'75 Six Day

[OUCWBOY]

Here's a note. In 1969 or even in 68, The Kawasaki F21M had a different than normal rear shock setup. The shocks themselves were 3 7/8" of travel, but where they were mounted gave the swing arm 4 5/8" of travel.
So some of the guys I knew, were moving their shocks too. One of my friends who rode a Baja 100 Harley moved his and that was back in early 1970.


Donny Smith
Paragould, AR

[brian kirby]

quote:Originally posted by Dwight Rudder

I can promise that he didn't race the bike that way back in 1972.  Maybe in 1975-76. Nobody changed lower mounts till 1975

Regardless of when it was done (I didnt do it so I have no idea) the bike IS legal, and has been verified multiple times that it is legal. Moving shocks forward is not against the rules as long as it meets the travel limits. Personally, I would never do that mod to a bike now because I prefer to leave them stock, but this bike is a time capsule of the SoCal racing scene when Pentons still dominated before the YZ and the Elsinore. This bike will never be changed from its current configuration because I want to preserve it as it is.

Brian

[Dwight Rudder]

If it was me, I would save that swingarm and buy another stock swingarm to use when racing.  That way you can save the originally modified swingarm to use or display at a later date.
IMO,
Dwight

[brian kirby]

Just in case some folks who are not familiar with my bike will know what we are talking about, I will put a couple of pictures. The only difference from these pictures is I had Works Performance build a set of legal shocks for it since the Konis in this picture didnt last long after I started riding it. Also, I forgot, James had to put spacers in these Konis because they were over 4" after he calculated it, I think I needed two of them.





I never bothered to measure it, but I would guess its around 2" forward of the stock mount.

Brian

[pakala]

WOW, I was expecting some over the top, wild works machine,the way this little Penton beats 250cc and 400cc bike in the woods?
 Does not look that dangerous to me! Maybe it's the rider that's dangerous! IMHO....
                Pablo(socal)

[brian kirby]

I dont know how much credit goes to me, or the fact that Mr Penton and KTM designed one of the most perfectly balanced, best handling motorcycles I've ever ridden in my life, any size, any brand, any year. IMO the only thing that keeps a '72 Sachs powered CMF Penton from being the best dirt bike ever made is the shifting.

One last thing on early 70s bike mods and I'm done. I know for a fact that people did move shocks forward before '75 because I've seen pictures of the Super Rat Ernie raced. It had leading axle 35mm Betor forks (like on a Sherpa), the frame was sectioned and the engine lowered in the frame, hand made aluminum tank, reed valve, and a box section steel swing arm with shocks mounted as far or farther forward than on my bike. The bike was so modified you couldnt even tell what kind of bike it started out as. This was in '72 out of a tiny little Mom & Pop dealership in Pensacola Florida, 2000 miles away from the Mecca of motorcycling in SoCal. The bike was so trick it even got nicknamed by Dixie Cycle News as the "$2000 Super Rat". Lots of experimentation was going on back then, and its hard to say when something could or could not have been done. If Ernie had a bike that had forward mounted shocks in Pensacola in '72, I have no reason to doubt it could happen in SoCal too.

Brian

[Ernie Phillips]

Compared to a stock Rat, the $2000 J& R Super Hodaka was far superior ... Maico-like handling in a sub-200 pound package.  The swingarm mods were directed at keeping the bike from looping out in the deep woops of the sandy Gulf Coast race tracks.  It worked quite well.  More suspension travel was a byproduct of lengthening the swingarm.  We didn't fully appreciate it at the time.  100cc racing back then was all about porting, reed valves and how many holes you could put in the piston intake skirt.  A CMF Penton may have been as good or even a better bike, but they didn't show up at the MX track in our area.

Ernie P.
Chattanooga, TN