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#11
Penton Talk / Re: Out of the barn after 50 y...
Last post by slvrbrdfxr - June 23, 2026, 08:36:48 AMYes, those early CMF bikes are very cool. They have some subtle differences from the later builds like the narrow front forks with the Arces triple clamps. I restored CMF number 109 51060 several years ago that was purchased out of New Mexico. The earliest CMF bike I've ever personally seen was a 125 serial number 106 50181 which was at VMD Mid Ohio back in July of 2021. That bike was for sale but was in very poor condition. I made an offer to buy it but could never comes to terms with the seller. Good luck with your restore Dean !
Dave McCullough
Dave McCullough
#12
Penton Talk / Out of the barn after 50 years...
Last post by Paul Danik - June 23, 2026, 04:57:32 AMLong 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 !
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 !
#13
Penton Talk / Pentons at High Point National...
Last post by Paul Danik - June 22, 2026, 11:39:35 AM" 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.
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.
#14
Penton Talk / Father's Day
Last post by Paul Danik - June 21, 2026, 09:23:14 AMOn 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 !
#15
Wanted / For Sale / Brake rod
Last post by Daveswelding - June 13, 2026, 06:11:49 PMHi all, I'm looking for a rear brake rod for a 1976 through 77 penton / ktm 250/400. Something decent not all bent up or stripped out threads. Thanks Dave.
#16
Penton Talk / Penton display at local car sh...
Last post by Paul Danik - June 13, 2026, 04:38:06 AMLast 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.
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.
#17
Penton Talk / John Penton movie premier 12th...
Last post by Paul Danik - June 10, 2026, 08:22:30 PMIt 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
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
#18
Penton Talk / Re: Where were you in Septembe...
Last post by Bud Green - June 10, 2026, 12:18:58 AMBud Green I got my Penton 100 cc ride just after that. 1968 Won Jack PINE bantam weight class ON Penton 100.
#19
Penton Talk / Re: CEV 9241 Tail Light Assemb...
Last post by xracer - June 08, 2026, 08:32:03 PMSend me a message to [email protected]
#20
Penton Talk / Re: CEV 9241 Tail Light Assemb...
Last post by StephenRead - June 07, 2026, 09:34:58 PMThanks Dave. I don't use Facebook, is there another way I can contact you or PM you ? Appreciate your previous reply.