Penton dealerships and bike shops.

[Paul Danik]

Many of our fond memories from "back in the day" center around a certain dealership or shop. The idea behind this thread is to encourage anyone with fond memories of a shop or dealership to share their "back in the day" memories with the rest of us. Not only to share those special memories, but to also pay tribute to those establishments and the folks who ran them or worked at them.

Paul

[Paul Danik]

Fran Kupec Cycle Shop was located south of Butler, PA on rt. 8, just a short distance from where Jake Fischer's shop is today. Fran's real love was Triumph motorcycles, but the shop also sold BMW, Honda and I think Rickman as well.

 Fran opened a second store in a strip mall just on the outer edge of Butler, still on rt. 8 south of town. Sandie Augustine helped to run the new shop having gained experience working with her husband Bob when he sold Jawa and BMW in Slippery Rock, PA, a shop that was now closed. Kupec picked up Penton pretty much when they first became available and that is where my first Penton came from.

    Many years later I got to wondering how Fran had ever decided to get the Penton dealership. Fran's former shop foreman Tony John and I still stay in touch and I asked Tony that question. His answer was that Jack Mercer, the Triumph rep for the area, had recommended to Fran that he add the Penton dealership to help round out his product line.

    As a student of all things Penton the name Jack Mercer rang a bell, Jack is mentioned in the John Penton book, and apparently he carried news of the "new" Penton with him in his travels. There are many folks whom I have heard about that I sure would have loved to have met and listened to their stories, and Jack Mercer is one of them. I believe it was Dave Mungenast who is quoted as having said that Jack Mercer was one of the best dealer reps that he ever knew. Whenever I have asked John Penton or anyone else from that era about Jack Mercer they always have spoken very highly of him.

I know one thing for sure, Jack Mercer's association with John Penton and influence with Fran Kupec sure changed my life...

     My first part time job was working at Fran's Triumph shop, doing odd jobs and occasionally setting up new Triumphs and putting them on the showroom floor. Once I had my first Penton, I usually ended up owing Fran money at the end of the work week from my parts bill...

Paul

[400gs6]

Back in the early 70's, when I made the jump from minibikes to real motorcycles that shifted/clutch (big jump back then!) was on a Hodaka and it was always in need of something  or another.  Our local Hodie dealer was located about 20 miles away in the next town over of Beverly, Mass.  Cape Ann Cycle was the place to be on a Saturday morning. My Mom soon got tired of driving me over there so I would "thumb it" to get there. Met some creepy characters during those treks too but would never mention it to my parents as I'm sure they would have put a halt to thumbing around for this kid..

  It wasn't a big place but always had decent inventory of bikes and parts. In short order, I got to know the owner, Charlie Hildebrand on a first name basis.  Charlie always treated me right even though I could be quite a pest with constant phone calls until I could get over there.  Cape Ann sold Hodaka, Penton and Norton. The Penton's were like tooking at a brand new Porsche for this kid. I would sit in class and draw pictures of Pentons to kill the time.. Unfortunately, Cape Ann Cycle closed its doors sometime around 1980. It was a really special place during those years. Down in my shop, I've got a folder that's chock full over every receipt from buying parts there that somehow I've refrained from throwing away over the past 40 yrs.  Great memories!  

-I'd like to add, my Mom bought be my first pair of new boots from Cape Ann for my 15th birthday. I still have that same pair of Hi-Points to this day!

[Dale Sonnenschein]

H&T cycle was about a mile from my house. Dick Heins and Morty turick were partners.Dick Heins rode many enduros and qualifiers too. I think he had one of the first triumphs around.  It was an easy walk for a youngster like I was then. He was mainly open at night. A nice small shop. I would ride my bike or walk almost every night. They sold Hodaka's at first, they also sold Puch for a while. He could get suzuki from Moroneys in Newburgh if he had a buyer. I remember he also had 3 Rickmans. One with a 100cc hodaka motor, a 125cc, I think it had a zundapp or a sachs motor and a 250cc with a montesa motor.I spent many a night there. Dick put together a super rat with a B pipe and cylinder for my brother. It had a little better suspension than the B and the B motor was better for the woods which is what they mainly rode. Not long after my brother got it, he wanted something bigger and I was the lucky recipient of a slightly used Hodaka. The shop is still there but closed many years ago. It's now storage for quite a few vintage bikes.
There was another small shop about 8 miles away in the next town over. Drew Blackburns. THey were a small shop too. They sold penton and Saracen. Drew also did cylinder boring. Those were the days.

73 Jackpiner
73 Husky 360 WR/RT
76 Husky WR360
78 husky cr250
10 ktm 250xc
02 bmw r1150r

[400gs6]

If anyone on the east coast (Massachusetts) is interested in visiting an old shop that's still in business, visit Hogan Cycle in Agawam Mass.  Bob Hogan was a Bultaco/Ossa/ Dalesman dealer (and several others) and still to this day has an incredible inventory of NOS Spanish parts. He's such a nice guy to do business with.

[Dave Withrow]

Beckley Sport Cycles-Beckley WV

[skiracer]

I too went to the H&T shop.  Richard was a great guy.  I bought my first penton from him; a 1970 Six Day....  It was a great bike.  I also bought my first and only pair of High Point boots from him.  I still wear the boots today!  In hindsight, I wish I spent more time hanging there.  Maybe I would have learned how to be a better woods rider!!! haha!!! I bought my 76 MC5 from Drew Blackburn. Very small bike shop in the back of a auto body shop.....  Those shops and times are long gone.....  But the bikes and riders live on!!

1976 MC 5 Original Owner
1982 Suzuki PE 175
1976 Penton 175 GS
1976 Penton 250 GS

[Cal Alexander]

Country Sports, Spanish Fork, Utah. "Back in the day," Don Butler was the owner of this shop. He was an accomplished rider and mechanic, racing expert in Motocross, Flat Track, Desert, Hill Climbing and anything else he could find. He sold Hodaka, Husky, BMW and Kawasaki motorcycles in addition to Pentons. My first exposure to Don's shop was to repair a 1969 Super Rat that I bought as a basket case. I was 16 years old with little money. Don sold me used parts by the pound and helped me get the bike running. I think he charged me $10 bucks for all the parts. I loved that shop and spent many hours drooling over his new Pentons and Huskys. A couple of years passed and I had saved enough to purchase a new 125 Six Day. Don hired me part time while I was going to college to put new bikes together for the dealership. What a great part time job setting up and test riding all that new iron. Two years later I purchased a 1975 MC250 that I still own and just recently restored. Just last year I contacted Don to see if he had any tools, bikes or parts from his old dealership. I was able to purchase his 72 Six Day Penton and a Super Rat that he competed on back in the day. I recently finished restoring his Six Day for my personal rider and I'm currently in the process of bringing his old Super Rat back to life. Kids need hobbies as an outlet to stay out of trouble. Country Sports definitely provided that for me and to this day I'm still enjoying my hobby.

75 250 MC
73 Cafe MX
72 Six Day
72 Six Day Enduro

[ALB]

There was only one Penton dealership in Cleveland, Ohio. I think it was called Malone's Cycles owned by Chuck Malone. It was a small hole in the wall shop in the inner city, on the west side about 3 miles from where I was living at the time. He sold Bultaco and Penton motorcycles and he did service work on anything that people would bring into his shop. He was an observed trials rider who was involved with the Trials Incorporated club in NE Ohio. He rode a Bultoco 250 trials bike and his association with Trial Incorporated helped bring in customers for sales and service on Bultaco motorcycles. In his small parking lot, in front of his building were a pile of old railroad ties which he would practice his trials riding on during his "work breaks". If you read the book, Monkey Butt, his shop was what was described in it. Chuck was the only one that worked there and he had a big Doberman name "Taco" that kept watch over the place. When you first walked into the door, Taco would come out of the back room, put his nose into your crotch and sniff you out to make sure that you were OK to enter. If he didn't like you, he would piss on your leg. Chuck would almost always be in the back wrenching on a bike. He would come up to the counter with a serious look on his face. If he didn't know you or you looked suspiscious to him, his greeting to you would be "what the f*** do you want?"

I became a regular customer of his when I acquired my first Penton, a used 1972 Jackpiner MX in 1975. I went to his shop to purchase an enduro kit to turn it into a "street legal" bike for trail riding with my buddies. No, Taco did not piss on me, but he certainly had me holding my breath for the "sniff" test. [:0]   I would purchase the parts that I needed from him along with any Hi-Point oils that I needed. He would travel to the Penton warehouse in Lorain to pick up his orders for bikes and parts once a week. In the later part of 1977 I entered his shop to purchase some parts. He informed me that Penton was going out of business and that he was going shut down his shop. It was then that he offered to sell me his Penton parts inventory. With Penton closing, I figured that I had better take him up on his offer in order to keep my Jackpiner running, so I took his offer and the rest is history.

Alan Buehner

[BrianTaylor]

Well "back in the day " Anderdon Cycle was were it was at . McGregor Ontario just out side Windsor  my older brother had the Hodaka dealership . We worshipped anything enduro and raced our beloved Hodaka's to the extreme ....Well  time stopped in 1968 when our first look at Leroy Winters and John Penton came to Canada at the Corduroy Enduro .... my younger brother and I drooled at what we saw... a race ready bike of our dreams ... well it started a family feud  and there was no way we could give up our Hodaka's for a Penton ..... fast forward to 1974... Older brother Gord  unknown to my younger brother and I brought in a 74 Penton SixDay  from the importer Bjorn ( I never new what his last name was but he was a Swede and quite a character  ) ... well now the bar was set and immediatly we ordered 4 more to be  brought in ..... We raced with much success and many an hour was spent there in the shop just bench racing .... dont know how we ever made any money but did we ever have fun ... aaah those were the days ... Brian T

Brian Taylor

[jeff greenberg]

Piasecki's of Toledo....  Kept my bike there. Pretty much always hung out there. Traveled to the races countless times with Jeff and Kevin Piasecki in the shop truck known as "Big Blue" .  Blessed to have them ( Jeff, Kevin, and Jim) as good friends still.
Their mom and dad....  Frank and Donna,  are now like 86 years young!  The cycle shop closed in the 80's but they still have an auto repair shop as well as a towing company.
Some of by best times were spent at that shop!
Jeff

[Paul Danik]

My mentor into the world of motorcycling was Bob Augustine. Fortunately for me when "Augie" would visit one of his motorcycling friends he would often stop by the Nursery and invite me to go along.

 One of those trips was to visit Don McClelland at his little Hodaka shop that Don ran in his detached garage near Grove City, Pa. Don worked in Grove City at a steel plant and ran the Hodaka shop "on the side" in the evenings and on Saturdays, from what I remember.

Don was a great guy and eventually built a new building and took on Penton and Husky. The shop was quite modern for its day and Don was quite proud of it and ran it very well. The Grove City Motorcycle Club ran a track nearby and they put on some fantastic events, and the area was a hotbed of off road motorcycling activity. I know Don was a great supporter of the Club, but I don't know if he was officially involved with it or not.

 The Club ran their events at a local strip mine area that had just about every type of terrain and challenge you could imagine. I have always stated that if you could race and win at one of Grove City's events you could race just about anywhere and be competitive, I found a flaw in that thinking when I rode a Two Day ISDT Qualifier in Barstow,CA, but that is another story.

 Sadly, Don passed away at a rather young age, and eventually his shop closed up. Any time I pass his old building I still slow and think of Don. Don's daughter married one of the local hotshoes by the name of John Ayers, surely some of you know John. At a swapmeet one time I found a Husky style aircleaner cover for a Penton with a McClelland Cycle Center decal on it and bought it. Often times when I display a Steel Tanker I will put that cover on as my personal way to honor Don. I recently bought a stack of the Penton Imports newsletters from "back in the day" titled Keeping Track, to my surprise some of those were addressed to McClelland Cycle Center

Paul

[dennis brown]

we use to ride the enduro in grove city it started at the shop  and we rode the h.s. at the strip mine.they ran a very good 4 hr 2 man event. my friend curt powell and i won the 125 class twice on curts 125 penton. my dealer was chuck bolher jamestown,ny. isdt rider.on greeves. later sold husky and penton, a good man and dealer. sadly died young.

dennis l.brown

[Mick Milakovic]

Buck's Cycle in Valparaiso, Indiana, owned by Buck Whalsworth.  I still have the original '73 Jackpiner my brother bought new from Buck, and the '74.5 Harescrambler I ride was Rick Whalsworth's Pro MX bike.

Mick

[Bob Gilman]

If you were in the Baltimore area who can't remember Motorsport Center,I would drive an extra 50 some miles to go to this shop bypassing the ones in my area.The shop was run by Mom and Pop Triplett,there son Bruce was the mechanic,there son in law Dwight Gill was the sales manager.I bought many Pentons and Husky's from them.I still have a 76 250,and a 73 100 from there.I ordered the 100,Penton Imports sent a 125,Bruce converted it to to a 100 and made it street legal so I could ride the 100 class in enduros.I spent many saturday afternoons in the old and new shop they had.They were some class A people.