Messages

   True ISDT used bikes had the rider number engraved into the paint marking I believe. If a bike was used for the qualifier series, they just applied the paint. I think they still used that practice in '77. If used for the ISDT, it should have holes drilled in the head and cylinder fins for a lead seal to be installed at that point to seal the head to the cylinder, also.
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

Isn't a 54 a 250 frame?

  That was my first thought!!  Maybe check the engine number also. Just because it's blue doesn't mean much.  There are a lot of Franken-Pentons out there!! I have a 400 that is a Heinz57 Variety of parts, such that I think it was built from parts at a dealer.

 Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

I raced a Berkshire in 1974 qualifiers, the head was drilled and parts paint marked when it went into tech inspection, there are a lot of bikes out there like this.

  I entered the Potosi 2-Day Qualifier in 1975 on my '75 250WR Husky and in the entrants pack was the instructions for preparing the bike for tech inspection and that included drill the cylinder and head with a specific size hole for the seal. They never did put the seal on the head/cylinder but did put a yellowish almost like zinc chromate paint on everything else. I still have the bike in unrestored, original condition and all of the paint has worn or washed off. The 250 Husky that belonged to my late little brother was also prepped for a Potosi Qualifier and it has led a more sheltered life and some of the paint markings remain, but the head and cylinder were drilled also on that bike. I'm sure that these are often claimed to be ^-days bikes but if that were true, the rider number would be etched into the paint markings also, wouldn't they?
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

  I had a '72 125 Six Days that was like this that was the first vintage bike I bought back in the year 2000 or '01. The original owner had bought it new as a teenager, tried riding enduros but didn't care for that, so he took the lights off and tried MX, but at his first event, he crashed on the first turn of his first race and broke his leg!! The bike was parked then in a climate controlled garage until I found his ad in the local newspaper. We put the lights back on, Checked everything out, fresh fluids and the bike started on the second kick!! I took it to the ISDD Reunion Ride in Park Hills, MO to use as a pit bike after joining POG and got to show it to Al Beuhner and a few others who encouraged me to keep it all original. Just clean it up, fix what I really had to, and leave it as is. Al told me, " It's only original once! You can restore something over and over, but it's only original once!" There are very few survivors left, and I think yours is a pretty good example of all original. I'm sure others will agree with me. You can preserve it, display it, run it now and then up and down your street just to keep things loose, and if you really want something to ride, find a project or another example that had already been fixed up. But I think yours should stay as it is.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

   I'm glad to know that I'm not the only "box saver" on the planet!! I can always appreciate a "nice box" that can be reused to ship something or to store something in. In this day and age of Amazon, there are more boxes to chose from, but the quality certainly isn't there any more!! Boxes are made to certain specs to hold a specific amount of weight that is called it's "burst strength" I believe, and is usually stamped on the bottom of the box. A box with a 200 pound burst strength is pretty stout and good for many re-uses. The boxes that Amazon uses are about half of that and are much thinner. Some boxes come from China or other over seas sources and are made from rice paper, and most recyclers won't accept them of they will throw then in the trash. You can't mix those with typical brown paper boxes.
   Great story Paul!!
    Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

  I'll have to look in the morning but I'm not sure if I have it or not. I don't have many old motorcycle mags. I have sent old  articles from old model airplane magazines to people by just taking a careful picture with my cell phone, then use the editing feature in the phone to crop it close to the page size. Then I can email it or text it. people sell old magazine on eBay. Set up a search alert for that issue to get email notices if some one lists one for sale/auction.
   Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

     Best wishes for a Happy , Healthy , and Prosperous New Year for everyone out in Penton Land!!!
 
     Type at you later
     Dan "PunkinHead" McEntee

  The '74.5 and '75 frames are pretty close. Both have multiple lay down shock positions and I think the biggest improvement for '75 was maybe in the forks?? I have been down this road a bit and if you search the subject, the late Mike Winters did a lot of research into this as he was in possession of what he thought was the oldest '74 250 frame at that time. I have a 400 that I think was originally built up from parts in the Atlanta area back in '75 or so, and It could have gone either way. In '76, they went to a different frame all together for the MC bikes, and maybe a different frame number system to be in line with the rest of the imports. There is a listing of frame numbers and corresponding years here on the POG list that should tell you what you need to know or at least get you very close.
  Welcome to the group,
    Dan McEntee

  A nice line up!! I had one similar to that for a while. Through some luck and some tragedy, I had a running example of each size penton, plus a '97 KTM 200EXC Jackpiner Special Edition!! Not bad for poor boy like me!! Luck played in to me being at the right place at the right time for the KTM plus a couple of the others. The tragedy was that the '71 Berkshire and a couple more Penton projects belonged to my late little brother and I inherited those when he passed away suddenly in January of 2012. If I can post the photos, everything in the photos was running at the time I took them, but still needed work to be reliable riders. Circumstances dictated that I needed to sell a few off but I still have the Berkshire, a '73 250, 75 250, and a '74.5 400. Bad knees has kept me from being able to work on then as I would like, and I may be thinning things out some more. Now lets see if I can post photos!! I might have to research that and come back to this.

  Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

       

   Ray is out of town until next week. I have an email in to the museum but haven't heard back from them yet. I'll keep you posted.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

Sorry! Should have been more clear... I am wondering if it is still available so I can update the information on the website and let people know where they could get it if they were interested.

    Hi Rob;

    This slipped my mind while I was there. There was just a guy filling in for the day there, and I did not get to talk to Ray. I'll find out and report back.
    Type at you later,
     Dan McEntee

Daniel it would be great if you  could do that. Detail photos would be great I will pay or trade for your time. Thanks.

    I am going to try and work the trip to the museum this coming week. They are open limited hours and it's best to call ahead and make sure someone is there.. I'll keep you posted.

  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

Paul thanks for the reply. Not long winded, thanks for the insight. Looks like I will need to go there and get some photos. Thanks again Paul

   Hi Gary;

     If you have difficulty finding time to get toe the Mungenast museum for pictures, let me know and I can make a trip there. I live in the North St. Louis County area, and it's only about a 45 minute drive for me. In this day and age of digital photography, it's pretty easy to take pics and email them. Just let me know.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee
   [email protected]
 

   So sad and sorry to hear this news. I was able to chat with her on a few occasions at some events and she was such a sweat heart of a lady. Prayers for her and Ted, other family and close friends.
   
  With Deepest Sympathies,
    Dan McEntee
   

   I bought a '73 250 Harescrambler that was used as a farm bike, and I considered a rolling parts bike at the time. It had loose parts, missing some parts, and the carb wasn't even attached to the engine!! When I got home, my big brother came by and helped me unload it from my van. I went to open the garage door, and suddenly I heard it running!! My brother is in the habit of just kicking a bike through just to check the compression and see how it feels, so no different with this one. It must have had something combustible in the cylinder from someone trying to just get it to fire. It sounded weird because the pipe was modified with the stinger installed up inside the last cone of the expansion chamber. I had never seen this before but I thing I read somewhere since that it was a sort of common practice for noise reduction. It startled my brother because he was like me, and didn't think there was any way that it would fire up!! Just shows that you have to be prepared for and expect the unexpected!!
    Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee