curiosity

[VICTOR MONZ]

Great question, Dane.

I was born and raised in Lorain, Ohio, my mom grew up in Amherst, Ohio.  After building mini-bikes and go-carts out of Briggs and Stratton lawn mower motors, I got my first bike, a Kawasaki 100 and began riding the local trails.  I met, was to be my life long friend, Rick Belsole who bought a brand new Berkshire 100 from Penton Bros., soon I traded the Kawasaki for a 71 steel tanker Berkshire and was hooked.  Rick began to work at Penton R & D on Elyria Avenue and I went there with him many times.  I began to race with Jack Horinek Jr and his Dad, some of the fastest riders around.
I rode at Meadowlarks and all the surrounding courses for 15 years or so.

I enjoyed many of the winter harescrambles at Meadowlarks sipping hot chocolate and eating those hotdogs from the counter.  It was great to see all Pentons (as I remember) on the starting line....

I am now in California and have been reunited with the Penton bikes...once I got one, then two...now they reproduce like rabbits.

I have met some great guys out here and a couple of Penton experts,  vintage racing is quite popular out here year-long.  My Pentons always get lots of looks and conversation of "back in the day".

I wish I could tell all my Penton stories from around the Lorain area, it was the best times in my life.

However, I know more are on the way! As long as I stay connected to the POGERS.

Victor Monz

[socalmx]

My first bike was a '69 step-thru Honda 90 (we took the skirts off) and my first race bike was a '71 Honda SL100 which I started racing in the desert. I soon found out that the Honda did not have much going for it so I started looking for a replacement. At that time, I had a friend who just bought a Mettco 125 and another who got one of the first Jackpiners that came into California. My problem was that on a bus-boys salary, I could not afford the Penton. I ened up on a DKW 100cc bike which served me well until the next generation of suspension made it opsolete. From that point on it was a couple of Suzukis, a Husqvarna (500XC beast!), a Yamaha YZ, and finally a Honda XR 400. My first Penton was purchased in '84 for $50 from a women who was selling it for her brother. I restored it to race condition and about once a year race it. It's most recent outing was at the Elsinore Grand Prix.

[Chakka]

Dane,
Way back in 3rd grade I got the bug for a mini bike. After looking at a bunch of Rupp's my dad took me to the local Honda dealer and bought a brand new Z-50. That was the start of my riding. When he got home from work we would ride double on that Z-50! Off to a local sandpit where I could blast around.

A few years later along came an XR-75. By that time I was riding with kids from the neighborhood and poor dad had to stay home. We rode everywhere on those bikes, mostly XR’s but a few older kids had Can Am’s, Bultaco’s and a Puch. That’s what probably got me interested in real enduro bikes.

A friend had gotten his hands on a Hi-Point catalog and when I saw the Penton’s photos in those pages I knew that was the direction to take. I must have circled 20 adds for Penton’s in my copies of NE Trail Rider magazine before I finally convinced my dad to take me to look at a used 76’ 125GS. We were set to buy and I couldn’t wait, but when we got there I was stunned at how tall the bike was, I was a small kid and there was no way I could touch with even one foot on the ground. Extremely let down we left that bike and I ended up with a Bultaco Sherpa. So much for my career as an enduro star. But I still wanted a Penton and must have willed myself to grow….a year later I traded that bike for a 73’ Jackpiner, the first of many Penton’s I have owned since. It wasn’t till my senior year of high school that I was big enough for the first long travel bikes of the day and I managed to trade a kid a telescope and some Mercury Head Dimes for his Orange Hercules 175 7 speed. Man I had arrived, it was fast, looked great, had all the cool accessories from the Hi-Point catalog. I loved that bike. The Jackpiner went to my buddies house where it still sits in his barn. By that time we all had some pretty serious European enduro bikes, Hercules, Ossa’s, Husky’s, Penton’s & KTM’s... its funny when I think about it now that none of us ever rode an enduro. We were happy riding trails and every day after school a large group of us kids would meet up in a sandpit near my house and hit the trails riding for miles & often ending up town away, getting home just before dark. My last bike from the past was an 81’ Husky Enduro, a graduation gift. With pressures of work and other activities it got used less and less…..

Fast forward 20 years, my best friend and old time riding buddy from back in the day started telling me how he had picked up a TL125 and was riding in vintage trails events. He said you’d better move quick because this thing could catch on. Never one to need much prodding I soon owned 2 Six Days from Ebay one is now fully restored and has been given to my nephew so he can get the thrill of riding a dirt bike through the woods like so many of us kids used to. The bike I was too short to ride way back in 77’ now sits restored in my basement and will be running in weeks. Soon to be restored a 73’ Berkshire, 75’ Jackpiner, and a 77 GS 250. I’ve gone full circle.

The sandpit where we spend so many enjoyable hours is now a housing development and most of the trails we rode as kids have neighborhoods planted in the middle of them but the memories will be with me forever of that golden time in my youth when my biggest worry was getting money for a tank of fuel, and meeting my buddies by 3.

[Rain Man]

It all started for me in 1973 when I went to Dalton Mass..to see Malcom Smith race in the ISDT there.  Id never heard of a Penton up to that point, just Malcom !!!   And the Pentons  we're doing a helluva number on the competition too.
  2 of the 3 guys I went with ended up buying 6 days after that Weekend.  I bought a 73 Piner the day after I graduated from High School in 1974.   This fella named "Woodchuck" on this site had a Penton dealership called "New England Sports Cycle". They also sold numerous other European ISDT bikes there too.
   Thanks for the memories Chuck !!


Raymond
 Down East Pentons

[bkinnon]

I began riding in 1968 in Maine. A friend had a Bridgestone 175 that was an attempt at a trail bike. My brother and I had to ride it where our mother couldn't see us, as we were not allowed to ride motorcycles. I begged and whined for a year to get a mini bike, and she finally broke down. I had two Rupp's that I destroyed by jumping and riding too hard. I bought my first real bike, a '71 Honda SL 125. I put 2100 miles on it that first year. All trail miles as I had no license yet. Back then we could ride from the ocean, through town, to the boonies and back. We actually had a trail that went right through the yard of the owners of LL Bean. I moved to European bikes in '72 with a Montesa King Scorpian 250. That was a really good woods bike although a bit heavy. My first Penton came in '73, an early Jackpiner with metal fenders. We had no Penton dealer in Maine then, so I got an Ossa dealer to pick one up in New York for me. Unfortunately, it was something of a lemon and took a whole season to get it reliable. Tranny locked up with 8 miles on it, then it blew head gaskets regularly. I still have it and intend to have it ready to ride next spring. I have never raced, just always been a dedicated woods rider. It is now in company with 12 other Pentons, a couple of old Kawasaki's, a Bultaco, and Honda, and my current bike, a '97 KTM Jackpiner LE 200.
Bill
Minot, Maine

[Frosty]

Dane,It all began for me back in 1973 at the age of 13 when my father came home from work at the steel mills with a Suzuki TS 50 in the trunk of his car.I still remember the excitement of having my first bike.My first ride took me straight through my back yard into a fence.Mom sure was mad.Over the next couple of years I rode the wheels off this bike and learned quite a bit about repairing it.Ended up selling it around 1976 when I got my car license.In 1980 I purchased a 76 Honda Elsnore 125R and caught the M/C bug again.Mostly did trail riding and had a blast.From there I got involved with street bikes, and I still am.I enjoy collecting and riding motorcycles.I own 3 HD's,5 60's Triumphs,a 72 BMW,and now a barnfresh Penton 250 Harescrambler that has given me the dirt bug again.As I find out more about the brand and checking the Penton Owners Group website everyday, I'm becoming excited for the day that I can throw my 46 year old leg over the seat and enjoy all the good things that I read about on this site.I would like to thank all the Poggers that are helping me through the process of getting this bike up and running again.Although I know it will take me awhile, I applaud your group for the quick answers that I have received to my questions.Frosty Hammond,IN

[CharlieT]

INteresting stories!

We got our first bike, actually, my brother, in 1965...a Honda S65 (still got it, too). Immediately, of couse, had to have my own bike. Got a S90. Bored it to 98cc, cam, high pipe, alloy rims. Ran it in the 100cc class in the old Cetnral Michigan Scrambles Assoc. Followed that with a 160 honda, again bored it to 198, cam, etc, etc. Ran that in the 200cc class. Also played around and dropped a 200 tiger cub motor into an old 1953 Harley 165 Hummer frame, was going to run some short track with that. Went from that to a BSA 441VS. The 2-strokes kept getting faster and faster, so sold that and got a Kaw 250 Greenstreak, F81M. Also by this time I had had a Kaw 250 Samuari A1SS for the street and then a Kaw F11 enduro.

I was always fasinated with the ISDT races and bikes I'd see in the magazines. Came across a '71 PentonISDT 125 in '72 that a guy had bought, put 400 miles on it and decided he wanted something bigger. Got it for $400. Rode one closed course enduro with it. Spent a lot of time at our camp in the UP and mostly rode it on the trails and fire/logging two-tracks north of Marquette. It didn't get ridden very much at all. It was always my 2nd, 3rd, 4th bike.

Still have it, though. Its got 1700 miles on the VDO now. It is curently on display at the new KTM dealer in Cadillac MI. I've got about 14 other bikes , so it wouldn't get ridden much anymore anyway. Besides it is all original and in excellent condition. I'd be scared to dump it and scratch the tank or rip the seat!!! That and it gets a lot of attention in that showroom, so let others enjoy it and get a sight of the predecesor of all those new KTMs in the showroom. ( it does have the kTm logo on the back of the seat)

[swamp fox]

Let me see.....
My first motorized purchase was a lime green "Cat" minibike with a 2.5 Briggs. No suspension whatsoever and the plate against the rear tire for a brake. Talk about the Flintstones! My brother then bought an old Honda 70 that we tore to pieces. When I turned 15, I got my drivers license and talked my parents into letting me buy a Honda SL 175 from another friend. My brother had a SL 350, so it was just like his, just smaller.:(This was my transportation to and from school, but also any trail that I could find in-between. Well, this one was wrecked when someone pulled out in front of me, and I got a used 72 XL250 Motosport with the insurance money. Needing the occaisonal part due to the forays into the woods, we would go to the same Stokes Honda that Thomas (tmc3c) spoke of. And yes, I would drool over the Pentons, Huskys, and Bultacos. Then came the add in the paper for the 72 Berkshire."For sale or trade"[] I went over there and looked at it and traded my bike without even looking back. That little bike could go around corners like nothing else I had ever ridden. I didn't have any transportation for the highway, but when I would get home from school, it was off to the woods from one end of town to the other. I never raced it, but enjoyed every second on it. Charleston, being a peninsula city, was bordered by the Cooper River on the north, and the Ashley River on the southwest. I lived East of the Cooper, and Thomas lived West of the Ashley. I never knew Thomas back then, and I now regret not finding ways to get over to his side of the river sooner with my bike and friends. Well, my Berkie broke[xx(],and I ended up buying a truck. I got a new crankshaft and cylinder/piston, but needed a layshaft for the tranny. I kept telling myself I'd get it, but never did. Well, fast forward to 2001, I've kept my bike and all the parts. Then I find POG:D, and all the parts I needed back then. Dr Doug has put my motor all back together, and I purchased a 125 6day that was once owned by a friend of Thomas from the only other person I knew in Charleston that had one. I feel really blessed to have been able to make friends with many of you that have had much more accomplishment than I, and look forward to every chance I get to visit the website and remember "back in the day"

Robert Manucy
72 Berkshire
72 Six Day

[AndyL]

Started with a Bridgestone 90 and a Kawasaki Bushmaster in 6th grade.  Went through various 70's street bikes(KZ650, CB750, FLH) and decided to get back to the trail/dirt bikes.

Spent some time in college getting an Mechanical Engineering degree in an area of Missouri where the riding is great (Rolla, Missouri).  So I got to keep my interest in bikes going.

Did alot of searching on opinions of the best overall handling dirt/trail bikes and kept hearing about Penton.

Got an 85 KTM, it was in rough condition but I liked it.  Found a 75 Piner from a Trash Hauler (the bike was put out at the curb for trash). Rebuilt it and loved it.  

Got the 92 KTM 300 because it was a deal and really liked the way it would handle in the tight trees, still have enough torque low in the revs and still get up and run in the open.

Still have plenty of other bikes in my work space (9 total) and like the last of the PV Yamaha YZ's (83-84's) for grass track practice in Missouri but still keep the Penton/KTMs ready to ride.


Andy
#14u MOVMX and AHRMA
75 Jackpiner
92 KTM 300