Nov, "MOTORCYCLIST" & back shocks

garrettccovington · October 12, 2009, 09:58:15 AM

Yesterday morning when I came home to Chino Hills from Barstow I saw the Nov Issue of Motorcyclist waiting for me. I was thumbing through it, and the Article on Page 45 "The Way We Were" caught my eye. Its about Famous Motocyclists recalling their 1st motorcycles. Anyways, the 1st Famous Person was Lyle Lovett and his 1971 Penton 6-Day. I showed my wife the article and picures of my 72 6-Day up in Barstow and she was shocked at how good the Barstow bike looked. She couldn't beleive that this was the same bike sitting in the tin shed for all these years and she wanted me to take to the dump a few months ago. Plus, I've been riding it around Barstow!! She was speechless. I mentioned to her that I needed a set of back shocks and showed her page 88 the set of "Works Performance" shocks I wanted for around $500. She said NO!!! Thats OK, When I started this project, I set up a seperate little "Penton" account, in which work direct deposits $50 a week into. I figure by Christmas I'll have those shocks. If she only knew how many parts I've had sent to the Barstow house she would flip.
Ha Ha, what we go through to get our bikes running.

Note to self. Don't use E-Bay and Pay Pal. She caught on to that real quick.

G

72 six-day

cdb50mx · October 12, 2009, 11:18:47 AM

Note to self ..... Thank the EX wife for letting me go .

Blissfully single for 14 years ,
Mike

socalmx · October 12, 2009, 01:54:41 PM

Since the bike is SoCal and you are riding it around Barstow in the desert, treat the bike to a pair of Curnutt shocks. Not only are they original for the era, they are rebuildable at home and really do work well. I have them on mine and as I did in the day, love them. Keep an eye out locally and you might find a pair.

Lloyd Boland · October 12, 2009, 04:55:42 PM

Garrett, I may have an old set of Curnutts in the garage. I do not know for sure, but will look when I get home. I am not sure what they came off of, and do not know the eye-to-eye distance. Please let me know the eye-to-eye distance. If they fit your bike, they are yours for free, so long as bring it out to ARX and give Victor a go for his money.

Lloyd

garrettccovington · October 12, 2009, 05:28:22 PM

I figure a eye to eye distanc of 13 1/4 is what its suppose to be, but at this point I'll take just about anything. I currently have on a pair of 12 inch eye to eye off of a the front of a quad. They are way to stiff, but alot better than the stock ones which were so bad I could remove the springs by hand.

G

72 six-day

garrettccovington · October 12, 2009, 06:02:10 PM

Lloyd my goal is to go to the Nov race with the bike. I don't care if its not perfect. I just want to ride it around the track. I'm sure i'm gonna break something. So long as its not me, thats ok.

g

72 six-day

VICTOR MONZ · October 12, 2009, 10:36:29 PM

Garrett.

I have experienced, each time I build a fresh Penton for the track, to be patient. There is alway carb tuning, shock adjustments and a few nuts and bolts I forgot to tighten up.

Enjoy your time building and expect, a few times, to push it back to the pits. It helps you get in shape !

Hope to see you at the next race.....I have lots of misc. goodies if you ever need anything.

Victor

PS. Post your pictures from Competetive Edge out for us to see.

Doug Bridges · October 12, 2009, 10:49:27 PM

Garrett
I will also put in a good word for the Curnutts. They are relativley cheap and they did and do a great job for cross country rideing. Try to find a pair of the 4.7" travel models. They will be a bit longer than what you have (12 3/4 0r so) , but the way the Curnutts work when you sit on the bike they will relax to the same height as the original shocks. I just put a vary nice pair on my Jackpiner and I can't wait to take it for a spin.
I have spent some time in and around Barstow back in the day. I grew up in Ridgecrest. Have you ever been there?

Doug Bridges
73 Jackpiner

garrettccovington · October 12, 2009, 11:07:01 PM

Victor thanks for the input. I agree that there will be some unexpected suprises. Every Tuesday, When I drive back up to Barstow I do a little more work on it and ride it around the house. It seems to work pretty good, but I haven't jumped on it yet. Trying to let the crank seals get use to working. I've tried to post pics, but don't know how to do it.

72 six-day

garrettccovington · October 12, 2009, 11:18:36 PM

Doug

I just was up there on my BMW GS. Kennedy Meadow's, Lake Isabella, great ride. As a mater of fact there was (2) 250 pentons on craigs list from around that area a couple of months ago. Yea, back in the day the Currnets were the hot setup for District 37 races.

G

72 six-day

sachsmx · October 13, 2009, 09:07:30 AM

I second the "Penton" account

I've financed many projects this way. It's a little harder to do now that my workplace forces salaried personnel to use direct deposit. At one time I had many spares to trade and sell and would keep the cash from those sales hidden in my toolbox. At one point I had over 5 grand stuck in there, before I started my last project.

socalmx · October 13, 2009, 01:52:42 PM

Doug, Red Mountain and Charlie's Place are still riding areas for me. District 37 still holds races out there which I attend. This is of course on a modern bike, the desert is a bit different than when I rode my DKW 100 (with Curnutts) there. The Curnutts were designed to follow the wheel down into a rut vs. other shocks just absorbing impact. The theory was that you continued to get traction that way. There are rebuild instructions on the web (do a search) and seals, etc. are available from a bearing/seal supply shop.

Quotequote:Originally posted by Doug Bridges

Garrett
I will also put in a good word for the Curnutts. They are relativley cheap and they did and do a great job for cross country rideing. Try to find a pair of the 4.7" travel models. They will be a bit longer than what you have (12 3/4 0r so) , but the way the Curnutts work when you sit on the bike they will relax to the same height as the original shocks. I just put a vary nice pair on my Jackpiner and I can't wait to take it for a spin.
I have spent some time in and around Barstow back in the day. I grew up in Ridgecrest. Have you ever been there?

Doug Bridges
73 Jackpiner

tofriedel · October 13, 2009, 03:52:56 PM

Garrett,

You mentioning Kennedy Meadows and Lake Isabella brought back many memories from the late 60's to the early 70's when I lived in S. Cal.

Kennedy Meadows is a beautiful place to ride and camp. The last time I saw the Milky Way was about 1973 at Kennedy Meadows. Gorgeous.

Tony

garrettccovington · October 13, 2009, 07:49:54 PM

Ahhh, The web we weave.

Another trick way to fund your Penton project is take the most expensive, hardest project your wife has on her/your "honey doo" list.

Go to Home Depot, buy out half the store on your debit card.
Of course she will want to see the receipt,,, aaannndd,,, since its all greek to her, she'll just say "This is a bigger project than I thought" This is when you nod your head in agreement and say "Yep it's a tough one"

Of course you will have to go back to Home Depot to pick up that 1/4 20 nut you forgot to get and then you return the $100.00 worth of stuff you really didn't need. Home Depot will give you your returns in cash. Thank you very much.

The up side is, the project is done, your wife thinks you are a miracle worker and you have new parts for the bike

The down side is you have to finish the project which cuts into your time of working on, and installing all the new parts you have for the bike.

G

72 six-day

garrettccovington · October 13, 2009, 08:03:52 PM

SoCalMX

You mentioned you rode a DKW 100. I always wondered what happened to Tom and Cordis Brooks. I think Cordis rode a Harley Baja 100 and Tom Rode a DKW 125. In the early 70's those guys were winning District 37 races over all and I beleive they almost won Barstow to Vegas overall, but Rich Thornswalden (?) niped them at the finish line on a suzook 400.

G

72 six-day

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Nov, "MOTORCYCLIST" & back shocks