behind (he LET me get ahead of him), and without even slowing down, spots the arrow, zips around the turn, and is gone in a cloud of dust before I could even get my bike into gear.
Another time, he ran me down on a road section (took him a while, 'cause I though we was RACIN' and so was giving it everything I had!), finally got us turned around, and headed back to the turn I had missed THREE miles back. Wooooeeeee!