NOS HIRO Engine - NOT SOLD...Yet...

[Larry Perkins]

Looks like this is back on eBay.  Must not have stuck as a Sold motor. Still for sale?

Larry P

[iyaoyas]

Hi Larry-

Well...never count your chickens 'till they hatch, or something like that.  Turns out the winning bidder injured himself racing vintage dirt bikes on the day the eBay auction ended.  Now that the medical bills are piling up he can no longer afford the engine.  I'm a nice guy and we have since agreed to 'shake hands and walk away'.  He also stepped up to the plate and offered to reimburse my listing fees so at this point everyone's happy, if not a bit sore (from the crash that is).  So long story short...yes, I still have the engine and I hope it finds a better home than mine where it will be placed in service on a HIRO powered Penton.

-Stephen

[Larry Perkins]

Bummer on both accounts.  I am sure it will find a good home.

Larry P

[Kip Kern]

I would buy it but building 2 Hiro's was enough for me!  Kinda neat though if you have lot's of time.

[iyaoyas]

Hi Kip-
Since you've already built two of these bikes can you offer some tips as to what changes are necessary to reconfigure with the HIRO engine?  Perhaps a brief summary of the steps involved and BOM (Bill of Material)??

Thanks-

Stephen

[Kip Kern]

Stephen
To start with, you have to have a complete 74/75 Penton 125 to cut up and refit for the Hiro engine.  The frame has to be reconfigured for the Hiro engine  and both the front and rear engine mounts made from scratch.  My rear mounts came from the original piece of steel that Dane used to make the Penton bikes (thanks again Dane) and I made the fronts myself. Once the engine is fitted into the frame, you can modify the stock exhaust to fit.  I simply cut the pipe in one place by the front pipe mount and rotated the pipe to match the exhaust flange on the Hiro.  I then made a correct Hiro to Penton pipe flange from automotive exhaust pipe material and TIG welded the finished pipe.  That takes care of the engine, frame and pipe, now for the fun.  You have to take the swingarm and cut all the brackets off of it and reweld them back on the other side as the Hiro drives on the right vs the left.  The shock mounts stay the same but everything else goes. The rear wheel is turned around and you have to make a new brake rod and refit the brake stay.  You then get to remake the brake pedal to work on the right side so I just ground down the pedal so the rod would drive out and turn it around and then the arm is on the right.  I reused the same hardware and rebent the spring to work on the right.  I welded a small spring holder on the frame to stay the brake spring and it looked factory and worked very well.  Take everything apart and plate, paint, and polish it and reassemble it and now you have a Hiro.  About 350-400 hours work and both turned out awesome!  Costs include a complete 74/75 Penton 125, a NOS Hiro engine and the other needed items to fiinish a complete Pentonresto and the time required to do the project.

I won't be making anymore as they were a lot of work.  For sure, I won't be building anymore Penton/Puch's either as it took an entire year to get that correct!  About 2 times the work than a Hiro/Penton!

At least I know what the Penton family went through when they built theirs, my hat is off to them for sure![]