Oh__my__gosh!___We found the mother lode !

[rob w]

http://six-days.org/pages/archivio_it/archit/it_a/ktm_it/ktm_ph/41.html

http://six-days.org/pages/archivio_it/archit/it_a/ktm_it/ktm_ph/40.html

http://six-days.org/pages/archivio_it/archit/it_a/ktm_it/ktm_ph/51.html


What's the story behind this one, this is Mr. Penton's bike correct?

http://gallery.pentonusa.org/gallery/album02?page=7
http://gallery.pentonusa.org/gallery/album02?page=8

[OUCWBOY]

Rob,
Maybe I don't see as well as I once did, but it looks like Mr Penton's 50 is a modified steel tank frame. The other one looks like a CMF frame? Is that what you see??

Donny Smith

[TGTech]

Rob and Donny,

   At one point in the Penton history, when the minicycle market was beginning to grow, JP tried to get KTM to understand that new segment of the off road world, and KTM then threw together two prototypes and sent them over here. (There may have been more than two, but that's all that made it to Lorain.) What you're seeing in these pictures, are those bikes. The "steel tank framed" model, is still here, but for one reason or another, the "CMF framed model,went back to Austria, I think.

   I think that since they weren't physiclly small enought to actually fit into the minicycle category, I believe that JP must have decided not to have KTM build them.

   Another possibility that may exist regarding their never having gotten past the prototype stage, was that they really did't run that well. I don't know if it was the jetting or what, but they were pretty slow, and I think that the little YZ's of the time, were lot's more powerful, comparatively speaking. In hindsight, I believe that with a better pipe and carburetor (the steel tank framed machine that is here, has an Amal on it) the bike would have run better.

   One last note: the pictures of the CMF framed machine off the Italian Web site, show the machine in enduro trim, but when the example of that was over here, it was in motocross form.

Dane

[OUCWBOY]

Dane,
Thanks for the update. Always great to hear this kind of information!!


Donny Smith

[rob w]

Dane, Yes thanks for the background story on Mr. Penton's 50. I think it's proto-typing purpose and significance of being makes it probably one of the most rare Penton bikes we have over here. Can you think of any other one-off KTM proto-types that are still alive and well in the U.S.
Is that all original as it was first delivered. What year would that have been?
I believe those are Gas Girlings shocks on it, those came out in '75.


I was reading something about those engines. It said the Sachs 50 S motor initially had an output of 4.5 HP and was followed with a 6.25 HP, then even a 8.5 HP for a short period. I'm sure they're speaking of the production engines, I suspect they got a little more than that out of their competition bikes, would'nt you say?

Thanks
Bob

[TGTech]

Bob,

   The only other prototype that I think might be here somewhere, is the 175 "Pentuch", and nobody seems to know whatever happened to it. The 125 and 175 prototypes are in Arnaldo's collection.

   As far as I know, the bike is in exactly the same condition as when it arrived right down to the grips. I don't know about the shocks, but I know that we had them in the Hi Point line, so I would suppose that there is a chance that they were put on the bike here.

   I would be pretty sure that the race machines would have been massaged pretty much. I know that Sigi's motocross machines were tuned to the limit, and he would redo the top end after each meet. I'm pretty sure that the enduro machines wouldn't have been as close to the edge.

Dane

[TGTech]

Rik Smits came up to Amherst today to pick up the 50cc Zundapp that JP gave him, and when he was here, he was eyeballing the 50cc Penton that we have. I mentioned to him about this page that Rob located, and I told him I'd bring it back to the front page so he could look it over. Soooooo, here it is.

Dane