2 Pentons in California

[Mick Milakovic]

On Mark's MX:

FOR SALE
Ad # 3246409 February 4, 2015
 
PENTON/KTM 77 GS6 250 & 78 MC5 Barn Finds

Restoreable barn finds, motors both locked and mostly there, both have Marzocchi forks.

$600 each or $1000 for the pair

     Doug Knight
Martinez, CA
Phone: (925) 788-6335 | Email
Registered Since 5/13/2013 | 5 Posts
Accepts: Cash, Pay Pal  

   
Mick

[Mick Milakovic]

I'd like to have them just for the Ohlins shocks on the '77, so if anyone snags these let me know and we'll work out a deal!

Mick

[454MRW]

Just a word of caution about this supposedly all original barn finds, I email the seller about some non correct items on these bikes ang got this back.
"Both bikes have Zooks on the front end, the 77 is 10.5 travel and the 78 is 11.5 travel. They were never switched. 78 came from Oregon and the 77 came from South Carolina. 77 forks are clean while the 78 I had planned to have re-chromed due some light pitting. The 78 is a real barn find and was from wetter climate so no more orange paint on the fork lowers. Also have parts manuals for both models."
Doug,
Here is some helpful information about the 77-78 Penton/KTM's. I have all of the available manuals for 74-1980 Penton/KTM models and every magazine test report for references that I have found to be available.
77 Penton/KTMs never had any orange paint on the fork lowers, they originally were Greenish gray and only had 9 inches of travel, look it up. If the forks have more travel, they are not 77 forks. No silver framed Penton/KTMs had orange fork legs. There were a very few late 77's that had orange frames and fork legs, but only together and still only 9 inches of travel. Late 77 was the transition year that John Penton sold the rights back to KTM, thus the introduction of orange frames and fork legs.
1978 KTM MC5's had torque style pipes with the largest portion of the pipe directly above the engine. The pipe on the 78 is a 76-77 style pipe. It is in far better shape than the rest of the bike, indicating a recent replacement and the mount brackets above the engine do not align.
10.5 inches of travel would be correct for 1978 KTM MC5's. The forks on the 78 are not the correct ones, neither are the ones on the 77. It was 1980 before the KTM MC had over 11 inches of travel, 1979 had exactly 11 inches of travel and in fact the 1980 38mm forks have 300mm or 11.81" of travel, and can be identified by ring grooves around the top outer section of the fork tubes to make fork position adjustment easier. Sorry, but I specialize in 76-78 MC5 Penton/KTMs and you can refer to the Penton Owners Group for verification of that fact. I have owned several and still have a 76, 77, & 78 MC5 as well as  78 GS6 250 and the early 79 MX-6 250 that was based on the left over 78 MC5 frames, which use serial number 855-xxxxx. I also previously had/restored an early 1980 250 MC. I agree that the black forks are not Cerriani's if they are over 9" of travel, it was hard to tell on my phone, but the bottom areas of the fork legs should be virtually identical if they are both Marzocchi's. It's hard to tell in the pics, even after enlarging the right side pic. The shocks on the 77 with reservoirs are also not original as they did not use remote reservoirs until 1979. (They may be 1979 model non rebuldable Bilsteins. Plus the pull back triple clamps are a dead giveaway on the 77, since they were not used before 78.)
By the way, the orange fork leg paint is tough to get off in a blasting cabinet. It doesn't come off because of inclement weather, or at least not more that just a few flaked spots. Just trying to help. Sincerely, Mike

Michael R. Winter
I enjoy rebuilding and appreciating Pentons!
1974 250 HS Pentons-1980 KTM 175-400'S
1975 Can Am 175 TNT & 77 250 Black Widow
1979 Husqvarna OR390
1976-78 RM & 77-79 PE Suzuki's
1974 CR250M 07 CR125R 79 CR250R