Messages

I just got off the phone with one of the most interesting personalities who helped to make the Penton era, and the years that followed, so very, very memorable to most everyone who will be reading this, Larry Maiers. These summer days Larry is relaxing on the shores of Lake Erie and is enjoying some well-deserved off from the days when he must have been going 24 / 7.

    I asked Larry what his favorite outdoor MX track was and without any hesitation he said Unadilla. He told of how the track was allowed to go " back to nature " for the year and when the big event returned the following year the riders would go out in practice and pretty much break the track in. Larry has surely seen them all and for him to pick Unadilla as his favorite surely carries some weight.

  I mentioned to Larry how the Penton Owners Group, in conjunction with KTM, will be setting up a display at the August 12th Walkin' on Wednesday event in downtown Amherst, Ohio. Larry hopes to attend if possible and it sure would be great to have him on hand. The event runs from 4 - 7:30 for any of you fine folks who would like to attend, if you have a Penton that you would like to display be sure to bring it along.

  It is hard to believe that Episode One of Larry Maier's groundbreaking TV show Motoworld aired in 1984. I have provided a link to that show that I thought some of you might enjoy seeing. After watching the show, you will surely be all fired up to get your Penton ready to display at the Walkin' On Wednesday event, who knows, maybe you can have Larry sign your tank or number plate that evening as well. Hope to see you there.

  THANK YOU Larry Maiers for all that you have done over the years for our two wheeled sport !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1d9B6JUFwk See less

The Penton Owners Group, which started almost 30 years ago with a small group of dedicated individuals gathering at times outside because of a power outage, has a meeting tonight. The meeting will be held in the Jackpiner room of the KTM office building located just west of beautiful downtown Amherst, Ohio, commencing at 7 pm.

If you are reading this, John Penton has most certainly enriched your life in one way or another. It takes dedicated individuals with a passion for all things Penton to keep the Penton Owners Group going. If you think you have what it takes and would like to start on a journey of giving back, please consider joining with us tonight. Heading down the trail of involvement with the POG can be just as rewarding as heading down that favorite old trail through the woods on your Penton. Come join the ride!

Left to right. Ollie Martin, Doug Beam, Dale Barris, Bob Albrecht, Al Born, Dane Leimbach, John Penton, Alan Buehner and Jim Borer. I was taking the photo, and Jack Penton was there as well, somewhere....

As the photo attests to, Penton Sportcycles have been ridden on the road pretty much since the beginning in one way or another. That being said, do any of you have your Pentons setup for street riding with insurance, licence plate and inspection if your state requires it ? If so please, please share with us some of your experiences and maybe a photo of your streetable Penton and any tips that you wish to share.

As fewer folks are looking to ride or race their older short travel suspension machines in off road events, possibly some backroad adventures on your Steel Tankers and CMF machines would be a great way to enjoy them.

"Back in the day" I used to put about a hundred miles of easy backroad miles on my new Pentons as a way to break them in and it was quite enjoyable. They were not exactly street legal, but our area was way more rural at the time. I am sure that is the same story for many of you as well.
In the photo, John Penton sure seems to be enjoying his ride as much as the bystanders are enjoying watching him go by ! I can just imagine John coming to a Wendy's drive thru and pulling up to the window on his Steel Tanker and ordering a cup of their chili that he loved so much !

A cup of chili and make it quick, just put it in a coffee cup and keep the spoon and napkin !

At about the time we were getting the Penton Owners Group formed, I was visiting with John Penton at his home when he handed me a cardboard box that he had turned into a hanging file holder. Crazy as it may sound, John had taken a cardboard Campbell's soup box that was about 24 " X 18" and about 10 " deep and filled it with hanging files, beneath the hanging files was quite an assortment of items including an envelope of film negatives.
" Here, see if you find anything interesting in here", John stated as he handed me the box.

I could write a book about all of the items that John had found interesting enough to save over the years, but for now let's concentrate on the film negatives. I took the negatives to the local camera shop and had them make prints from them and what a priceless bunch of photos they were. The negatives were from the photo shoot of the proto model Penton that was done in the Penton Honda building with Jerry West taking the photos, possibly in late 1967. Anyhow, the two photos I have posted show just how Jerry and the gang had set up the photo shoot. Years later at a POG event we visited the old Penton Honda building and checked out that exact photo shoot location in the shop as that sink was still in existence.

Who would have ever thought that almost 6 decades later there would be so much interest in the Penton Sportcycles. Speaking of interest in the Penton Sportcycles, the Penton Owners Group will be having its July meeting on Thursday July 2nd in the Jackpiner room of the KTM office building, located just west of beautiful downtown Amherst, Ohio, beginning at 7 pm.

John Penton's Campbell's Soup box was filled with an incredible array of items that he knew were of historic value. What I thought would take a day or so to go through ended up taking the better part of a snowy winter week. As I sat by the wood burner reading and looking over most every item that John Penton had found interesting enough to save over the years, I was sure glad that he had done so.

THANKS JOHN, and yes, I did find EVERYTHING quite interesting, and still do !

CALLING ALL PENTONS !

On Wednesday August 12th the Penton Owners Group, in conjunction with KTM, will be setting up a display at the Walkin' on Wednesday event in downtown Amherst, Ohio. The event takes place from 4 - 7:30.

At this event last year, we were celebrating John Penton's upcoming 100th birthday and the turnout of Penton enthusiasts and Penton machinery was overwhelming, as the photos attest to. KTM will once again be setting up one of their big rigs in downtown Amherst for us to use as a centerpiece of our display.

With your help, we can honor John Penton's memory and create a display that John would be proud of in his beloved hometown, Amherst, Ohio.

Long time POG member Dean Marra recently found this very early CMF Penton in a barn not too far from his home. Well, actually it was Dean's wife who found the Penton in a Facebook ad and urged Dean to acquire it. According to the seller, the Penton was taken apart about 50 years ago and unfortunately the owner at that time passed away in an accident, so the Penton just sat in the barn with the motor out and with a broken crank for half a century.

Dean, who is a custom home builder by trade and who's # 1 hobby is building incredible custom furniture, is looking to bring the Penton back to life as a rider. He looks to totally disassemble the bike, paint the frame and start from the ground up and build the bike into a reliable rider that he can enter in events such a VMD, and an occasional local car show, to help keep the Penton story alive and well. With a frame number of 106-50268, Dean's Penton was built in June of 1971 and is fairly early in the production run of CMF ( chrome moly frame ) Pentons. Dean's existing stable of bikes is fairly varied including a couple of Huskies that he has competed on, an Elsinore 125 and a few others.

Dean's Sachs 5A motor is already in the truck and ready for the trip to Amherst, Ohio and the next POG meeting where it will be handed off to Rick Bennett for a complete rebuild and refurbishment. As we walked around Dean's shop last night his wife pointed out the hat that she wore a few years back at VMD as she helped to serve the food in the POG tent that Dale Buehner had cooked up. The hat was signed by The Man Himself, John Penton, it's only fitting that Dean will now have one of John's creations to go along with that autographed hat !

" Hats off " to Gary Hazel and Rick Hoover for displaying their Steel Tank Pentons at the High Point National MX this past weekend and doing a fine job of representing John Penton and his Penton Sportcycles to the many thousands of folks who saw them.
Gary said he chose his MX trimmed Steel Tanker since the event was a MX and his downpipe equipped machine showed the folks what a state-of-the-art MX machine looked like " back in the day". Gary said the clutch was pulled in and the throttle turned by hundreds of folks, both young and old, as his photo attests to. Gary, who is National Sales Manager for Galfer USA, had his Penton displayed in front of his booth as a way to grab folks' attention, and he said it sure did just that ! Gary is a long time POG member and ISDE vet whose motorcycling resume would fill a page or two.

Rick Hoover not only had his Steel Tanker, but also his 501 Maico displayed at High Point. Rick, who is one of " Jake's Gang ", a close-knit group of folks who hang out with " Crazy " Jake Fischer at his shop, seems to spend every waking minute either riding, racing or restoring vintage motorcycles. The Steel Tanker that Rick had on display came from me a few years back and trust me, it did not look like that when Rick acquired it !
Rick had his bikes displayed with the Legends and Heros folks. Rick had stopped by the house about a week ago and was very excited as he told me of his plans to display the Steel Tanker at High Point.

The Penton Owners Group is very lucky to have folks like Gary Hazel and Rick Hoover out and about representing the brand. If there were other Pentons at High Point, please feel free to tell us about them. GREAT JOB GUYS !  SORRY FOLKS, the photos of Rick and Gary's bikes won't download to this message board. You can check them out on the Penton Motorcycles Facebook page.

On this Father's Day, I would think that if you are reading this you were taught some of life's many lessons by our common father figure, John Penton.  Be it by personal interaction, observation from afar or anything in between, John Penton sure led an incredible life right up to the end that in one way or another helped to shape each and every one of us. Thanks John !

Last Saturday, I took 2 Steel Tankers to a local car show and was very pleasantly surprised with the response. What is interesting is that most of the folks who attend these events, and take time to look over the Pentons, pretty much have no idea that our vintage motorcycle world exists. I had V - 015 and an old warrior Steel Tanker on display and the old warrior got a lot of attention.  Most of the folks took the time to read my signage that tells about John Penton, and that V- 015 is the 16th Penton ever built.

  One gent said that he spotted the bikes and the Penton banner from quite a distance, recognized what he was seeing and made a beeline to the display. Turned out he had raced a DKW many moons ago and remembered the Pentons from those days. He hung around for almost half and hour and said that when he got home he was going to get online and check out this Facebook page and the POG website.

  The KTM banner drew in some of the 20 - 30 year old folks who were amazed to learn about the Penton - KTM connection. A couple of them commented about the simplicity of the bikes compared to today's machines, I am sure that some of the guys displaying the classic cars got the same comments about the simplicity of yesteryear's machinery.

  All in all a fun time not far from home and for a good cause. If the opportunity comes up I would highly recommend setting up at such an event, which I know some of you already do.

It is hard to believe that it has been 12 years since the Word Premier of the John Penton movie in Cleveland, Ohio on June 9, 2014. The list of folks who helped to create the movie is never ending, but most certainly it was Ed Youngblood's John Penton and the Off-Road Revolution book that was the spark that lit the fire in Todd Huffman to tell John's story on the " big screen ", as the saying goes. THANK YOU Ed Youngblood and Todd Huffman.

Lyle Lovett played a major part in turning Todd's dream into a reality with his from the heart narration along with his incredible music. The perfect storm of inspired folks who all worked tirelessly to capture the life of John Penton. THANK YOU Lyle Lovett.

As I said above, the list of folks who played a part in getting the book written and the movie made is never ending. I am sure that every one of these folks has one thing in common, they were inspired and motivated by Mr. John Penton. THANK YOU John Penton !

At the conclusion of the showing in Cleveland, folks were given the opportunity to say what they thought of the movie, just click on the link below to see what these folks had to say.
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=john+penton+movie&&mid=6BBCDE34E8B7D51862AB6BBCDE34E8B7D51862AB&churl=https%3a%2f%2fwww.youtube.com%2fchannel%2fUCdFU4cU9W-3B_4WWUK6FC2A&FORM=VRDGAR

What an honor it was to spend some time with Jack Penton at the home that he grew up in, prior to last night's POG meeting. The first time I raced MX at the Amherst Meadowlarks, probably in 1969 or 70, I was taken there by my Mars Area High School art teacher who raced a 250 CZ. Dan Bogdanich was his name; Dan had a little Mustang with a three-rail trailer behind it that we hauled the bikes on.

I asked someone at the race if they knew where John Penton lived, which they did. " You will know the house as it has a large P on it and it is near the Penton Farm Market ". Sure enough, after the race it didn't take us long to find the home, and for me, it was quite a thrill. I never in my life would have dreamed that in just a few years I would be staying there and that John would walk over to the farm market in the early morning to select the fresh fruit that Mrs. Penton would serve along with our breakfast. Over the years I have been to John's home numerous times, and the Penton Family have always treated myself and surely many, many others as family. The who's who of motorcycling that have passed through John 's front door or sat on the swing with him would surely fill a book.

When I took this picture, I told Jack that I was going to title it " Two Old Pentons" and we both laughed. I have known Jack for close to 60 years now and he is, and has always been, such a gracious and kind person who has always been a tremendous ambassador for the Penton Family and motorcycle. Over the past several decades, if you had a chance to meet John Penton or get him to autograph something for you, Jack was most certainly behind getting John to the location and taking very, very special care of his father.

Perhaps a better title for the photo would be, " One very, very special Penton, and one that was recently found in a barn".

Thank you Jack, and, Thank you John !

Where were you in September of 1968, chances are that a number of you folks reading this were not even born yet. The 11 men in the photo below were in San Pelligrino, Italy, ready ride the 1968 ISDT on their newly created Penton Sportcycles with John Penton leading the way.

Just as it is hard to believe that the photo below was taken over 57 years ago, it is also hard to believe that it is almost time for the June meeting of the Penton Owners Group. The June meeting of the POG will take place on Thursday June 4th and will be held in the Jackpiner room of the KTM office building located just west of beautiful downtown Amherst, Ohio. POG President Rick Bennett will wave the green flag at 7 PM getting the meeting underway.

The 11 riders in the photo from left to right are John Penton, Tom Penton, Dave Mungenast, Basil Butler, Wolf Jackson, Larry Cooper, Les Peckham, Leroy Winters, Dan Richards, Rick Spangler and Tim Hoffman. We all know the stories of a few of these riders, but at least to me, a number of them are a mystery. However, there is one thing that I am most certain of, each and everyone of them was proud to have had John Penton select them to help represent the United States on his Penton Sportcycles in northern Italy in September of 1968.

Word has it that Penton riders and enthusiasts from near and far are heading to the Ohio Valley BSA Owners Club's event this weekend in Toronto, Ohio. Be sure to visit the Penton Owners Group's display area and feel free to make the mini Pentonville your home away from home while at the event.

If you are riding a Penton in any of the weekend's events, POG President Rick Bennett will have a "goodie box" with him that will contain some awesome Penton / POG related items that you can choose from as a token of appreciation for your efforts. If you are riding, be sure to visit the POG display area and choose an item from Rick's "goodie box ". If Rick is feeling generous, maybe he will let anyone who brings a Penton to display choose an item as well.

The POG raffle bike will be on display at the event, be sure to check out this awesome little KTM and if you know of a youngster who would love to own it pick up some raffle tickets and help to support the POG in its efforts.

Whether you're going to get them dirty or show them off, load up a Penton or two and head to Toronto, Ohio this weekend and help support the Penton Owners Group and the Ohio Valey BSA Owners Club.
P.S. If you hear a little plane circling the club grounds with a Penton strapped to it, clear the lane into the club grounds as Austin will be looking to set'er down.

 ·
Yesterday, in another post, I asked a John Penton trivia question that no one has yet to answer.

The question was, Who was Sadie Dick? I also provided the following clue. The trivia question is quite appropriate given that Memorial Day was at hand.

Sadie Dick was the local draft board Chairwomen who decided that John's time spent in the Merchant Marine Maritime Service aboard a freighter hauling bombs and war supplies across the Atlantic with German U-boats looking to sink them did not count as military service. John then joined the Navy and attained the rank of Chief Motor Machinist's Mate during his enlistment.

Many a time I heard John tell that story and he would always end with the statement., " Sadie Dick, I will never forget her name. "

If you turn to page 26 in your John Penton book the entire story is told starting in the last paragraph of that page and then on pages 27 and 28.
Thanks, John !!

I came across this photo and thought that some of you might enjoy seeing it. The photo was taken in John Penton's yard as we gathered around one of John's favorite wellstones from his wellstone collection.

From the left in front of the stone are Barbara Penton, Dane Leimbach, Jack Penton, Al Born, Doug Wilford and John Penton, I am peeking out from behind the stone.

John Penton loved showing visitors around hs yard and telling them of the rich history that it contained. John's wellstone collection was just one example of his extensive knowledge and interest in many subjects.
Across the road and to the right is what was at the time the Penton Farm Market. On my first trip to Pentonville, after John personally performed some shifter adjustments on my first Penton, I helped with the storing of a container load of Steel Tankers into the loft of the farm market. My highly critical job was inserting the packet of information that went with each new Penton into the crate.